S03.E07: Bedfellows

[ShellSeeker]

Quote

Haunted by Emma's death and his failure to kill Ihab, Barry pushes away his closest allies - including Daliyah. Leila leaves the government in protest and forms an unlikely partnership. Cogswell takes radical action against a blackmailer. Ihab forms a connection with Mahdiya, while the Caliphate ramps up plans to invade Abuddin.

[scrb]

Just like that Ihab has an army?

And just like that Leila is leading in the polls?

Molly's coming back, party's over.

[candall]

I really liked this episode--lots of chess pieces moving around the board--even though I'm having some trouble figuring out all the new players in this younger generation.  Which man is Ihab's fiancée's brother--the one who loves/wants to hook up with the anti-Caliphate woman everyone called "whore"?  And was Mahdiya, the betrothed, all sour-faced because Ihab's first impulse was to check on the sheik instead of her, (which, no big surprise)?

 

Wow, Leila's sister has a lot of chutzpah throwing around blame for the photograph clusterfuck.

 

Bassam's just a disaster; I cringe every time he has a scene, waiting to see how he can screw up the election further.  In a way, his revenge obsession is giving some credibility to the woman who said earlier:  "This little American girl getting killed is going to matter more than all the thousands of our own children who have died."  At the time, I though that was way harsh, because Molly and Bassam were just parents who were feeling the same pain as any other parent under those circumstances, but now I'm holding Bassam responsible for losing sight of his leadership duties in favor of tunnel-visioning Emma.  Yes, of course he's still a grieving parent, but particularly since he was ground-zero in the death of a good friend's daughter, he needs to get a grip on himself.   FFS, Barry, you're the prez--Big Picture.

(Note:  This would be an excellent time for that often-discussed scenario where the two leaders leave their armies behind and just march out to meet each other for a one-on-one fight to the finish to decide the war.  Since Bassam and Ihab are both aware they're all about "Revenge!" just go beat each other to death and spare everyone else the wear and tear and bloodshed.)

 

I'm surprised at all the sharia law proponents, back in Abuddin, who are actively involved in the election.  I thought that imposing sharia law was one of the main objectives of the Caliphate (along with ousting western world influence.)  I have in my head that countries with strict sharia law are chiefly ruled by powerful clerics instead of democratically elected officials.  I guess Leila is now proposing a "moderate" joint sharia-democracy government?

 

Sammy, Sammy, Sammy.  Go take a cold shower before you get someone killed.  Idiot.

[sjohnson]

The political marriage of the wealthy with the clergy is not some bold strategy, but very close to being the norm in most Arab states. It reaches its peak in Saudi, I think. It's the socialist regimes that commit to a secular state. The US has nearly succeeded in wiping them out, with Syria's Baathist regime about the last survivor. The military in countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey (the latter two not Arab countries,) tends to favor "moderate" religious parties that don't threaten the rule of the wealthy and the generals...but they are open to persuasion depending on the situation. 

The weird thing about the show right now is not that Bassam is losing it. It is the weirdly inexplicable power of the US military. The open contempt with which Cogswell dismissed the lead Abuddinian general says it all, I thought. Bassam isn't becoming the tyrant because he closed "private" prayer places at a public university, or because he banned a presidential candidate in contact with the Caliphate. It's because his rule rests on the US military. He doesn't have to listen to any stinking Abuddinians with them on his side. 

Western values are not Western values in any meaningful sense. On any Sunday you can find innumerable people extolling traditional values that would blend very well with Islamic society. These values are international values, developed over the centuries from the Enlightenment, which was just as international then.  It is something of an historical accident that they emerged first in the parts the world now called, somewhat arbitrarily, the West. (As the world keeps growing together, international values had to emerge first somewhere.) 

As near as I can make out, the professor is just BSing about how dangerous it is to have an affair with Sammy. Sammy outed him to his father, not the Caliphate. As for his notion that because he didn't fit a particular image of gay men in the US, he wasn't homosexual...the many men who just aren't sexually excited by other men would disagree, vehemently. He didn't mean he was physically attracted to both sexes either, I think. He meant he wasn't effeminate. If being effeminate means you don't act like an asshole, I'd have to agree.

[scrb]

Why did they get rid of eyeliner general anyways, if they're going to keep the other guy as general?

Guess they couldn't show him being deferential all the time to Barry?

But there could have been interesting story possibilities, as the only surviving son of Jamal, jealous of Ahmed and Sammy possibly.

[cyberfruit]

2 hours ago, scrb said:

Why did they get rid of eyeliner general anyways, if they're going to keep the other guy as general?

Guess they couldn't show him being deferential all the time to Barry?

But there could have been interesting story possibilities, as the only surviving son of Jamal, jealous of Ahmed and Sammy possibly.

There can be only one (secret love child).

[cyberfruit]

I always feel like writers are running out of plots when sex is thrown in at the worst possible times. Leila goes to The General because she's worried about the photo, and he feels the need to be sexually aggressive. The young liberal woman (sorry, but I don't remember her name!) tells expresses her frustration over being slut-shamed, and her boyfriend wants to make love to her because "she isn't a whore." And then gets upset with her when she pushes him away. Way to miss the damn point. 

Fauzi was only in the show for a moment, but his surprise at Daliyah standing by Bassam's side is an egg. I wonder how their alliance will stay in tact once he finds out that they've been sleeping together (and he will, eventually). Molly's return may or may not be interesting, depending on how she's dealt with Emma's death while away. The timeline for the show is never mentioned, but I'm guessing it's been a couple of months since Emma died. 3-6 months or so?

Didn't think the Sheik would go out the way he did, but it make sense. Being Ihab's superior kept him from his revenge path that Bassam's also on. It's about time they finally deal with one another without intervention. 

I don't believe that Ahmed is actually Bassam's son. 

[scrb]

Other thing is, why is Molly going back?

She's a US citizen who lost her daughter over there.  Get back home and get the rest of your family back to where it's safe.

But the producers are determined to make Barry and family the center of the show while writing out Jamal and marginalizing Leila's role.

I know the ratings haven't been great the first two seasons but will this way be better?

Well the best thing about Barry and family is that they don't have accents to offend delicate American viewers' sensibilities.

[NorthstarATL]

I don't get Molly returning either. I thought she was well away from the country and has nothing positive to offer other than another family member for Barry to protect. Still amazed that Sammy is running around loose what with all the people who are not happy with Barry's rule. Apologies to Mr. Noth, but the filming of that sex scene with Leila did him no favors. Yikes! I think Leila is making a Cersei or Merkel -like mistake getting in bed with religious extremists. That sort of thing eventually turns on you, as I think President Clinton's wife will likely find out as well.

[Rapunzel]

Before Emma was killed and Bassam announced he wasn't going to run for President, Molly seemed a bit upset by it - like she really wanted to be First Lady. I wonder if now, for however long it is she's been away, she's had some time to grieve over Emma and maybe is now on some crusade about pushing Bassam to run or cancel the election and stay President so that she can try to ensure that Abbudin is reformed and what happened to Emma doesn't happen to anyone else. I'm mainly just throwing this out there since this is a storyline we've seen about a million times, and I can't see how the show works without Bassam as President.

Of course, there are a million ways to keep Bassam President and I would be surprised if he actually does leave office or, if he does, that it's not for very long.

Molly could also just be coming back to try to convince Sammy to go back to the US with her, which wouldn't surprise me either. I like episodes with no Molly - she just doesn't add anything at all and all Sammy adds is stupidity.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Rapunzel

[Ottis]

Every single character on this show acted as an idiot in this episode. The first 16 minutes were an embarrassment. 

The only thing that is working is the conversion of Bassam to his brother and father, through a series of events that led to them becoming tyrants. Perhaps Barry's father started out more like Barry.

When they killed Bassam's brother, they killed this show. 

And there was a distinct Wrath of Khan vibe to Ihab's video. 

Edited August 19, 2016 by Ottis

[candall]

On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 10:41 AM, sjohnson said:

[...]

The weird thing about the show right now is not that Bassam is losing it. It is the weirdly inexplicable power of the US military. The open contempt with which Cogswell dismissed the lead Abuddinian general says it all, I thought. Bassam isn't becoming the tyrant because he closed "private" prayer places at a public university, or because he banned a presidential candidate in contact with the Caliphate. It's because his rule rests on the US military. He doesn't have to listen to any stinking Abuddinians with them on his side. 

Western values are not Western values in any meaningful sense. On any Sunday you can find innumerable people extolling traditional values that would blend very well with Islamic society. These values are international values, developed over the centuries from the Enlightenment, which was just as international then.  It is something of an historical accident that they emerged first in the parts the world now called, somewhat arbitrarily, the West. (As the world keeps growing together, international values had to emerge first somewhere.) 

As near as I can make out, the professor is just BSing about how dangerous it is to have an affair with Sammy. Sammy outed him to his father, not the Caliphate. As for his notion that because he didn't fit a particular image of gay men in the US, he wasn't homosexual...the many men who just aren't sexually excited by other men would disagree, vehemently. He didn't mean he was physically attracted to both sexes either, I think. He meant he wasn't effeminate. If being effeminate means you don't act like an asshole, I'd have to agree.

But it's the oppressive actions imposed on the population by an individual that defines him as a tyrant, more than the source of the strength used to enforce those decisions, no?  Bassam just gets all glinty-eyed, clenches his teeth until that jaw muscle starts throbbing and lowers the boom.  The boom he lowers is powered by the American forces, but Bassam "Loose Cannon" Al-Fayeed isn't consulting them any more than those Abbudinian advisers.  Otherwise we'd call this show "Puppet" instead of "Tyrant."

I think the US armed forces are being featured prominently to showcase Chris Noth more than political agenda.  They killed off Jamal, bumped up Bassam and wanted to install another alpha male, so they went name brand.

 

Sammy stood right next to the professor's half-open door and blared out: YOU'RE A GAY MAN!  The professor might very well have reason to regret finding Sammy's whole shame-free attitude so seductive.  "Say it loud, say it proud" doesn't fly in Abbudin.  (TMJames Brown)

 

By "ousting Western world influence," I was mainly thinking about President Barry, Big and the US military.  I see your point about "Western" being an amorphous term, but how else to shorthand the particular set of behaviors the Caliphate would seek to repress and criminalize?

[In the story this morning about the end of Isis' two-year occupation of Manbij, I kind of loved that woman who flung off her niqab and powered up a cig.  There was also a man happily snipping off the beard he'd apparently never wanted, but her satisfaction was almost palpable.] 

[sjohnson]

Maybe it's unduly ruthless of me, but when you try to dump your boyfriend in public, it's on you if it doesn't go quietly. Even more to the point, I think professor's real issue is that he's too macho to be gay, not safety.

As to the puppet issue, I'm thinking we don't see the pressure until Bassam wants to do something the general disapproves of. Cogswell will covertly back his girl friend?

[thuganomics85]

Man, even the Professor's wife is gorgeous.  There really must be something in Abuddin's water system or their citizens just have great genetics.

Ha!  I doubt the coalition will last for long (especially with both Leila's sister and Nafisa/Al-Qadi's wife being clearly against it), but I'm cracking up over how Barry fucked things up even more, by allowing for it to happen, and having them even being ahead of Fauzi now (again though, it's one simple poll. Politics don't work this way, show!)  Man, is he sucking wind at this job.  Jamal was an evil bastard, but he seem to be more capable then whatever the hell Barry is doing right now.

No surprise that they didn't even take out Ihab with the bombing, and only got the Sheik instead, which now puts Ihab in charge and it looks like war is a coming!  I do think they are deliberately making it out how all of this is all about both Barry and Ihab's personal issues, and all the lives that will be lost is simply because of their need for revenge.

Can Sammy be a bigger moron?  Yeah, just yell out "YOU ARE GAY!" to someone, in a country that is not tolerate towards homosexuals.  I get breaking up sucks, but having your ex possibly kidnapped and killed, is low.  Obviously, I know that isn't his intention, but seriously.  Sammy is a dumbass.

Speaking of dumbass, it sucks for the guy, but Leila's sister kind of deserved having her little plan backfire on her.  Even if I understand the reasons of not wanting Leila associated with Cogswell, there has to be a better way then setting up a fake blackmailing scam.

I'm wondering what part is Halima going to play in all of this, outside of being attacked for being a "whore."

Kind of ironic that in this episode Daliyah says something about being more then just Barry's woman, but that's really all she did in this one.

I do hope we get some more Leila/Nafisa scenes soon, since I'm all for Morian Atias and Annet Mahendru together on screen.