S03.E05: Rock and a Hard Place

[ShellSeeker]

Quote

In the wake of thwarted terrorist attacks, Barry bans open prayer at the University - causing a severe backlash. Al-Qadi speaks out against violence and restriction of religious freedom. Bereft and alone, Barry and Daliyah turn to each other for comfort. Leila’s campaign heats up, alongside her relationship with Cogswell.

[slothgirl]

Barry is dick. Trying to talk Molly out of getting the help she needs? Immediately turning to someone else after she's gone?

Never liked him. Like him even less now. If we are supposed to care about him getting overthrown in a violent coup, they're really missing the target!

Daliyah is a fool if she doesn't think she's going to be right there against the wall with him when the revolution comes.

And Sammy's secret service that supposedly was keeping him safe while watching the rally let him be dragged off down a side street by a pissed off chick.  Something tells me that the police/secret service/military are not really on Barry's side!

Edited August 4, 2016 by slothgirl

[CountryCrazy]

I agree ! My sympathy is for Molly and yes Barry is a pathetic asswipe and Deliyah is a pathetic stupid woman who deserves everything and anything coming her way ! Hope her and Barry both die in the worst way and Karma is a Bitch ! Used to like both of them but now could care less about either one ! 

[sjohnson]

You just have to wonder why Molly still calls Bassam "Barry." She's got what she wanted in the first episode, he's back in touch with his roots. I rather suspect she doesn't really accept a foreign and a Muslim (or a Muslim and a foreigner?) as a husband, but has just stayed married because that's on autopilot. It's always painful to see partners in marriages that have really foundered on rocks like this finally split up because one party finally wanders away. (Maybe it's an unconscious attempt to get caught and finally end the farce?) 

Everything with Laila was tedious. The Women's Forum scenes were nicely vicious but there is no doubt the Women's Forum group shared the regime's commitment to the oligarchy of wealthy families. 

The scenes between Sammy and Haitham and Sammy and Halima was very good at showing him as both a fool and an asshole, I thought. Since they don't have the character interested in any of the things going on around him, perhaps they should have Halima tell Daddy, who can send him off to a US school where the students are expected to sleep around?

[Constantinople]

On 8/2/2016 at 2:41 PM, Queasy-bo said:

Quote

Bereft and alone, Barry and Daliyah turn to each other for comfort. Leila’s campaign heats up, alongside her relationship with Cogswell.

Like sands through the hourglass
so are The Days of Our Abuddin Lives

[scrb]

Barry didn't waste much time as soon as Molly was out of the way.

As soon as she met Daliah, Leila figured out exactly what Barry was thinking when he appointed her this important job.

[candall]

I've been a staunch Barry supporter since the beginning, but this was a tough one. 

He told the nurse he'd be responsible for the Molly-watch, then forgot all about that and Molly almost went off the ledge.  Oops, I guess he would've felt really guilty about that family member death, too.

Then there was the whole gothic romance novel thing where the husband insists the half-crazy wife is perfectly capable of recovering right HERE, no outside interference necessary.  I was only about 11 the last time I was engrossed in prose that purple, but it always meant the husband was the villain and that other handsome male character needed to step up.  (I don't think that's what they intended here, but it was still schlocky writing.)  At least Molly engineered her own rescue, with a small assist from Sammy.

And THEN, just to top things off, he had to pull the whole "can't sleep, need to talk" routine with Daliyah?  Please, playa.

You know, Jamal had a seriously dark and evil side, but he was still complex.  I'm really not feeling Barry/Bassam's spiral into Tyranny.  This is the third episode in a row where he's a well-oiled stupid decision machine.   Get it together, writers.

[cyberfruit]

I could barely pay attention to this episode. Sammy has become one-note and annoying, Bassam has always been one-note and annoying (and how he's cheated on his wife. So complex!), and I hate that the writers had Daliyah sleep with him. Why can't she be soft, feminine, and secure? I did not like those tears she was shedding after sex one single bit. I also don't like this love triangle BS that's happening, but I tend to think romance is a completely overused subplot in media. 

It's obvious that the writers are trying to humanize Leila -- grasping at this American general and reminiscing with Bassam? Nah. Not feeling it. I do like that she's still an ambitious character, even if she is nowhere near winning the election. It would be great to see her have plan B and C ready to go without her counsel's knowledge (like getting the fuck out of Abbuddin. Maybe put her life in a book and travel the world about the evils of the palace).

Ahmed is a great character, but his future is unknown right now. I'd love to see the fallout of a possible plot with someone finding out that he murdered his father. 

How did Molly become the most fleshed out character.

Edited August 5, 2016 by cyberfruit

[sjohnson]

It seems preposterous to me that he got away with it. I'm fanwanking it as Laila made up the Bassam is your Daddy story because she knows he did it and wants to ease his conscience. And she's paying off the doctors, the nurses, hospital security and some how kept state security from telling Bassam.

[Rapunzel]

I am getting more and more tired of Barry/Bassam as this season goes on. He is a moron and I have no idea how he made it through med school. He is responsible for Rashid's actions since he let him go. Barry seems to think that the whole "I'd like to buy the World a Coke" commercial applies here and, if he lets even the most vile person off the hook thinking that his "good will" will make them think twice about further attacks and attempts to take over the Country, he is terribly mistaken.

I am glad that Molly is away - at least for a while. I don't like the actress, and I really don't think the character adds anything to the show. She looked so heartbroken when Barry said he wasn't goint to run for President - seemed like she really wanted to remain First Lady.

Emma served no purpose at all, so her dying was inevitable. The only alternative was to keep her in CA, perhaps going to college there, and have her show up occasionally on Skype or something.

Sammy seems to be the only one in the family with any brain cells, though that's not saying much. He and Ahmed are the only two characters I can really support as they seem to at least have some kind of idea as to what is going on with the family as well as, to a lesser extent, the Country.

I also can't stand Lelia - she looks down on everyone yet she came from a poor/working class/servant family herself. In addition, she talked Jamal and/or his staff/military into many of his most devious acts. She now acts like she is entitled to everything and anything. If I were Bassam, I would have thrown her ass out of the Palace as soon as he became President, even if interim. Let her fend for herself for a while, The people are not behind her so I doubt they would have objected to this - they weren't behind Jamal either, so they probably wouldn't care at all how his widow was treated. She stood by and either encouraged the destructive behavior or said nothing at all while Jamal held office. She has no business holding any cabinet position, let alone being President.

[millennium]

Do they have sharks in the desert?  Because Tyrant has jumped it.

Why did they keep Jamal alive through the season break only to kill him ingloriously? (seriously, the scourge of the Middle East being smothered by his fat son just doesn't cut it).

Without Jamal, everybody else has become boring.   He was the foil to virtually every character (except mimbo Sammy).  Somehow, the show has even made Leila boring.   The scenes with Mr. Big are so discouraging.

And why does Barry's hair look so awful? 

Ugh, when Molly was on the ledge, I whispered to her, "Come on, we'll do it together and escape from this bullshit show."

[thuganomics85]

It's almost cute how everyone in Abuddin gets that excited over one poll.   You would have thought the election already took place.  Here in the States, almost every candidate in one of the major parties ends up briefly being in the lead.  I still remember when everyone and their mother thought for sure that 08 was going to be Hillary Clinton vs. Rudy Giuliani.  But I'm guessing the whole "Fauzi is crushing the polls" is going to lead to him somehow losing.  Because him being President seems too safe.  This Al-Qadi or Leila being President?  Yeah, that can cause some craziness.  But Fauzi?  Eh, I like him, but what real dramatic gain would happen.  Then again, this might all end with Barry changing his mind, and suddenly refusing to step down.  At this point, nothing would surprise me from him.

So, how did Abuddin's wise leader fare in this episode?  Left Molly by herself, even though she knew she was suicidal.  Easily let himself get talked into preventing people from praying in certain areas, because who doesn't love it when government and religion mix.  And then after mopping around about Molly leaving him (you know, so maybe she wouldn't actually kill herself.  Think about that, Barry!) for a bit, he's like "Screw it!  With the wife away, it's time for me and Daliyah to play!  In bed!  Naked!!!"  Brilliant, Barry.  Just brilliant.

Is there ever going to be a point to Sam and this professor?

Leila is realizing that this whole campaign thing isn't going to be easy.  Even Australian (?) Dutch (is that the accent Jay Karnes is going for?) is saying she'll likely loose, and it's all about the next election.  But I'm guessing being summoned by Daliyah to this conference/trial will somehow work in her favor, and she'll start gaining grown on Fauzi.

Annet Mahendru still is just mainly hanging around, but now her brother hinting that her husband might get himself killed if he doesn't become more radical, so maybe this will lead her to doing something soon?  Maybe?  Hopefully?  She's kind of being wasted right now. 

[slothgirl]

10 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I'm guessing the whole "Fauzi is crushing the polls" is going to lead to him somehow losing.  Because him being President seems too safe. 

So, how did Abuddin's wise leader fare in this episode?  Left Molly by herself, even though she knew she was suicidal.  Easily let himself get talked into preventing people from praying in certain areas, because who doesn't love it when government and religion mix.  And then after mopping around about Molly leaving him (you know, so maybe she wouldn't actually kill herself.  Think about that, Barry!) for a bit, he's like "Screw it!  With the wife away, it's time for me and Daliyah to play!  In bed!  Naked!!!"  Brilliant, Barry.  Just brilliant.

Is there ever going to be a point to Sam and this professor?

Leila is realizing that this whole campaign thing isn't going to be easy.  Even Australian (?) Dutch (is that the accent Jay Karnes is going for?) is saying she'll likely loose, and it's all about the next election.  But I'm guessing being summoned by Daliyah to this conference/trial will somehow work in her favor, and she'll start gaining grown on Fauzi.

Annet Mahendru still is just mainly hanging around, but now her brother hinting that her husband might get himself killed if he doesn't become more radical, so maybe this will lead her to doing something soon?  Maybe?  Hopefully?  She's kind of being wasted right now. 

Well, it would be quite an unexpected twist if Fauzi became the Tyrant. ;)

Of course, if he wins he will have to be. Otherwise he won't last a week in office.

They're writing Barry with Multiple Personality Disorder. Half the time he is the "bleeding heart" good guy who goes into doctor mode to save the people trying to kill him and organizes a national chorus of Kumbaya. Then he is so completely lacking in empathy, in his worst exhibition of selfish self-absorption yet, tries to talk a suicidal Molly into staying in a place guaranteed to worsen her depression and prevent her from moving on in her grief process. Then having an affair as soon as she's out of the building because HE needs comfort. I don't want him to become the Tyrant. I want him GONE from my screen. He needed to be gone after that failed coup, but now he REALLY needs to be GONE.

I truly can't stand the character. Season one Jamal was a despicable person, but a fabulous character, which made him fun to watch. Barry alternates unbelievably between being completely without empathy to being the most empathic person in all of Abbudin (maybe the world!). So he's often a despicable person AND a terrible character. Maybe if they had gotten a better actor, I might believe in his character (Jamal wasn't the most consistent character in tv history either, but Barhom made it work). But added to the terrible writing is lackluster 2-dimensional acting and it's dragging the show down into a place from which it won't recover.

I can't believe Daliyah actually let herself be drawn into an affair with him. It seems totally out of character. The writing on this show is horrible, but the outstanding performances by Barhom and Atias made it work. Now even the outstanding Moran Atias can't seem to inject some of her scenes with believability. It's sad.

Leila knows that there will probably be no such thing as "the next election". The likelyhood of the winner willingly stepping down at the end of their term is remote. Even if Fauzi wins, the chances of him surviving his term are also remote. So it's now or never for her. She also knows if she loses, she better get the hell out of Dodge. She probably wouldn't survive until "next election" either.

On that note, have they ever mentioned how long the presidential term is supposed to be? I assume it's not annual. Does any country have a 1-year term for a president or head of state?

Abuddin is starting to look like it is partly based on Turkey

Edited August 7, 2016 by slothgirl

[Ottis]

I continue to fast-forward through any scene featuring Molly, stopping only once or twice to hear a summary line.

I had thought Sammy grew up during the rebellion, fighting alongside others, but he seems to have been reset to his prior idiot self.

There is absolutely zero chemistry between Leila and the general.

Barry's actions in this episode provided a clear link to what happened in the past when his father rules. it's easy to go from the democracy guy to cracking down when people you know are targeted. Between that and the amam guy who preached peace almost being killed, it makes me wonder if this show is saying that Barry's father was right. Force is needed to defeat those who use terror. Though Leila seems to have a better perspective.

[ganesh]

On 8/4/2016 at 4:05 PM, scrb said:

Barry didn't waste much time as soon as Molly was out of the way.

I got the impression that the Molly-watch had been going on for a little longer and they both had checked out of the marriage. I also had a big time interval since the last episode too. 

On 8/7/2016 at 0:47 AM, thuganomics85 said:

It's almost cute how everyone in Abuddin gets that excited over one poll.

Barry's old friend was like, "hey, we had a good day! Yay!"

BYE FELICIA! Oh I meant Molly. I don't think TPTBs really knew what to do with her. She annoyed me since the start and was just all over the place. Not the actor's fault though.

Barry is just so not suited for president that his overall stupidity has to a deliberate narrative direction from TPTBs. I almost think they should have let him be the unknown rebel outside the State power structure for a longer time. Like Paul in the desert. 

It's a little too short sighted. I mean, no one thought to recon the compound to find out there were kids there first? Even now, sneak in and install cameras so you can monitor terrorist activity. Put in an undercover agent. Assuming the show takes place in the post-9/11 era, these seem like obvious things to do.

Liked the soldier actually not shooting anyone in the town square, and I liked the other guy saying, "paradise is filled with martyrs, it takes actual work right here and now to make peace." That's a really good point. 

[Ninamags]

I'm trying to catch up with all the episodes I missed.

I can't believe Ahmed is really Barry's!  That was shocking to me. 

 

The porn-stach professor still looks very Hispanic to me. He's trying to understand Sammy so points for him.