“Women? We’re angry about everything.”
If there’s one line that perfectly encapsulates “Yaga,” the Canadian series heading to AMC+ this week, it’s this one by Katherine, a bone specialist played by Carrie-Anne Moss. The Kat Sandler series is all about female rage, the invisibility of older women and witch hunts, set against a noir mystery and elements of folklore and revenge.
Developed from Sandler’s play, “Yaga” begins when fishing heir Henry Park (Hudson Williams) goes missing in a small waterfront town. The family sends in their private investigator, Rapp (Noah Reid), who teams up with local police officer Carson (Clark Backo) to track him down. From there, the investigation leads to Henry’s roommate (also played by Williams), a local bone specialist with a penchant for younger men (Carrie-Anne Moss), a mysterious woman on her deathbed (Sheila McCarthy), and a slew of other suspects as the legend of Baba Yaga, whom Sandler calls “the original bad girl of Eastern-European folklore,” emerges.
It’s a moody, thematic take on a legendary folktale, with strong visuals and voiceovers from a witchy woman setting the tone before each episode. Slavic-language covers of popular songs open each installment, while Alanis Morissette’s cover of “Season of the Witch” serves as the show’s official soundtrack and theme.
The series comes just in time for the witchy fall season, to be sure, but this take on Baba Yaga is more than a legend. She represents much of what women have been reduced to over the years as men wrote their history. The series also asks what a female character might look like if she embraced the same complicated dynamics as other scripted men like Tony Soprano or Dexter Morgan.
In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a supernatural figure, one who was traditionally older and who hid out in the forest. She has been depicted as the villain, but she can also be a helper to those around her. In this series, that mythology intersects with the history of witch hunts, when women who challenged societal expectations could find themselves labeled as dangerous or deviant. In both cases, these are women defined by the stories that others, often men, told about them.
In “Yaga,” the true hero (or antihero) of this story is Katherine. Moss delivers several scene-stealing moments as an older woman who isn’t afraid to do and say exactly what she wants. Rather than accepting the idea that women should fade into the background after menopause, she continues to have an active sex life and makes no apologies for existing.
Like those male antiheroes, Katherine is allowed to be morally compromised without excuses for her behaviour or manufactured sympathy. There’s no attempt to make her likeable, and that’s what makes her compelling. By telling Katherine’s story through Rapp’s perspective, Sandler explores how easily women lose control of their own narratives. Who she is changes throughout the series depending on who Rapp needs her to be, not who she actually is.
Carson is given more agency since the series follows her perspective, but her interactions with Rapp are also challenging. These characters share chemistry, but it’s impossible not to question Rapp’s motives as the episodes progress. The character comes in as the likeable outsider, but as the investigation progresses it becomes clear he adapts his personality to whoever he’s dealing with rather than revealing his true self. It leads to distrust, not to mention a skewed perspective.
Reid plays it all with charisma, but as more clues are uncovered, Rapp’s increasingly strange dreams and visions also raise questions about his mental state. It’s a fun unravelling, and as he digs deeper into the myth of Baba Yaga, viewers go on the ride with him because they’re privy to his dreams and visions. What’s most interesting is that those visions reflect Rapp’s reality in that they aren’t always truthful, and they play into the stereotypes the series sets out to examine.
As for Williams, fans of “Heated Rivalry” won’t be disappointed by his performances, but be warned they are nowhere near as likeable as his turn as hockey star Shane Hollander. These characters are smarmy and misogynistic, yet Williams still differentiates the two performances with aplomb.
Across the seven half-hour episodes made available for review (of the series’ eight total), Sandler maintains a pace that keeps the mystery moving without sacrificing the larger themes. The combination of folklore, magical realism and detective drama could easily become confusing, but Sandler knows when to reveal information, when to withhold it and when to move on. Some revelations lean on familiar detective-drama coincidences, but they’re rare enough that the larger mystery remains compelling. Whether that translates into a satisfying finale remains to be seen, but the setup, at least, is there.
“Yaga” is not only interested in why women get angry, but what happens when that rage is unleashed. By using supernatural forces to challenge the assumptions women have lived under for years, Sandler creates a world in which women are finally free to be as complicated, dangerous and morally compromised as men. After all, if you’re going to go on a witch hunt, you might as well make it as fun as possible.
“Yaga” premieres Friday on AMC+.
