S03.E02: Cockroach

[ShellSeeker]

Quote

Barry discovers that his hold over Abuddin is tenuous. Sammy embarks on a risky relationship. Ihab's desire for revenge is given an outlet. Fauzi returns to Abuddin and is thrust into a political role. Molly’s routine visit to a military hospital goes awry, spelling terrible consequences for the future of Abuddin.

[cyberfruit]

I'm sure there are some Breaking Bad fans here amongst us, so while I was watching this episode, I couldn't stop think about Mike's speech about not taking "half-measures". 

Soooo many things that happened during the episode could have prevented had Barry/Bassam not taken those steps. 

As for Leila, I sincerely hope she's playing a long con and that the general (idk his ranking or the character's name) isn't playing one against her, as well. 

[slothgirl]

Finally some realism in Barry and Molly's world. Too bad their daughter is paying the price.

Couldn't care less about Sammy and his little budding romance.

What was the episode title supposed to refer to? Did I miss a reference?

I'm surprised they killed off the bastard brother/ general whose name I've forgotten. And with so little fanfare. Wow.

Daliya is so stunningly beautiful I can't believe she's played by a real person. And I'm a straight woman! But what's with the fancy dresses? Wasn't she from a poor village? And now her husband is dead... Did her new post come with a wardrobe budget or is she just getting paid enough to buy fancy clothes?

I don't trust Aziz... Leila shouldn't either.

Emma is an American citizen. This is a major international incident and there's no way Exley, General Chris Noth, and others wouldn't be all over it playing a role in what happens next. Long before Molly could sneak out and get to whassiname's place, there would have been calls from the US president or Sec of State (or SOMEBODY) and high level meetings with ambassadors and whatnot. 

But our hero is all alone to spend time crying on Daliya's shoulder... yeah right. They'll talk it through.. no one else required. (eyeroll)

Edited July 14, 2016 by slothgirl

[Ferniesfreckles]

Hey everybody!!

I thought for sure something bad was gonna happen to Sammy. Kind of glad nothing did. 

 I can't believe they killed off the hottie soldier. 

I guess Delilah got some sort of stipend for  clothes. That first time she spoke in front of everyone though she had on beautiful jewelry. I can believe most women would have fancy clothes and jewelry to wear on special occasions. 

Sammys new friend looks Hispanic to me, cheesy mustache and all. ?

Glad this show is back. 

Forgot to add: Barry should have killed that asshole ages ago. 

Edited July 14, 2016 by Ferniesfreckles
Forgot comment

[sjohnson]

Entertaining in many ways, if you can suspend disbelief. I mean, Molly just happens to fall and hit her head (without doing serious damage, mind you,) so that Emma could be captured without any specific failure on Molly's part? Other than condescending to mingle with lower forms of life like Abuddinians, that is. 

There is a certain tension between the Hollywood Hack's insistence that all drama is personal conflict and physical jeopardy is the most dramatic conflict of all with the intrinsically political questions and themes the show sort of, maybe, wants to be about too. For instance, the liberal journalist could want to fight Islamic State and still not be Americanized and therefore might be an opponent of his old friend Barry/Bassam. Trying to make him an opponent of IS who hates his old friend for killing his IS daughter while ignoring her IS activities tends to revise the previous scenes we've seen of them arguing over IS, revealing him as more indifferent to IS than we thought he was. 

Edited July 14, 2016 by sjohnson

[Dowel Jones]

13 hours ago, sjohnson said:

Entertaining in many ways, if you can suspend disbelief

Beginning with the fact that the First Lady (even if interim) drives into a warren of narrow streets without a full scale security detail.  And then she begins to scream for her daughter as soon as she awakens, despite the fact that they were being pursued just moments before.

So, if Molly's plan goes ahead and she becomes a hostage, will Bassam fulfill his titular destiny and become a full-fledged tyrant, wiping out the caliphate in revenge?

[scrb]

Guess they ran out of story ideas for eye liner general after they killed off Nusrat so they offed him too.

Looks like Nina from The Americans (sorry didn't catch her characters name on this show) is a terrorist sympathizer.

Yeah the plots are poor.

But wow, the women are so stunning.

[sjohnson]

By the way, I didn't quite catch whether Sammy was introduced as Samuel or Samir?

I also couldn't tell if the book the married man Sammy was hitting on was written in Arabic? I didn't think so, but I couldn't tell for sure.

I'm afraid I can believe that elite universities might conduct classes in English. Nonetheless, Sammy must be aware that a degree from an Arab university would be regarded as inferior, so why he's taking classes isn't clear. Not least because he sure seems like the type to live off his remaining millions rather than work, much less study. 

[ganesh]

I'm surprised Barry had to hesitate to trade Molly. I was like, "that's it? Fair trade."

Still not clear on why the daughter was gone all last season and seemingly here now though.

On 7/13/2016 at 9:25 PM, slothgirl said:

What was the episode title supposed to refer to? Did I miss a reference?

The guy with the eyepatch.

I just haven't bought Molly's investment in everything since the start, so it's hard for me to feel anything. Now she's like "I'm first lady." Ok?

13 hours ago, sjohnson said:

Nonetheless, Sammy must be aware that a degree from an Arab university would be regarded as inferior, so why he's taking classes isn't clear.

My dissertation adviser got his PhD in *Japan* and then got a second one in the USA because it didn't count. Forget about an Arab university. It might be much for Sammy to know  that, but Barry should. Then again, Sammy could be just doing whatever. I mean, take classes, ok. Better than going to clubs every night and doing drugs.

I'm just not invested in Molly drama. Especially when it's so contrived. 

[scrb]

Noticed that Anne Winters was billed at the beginning credits as Special Guest or something like that.

Isnt that Emma?  Maybe she was never a regular or if she was, this could be tipping that she's a goner.

sammy may want to know more about the country.  Didn't he give up his money last season?

Or he's going to classes to trawl for boyfriends.

[sjohnson]

I'm pretty sure he gave up a pretty good chunk, but as I recall it was a bequest of $100 megabucks. Plenty of party money for a party boy, which is all the kid wants. Well, all that the show has presented of him anyhow. It's not clear whether he's bothered to learn Arabic.

I don't think his parents know he's gay yet? It would be interesting to know how they feel about that, given their recent rediscovery of religion?

[ganesh]

Molly knows. I think she actually caught him with a high school friend in the house in America. Unless I'm thinking of a different show. I thought she handled it fairly well. 

2 hours ago, sjohnson said:

It's not clear whether he's bothered to learn Arabic.

If he's going to be taking classes to learn more about his heritage, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I would think learning Arabic would be high on the list. Basically the whole family should be learning it. 

I mean, "I'm first lady." You can even speak the language. Putting on a headscarf doesn't mean much to these people I'm guessing. 

[slothgirl]

14 hours ago, ganesh said:

The guy with the eyepatch.

ok... so I'm just a little disturbed by referring to the one black character as a cockroach. That slur has so much history. It seems a poor choice by the showrunners to title the episode that way. 

Besides, Leila referred to the military guys as cockroaches last episode as she was being arrested. So it doesn't even make sense in their own story-telling to now call Ihab the cockroach.

I mean seriously, if they are going to throw around the term all over the place, maybe they should rename the series and instead of trying to guess who the titular Tyrant is supposed to be, we can guess who this week's cockroach is.

[ganesh]

I'm not the definitive word on who is the cockroach though. 

[slothgirl]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

I'm not the definitive word on who is the cockroach though. 

Aziz maybe should be the cr. He certainly is creepy and stealthy.

If he's meant to be genuine and a loyal ally of Leila, the actor isn't getting it right, cause I keep wondering what his real agenda is.

[ganesh]

I actually don't mind if there's different povs on who the actual Tyrant is because there's multiple legit options. 

[thuganomics85]

Yay, Annet Mahendru is here!  I don't care if she's anti-Fayeed and down with the Calaphate, I'm all for her being on this show.  Between her, Morian Atias, and Melia Kreiling, Abudeen continues to have some of the most beautiful women on television!

As soon as Emma said she wanted to go along on the trip, I knew she was going to end up getting kidnapped instead of Molly.  Wished they could have a slightly less comical way, the Molly slipping and banging her head, which was a bit too pratfall-like.  I guess it was better then her turning around and banging her head on a pipe.  Sucks for Emma, and since Annie Winters is only a Special Guest Star, I can see her going the way of poor Nusrat.

I know Barry didn't agree to a deal with General Campbell, but I would have thought Campbell would have been trying to do something to help bring Emma back, instead of just hitting on Leila.  Then again, it is Leila, so priorities might go out the window around her.  Speaking of Leila, she revealed that she obviously wants to make a go at being President herself.  Can't for a now-awake Jamal to find out about that.  So glad he will be getting back into the mix.... eventually, I hope.

Kind of surprised Rami got taken out that unceremoniously. 

I hope Sam's love life ends up better then his last one.

Totally not surprised Molly went behind Barry's back to turn herself in.  I still don't care for her, but it totally makes sense.  Hell, even Barry pretty much said that the only reason he wouldn't do the trade was because it would look bad politically.  He is this close to leaving her for Daliyah.

Fauzi has returned!  And I already finds out about what really happened to his daughter.  Fares Fares was pretty good in that scene.  Even Adam Rayner showed that he can actually show emotion other then "pensive", from time to time.  But I'm guessing he's being set-up for another potential Presidential candidate.

[paulvdb]

On ‎16‎-‎7‎-‎2016 at 7:46 AM, scrb said:

Noticed that Anne Winters was billed at the beginning credits as Special Guest or something like that.

Isnt that Emma?  Maybe she was never a regular or if she was, this could be tipping that she's a goner.

She left after the first season to be on another show but that show was cancelled after one season, so now she's back. I don't how many episodes she's in or if it's permanent.

[candall]

Watching now, but I had to get off the couch and slog all the way over here to complain:

I expect the writers to do better than a load of bullshit pretending there's some noble purpose to be served by telling a man his oldest friend killed his daughter.  Obviously they want to be able to use that conflict later, but it makes Daliyah stupid and it makes Bassam stupid.

And while I'm all grumpy, what's with this new look for Leila?  I think of her in exquisitely tailored stark white power suits with a French chignon.  But as a legit government official, she's swathed in fuchsia, with loose tresses and flirty little glints of turquoise dangling from her ears?

Leila and Big make a nice looking couple, though.  : )

****************************************

Wow, Sami's gaydar doesn't just 'ping'--it comes with a big woo-gah sound effect.

Double wow, Emma finally developed half a brain.  She saved her mother AND wised up about those shorts and tank tops, just in the nick of time.

[Ottis]

On 7/16/2016 at 1:13 PM, slothgirl said:

ok... so I'm just a little disturbed by referring to the one black character as a cockroach. That slur has so much history. It seems a poor choice by the showrunners to title the episode that way. 

Besides, Leila referred to the military guys as cockroaches last episode as she was being arrested. So it doesn't even make sense in their own story-telling to now call Ihab the cockroach.

I mean seriously, if they are going to throw around the term all over the place, maybe they should rename the series and instead of trying to guess who the titular Tyrant is supposed to be, we can guess who this week's cockroach is.

Jeez. There are many people of color characters on this show, not sure any are black but if one is then more are. Cockroach meant he keeps turning up and won't die.

Don't care about anything with Molly. Or Emma really. Can't this show be about the country and the leaders and not a bunch of Americans who shouldn't even be there?

Edited July 26, 2016 by Ottis
clarity