# Tribal (TV series)

Tribal is a Canadian television crime drama series, which premiered February 20, 2020 on APTN. The series stars Jessica Matten as Sam Woodburn, the newly appointed chief of an indigenous police force in the Nêhiyawak First Nation in Alberta, and Brian Markinson as Chuck “Buke” Bukansky, a racist and sexist white cop from Calgary whom she is paired with to solve crimes.
The cast also includes Adam MacDonald, Ryan Northcott, Julian Black Antelope, Garry Chalk, Justin Rain, Michelle Thrush, Glen Gould, John Cassini, Joel Oulette, Marika Sila, and Georgina Lightning.
The first season consists of eight episodes directed by Ron E. Scott. In advance of the series premiere, APTN announced that the show will have a second season. The second season of ten episodes premiered on October 21, 2021 and was directed by Ron E. Scott and Asaf Benny.
The series was filmed in Calgary, Alberta.

## Premise

Following her predecessor's suspension due to allegations of corruption, Officer Sam Woodburn is appointed as the new interim Chief of the Justice Department's newly integrated Tribal Police Force. She is forced to partner up with Detective Chuck 'Buke' Bukansky who has a reputation for racism. Despite their conflicting views together they investigate crimes that involve or have direct links to the First Nations.

## Cast

* Jessica Matten as Chief Samantha "Sam" Woodburn
* Brian Markinson as Detective Chuck “Buke” Bukansky
* Adam MacDonald as Detective Lucas Fielding
* Ryan Northcott as Detective Mitch Wheeler
* Julian Black Antelope as Daniel Crowchild
* Garry Chalk as Constance "Connie" Edwin Harris
* Justin Rain as Ryan Streit-(Season 1)
* Michelle Thrush as Jackie Woodburn-(Season 1)
* Glen Gould as Gordon Thundercloud-(Season 1)
* John Cassini as Jimmy Ganz-(Season 1-Season 2)
* Ana Rice as Officer Tara Whitetail-(Season 1)

## Series overview

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 8 | 8 | February 20, 2020 (2020-02-20) | April 9, 2020 (2020-04-09) |
| 2 | 10 | 10 | October 21, 2021 (2021-10-21) | December 23, 2021 (2021-12-23) |

### Season 1 (2020)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "I'll Show You Chief" | Ron E. Scott | Ron E. Scott | February 20, 2020 (2020-02-20) |
| 2 | 2 | "Two Out of Fifteen" | Ron E. Scott | Story by : Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott Teleplay by : Ron E. Scott | February 27, 2020 (2020-02-27) |
| 3 | 3 | "Indian Giver" | Ron E. Scott | Story by : Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott Teleplay by : Adam Frost | March 5, 2020 (2020-03-05) |
| 4 | 4 | "Runs with a Gun" | Ron E. Scott | Story by : Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott Teleplay by : Christina Ray | March 12, 2020 (2020-03-12) |
| 5 | 5 | "The Road to Hell Is Paved" | Ron E. Scott | Story by : Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott Teleplay by : Adam Frost | March 19, 2020 (2020-03-19) |
| 6 | 6 | "Where There's Smoke" | Ron E. Scott | Story by : Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott Teleplay by : Tamara Moulin | March 26, 2020 (2020-03-26) |
| 7 | 7 | "The Natives Are Restless" | Ron E. Scott | Story by : Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott Teleplay by : Adam Frost | April 2, 2020 (2020-04-02) |
| 8 | 8 | "Ten Little Indians" | Ron E. Scott | Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | April 9, 2020 (2020-04-09) |

### Season 2 (2021)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 9 | 1 | "The Tomb" | Ron E. Scott | Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | October 21, 2021 (2021-10-21) |
| 10 | 2 | "It's All In Your Headdress" | Ron E. Scott | Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | October 28, 2021 (2021-10-28) |
| 11 | 3 | "Look He's Protestin'" | Ron E. Scott | Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | November 4, 2021 (2021-11-04) |
| 12 | 4 | "The Kid Had a Gun" | Ron E. Scott | Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | November 11, 2021 (2021-11-11) |
| 13 | 5 | "Shouldn't Have Come Here" | Ron E. Scott | Adriana Capozzi, Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | November 18, 2021 (2021-11-18) |
| 14 | 6 | "Justice For All" | Ron E. Scott | Adriana Capozzi, Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | November 25, 2021 (2021-11-25) |
| 15 | 7 | "Starlight, Starbright" | Asaf Benny | Jason Filiatrault, Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | December 2, 2021 (2021-12-02) |
| 16 | 8 | "Tribal vs Metro" | Asaf Benny | Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | December 9, 2021 (2021-12-09) |
| 17 | 9 | "Red Face" | Asaf Benny | Jason Filiatrault, Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | December 16, 2021 (2021-12-16) |
| 18 | 10 | "Scalped" | Asaf Benny | Adam Frost & Ron E. Scott | December 23, 2021 (2021-12-23) |

## Reception

In his year-end review of television in 2020, critic John Doyle of The Globe and Mail singled out both Markinson and Matten as having given two of the year's best performances in Canadian television.