The Sticky Premiere: Margo Martindale Talks 'Desperation' And Hatred That Jump-Starts One Wild Maple Syrup Heist
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of maple syrup. A vindictive bureaucrat. One pissed off farmer. It may not sound like the high-stakes elements of an action-packed and lucrative heist, but that's what makes The Sticky so appealing... and funny.
In Prime Video's new crime caper (all six episodes are now available to stream), a Canadian maple farmer seeks alternative options when her land is threatened by red tape. Ruth Landry (Margo Martindale) can't seem to catch a break. She's already struggling to pay the bills ever since her husband Martin slipped into a coma (trying to care for him at home only adds to her expenses), but now that her farm is deemed "unlicensed," it makes her predicament that much more pressing.
"She's at the end of her rope and she's hit a wall," Martindale tells TVLine. "She's at the top of desperation. She's broke, she's tired, she's furious and she will find any way out to save her husband and keep him at home."
Leonard is the man in charge of the farmers' association and the face of Ruth's problems. Since her husband is legally the farm's operator, Leonard tells Ruth she must refile forms to prove she's the one now in charge. But he knows damn well that she wouldn't be able to complete that task until next season. It's all a rouse to screw her over so he can make a low-ball offer on her land and trees.
"What a jerk," Martindale jokes. "[Leonard] has wanted her maple trees forever. He finally makes her an offer because she needs money, and she doesn't want to take it at all. She hates his guts because he has found a way to take all of our surplus maple syrup, put it into the association and cut us off [so] we can't make any money. It's sort of like fighting the government, and it has Leonard's face on it."
In the premiere, Ruth gets a visit from Martin's old friend Mike (Chris Diamantopoulos), a small-time debt collector with a shady background and a yet-to-be-revealed relationship with Martin.
"My character knows Ruth's husband from the past," says Diamantopoulos. "We recognize that Ruth's husband is a good man who was probably very helpful to Mike in a moment of need. [Mike] doesn't have the sharpest or [most] fine-tuned moral compass. He presents himself in a certain way with a certain veneer, but the reality is that right below that surface, there is a great deal of insecure desperation that he masks with bravado. And then there is this lethal streak to him."
About that.
Remy, a security guard in charge of protecting the association's maple syrup, meets Mike in a restaurant. After piecing together that Mike is a part of a Boston crime family, Remy approaches him with some potentially lucrative intel: There's $150 million of maple syrup sitting unguarded right there in town. And Remy's been skimming off the top, unnoticed, for months. Mike's interest is piqued, but when he asks Remy for his partner's name, the security guard naively obliges, which turns fatal for poor Orval Steeks. However, Mike needs Ruth's brains in order to get rich off this "new opportunity," and thus, a heist is officially in the works!
What did you think of The Sticky's first episode? Grade it below, then light up the comments!