S03.E10: Two Graves

[ShellSeeker]

Quote

Barry and Molly are on the brink of waging war on the Caliphate. Leila makes a bold political move and braves the possibility of a close betrayal. Barry and Daliyah face a final reckoning in their relationship. The conflict in Abuddin threatens to turn into a bloody civil war. 

[slothgirl]

deleted... wrong thread

Edited September 1, 2016 by slothgirl

[Artsda]

So Leila just declares herself President? Abbudin's still in political unrest and going to war.

Sammy's shot in the back, paralyzed.

Molly wants to bring another child into that world? Take Sammy and go back to California before wanting a new baby.

Daliyah has chosen to live because she 10 million twitter followers. Exley can walk in and have chats?

Ahmed having his painting next to Bassam's fathers, is very Tyrant. Good ending on that scene.

Not really a series finale ending. So much left open.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Artsda

[candall]

I thought the finale was EXCELLENT.

The small parts were great:  Star-crossed Leila and Cogswell.   Al-Qadi and Nafisa and their pre-destined doom.  Safiya betrays Leila and they're both more sympathetic because of it. 

The big stuff was even better:  Just when you thought it was impossible, Molly dials up the evil another notch.  Sammy gets nowhere with his words, finally makes an impact with his blood. The resurrection of Daliyah--at the hands of Exeley, no less! 

Best of all, someone FINALLY calls Bassam on his shit in a way he can hear.  And the wake up call is so literal, it includes "Good morning."  LOL

 

I should stay out of politics because I fully expected Bassam to take his new insight and try to turn things around.  Ha.  What's the name of this show again?  I forget.

Edited September 8, 2016 by candall

[slothgirl]

If this ends up being the series-ender, it was worth it for the awesome smackdown of Bassam by General Maloof. Barry has been an idiot ever since the general arrested Leila way back at the beginning of the season. Barry really thought he was calling the shots. So did Molly in her own way.

The army has been calling the shots from the moment Jamal got shot.

FINALLY something realistic happened on this show!

Edited September 8, 2016 by slothgirl

[scrb]

Well until the eyeliner general got killed at any rate.

This other general appeared out of nowhere.

I wouldn't mind if some other outlet picked it up.

A few months back, Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan were on their podcast scratching their heads about how Tyrant was in the third season.

Maybe once the sets were built in location, FX decided they might as well get X seasons out of it.

They had some prestigious actors going through at one time or another.  It became a mess plot-wise but beautiful women and sets, some adventures and now a season finale, not a series finale.

They had the poor actress who play Molly turn into some kind of Cruella Deville, topped off by that bizarre sex scene.

And Daliyah was going to kill herself for what, because she was some great martyr for democracy while leaving her son motherless?

Maybe TPTB felt pressure to show more action and show the Tyrant finally.  But nothing in the way Barry and Molly were depicted in the first two seasons is consistent with the cartoons they became.  They get rid of Jamal and spread his crazy on these poor characters?

[Constantinople]

So Leila unilaterally proclaimed herself President?

And she claims she's not really an Al-Fayeed.

[sjohnson]

If only Leila's program wasn't corruption, religious reaction and appeasement of the Caliphate, you might at least get behind her as not being an American. Speaking of which, it was Cogswell's exit that allowed Maloof to be the military strongman, and why Exley suddenly found it desirable to look for another moron to be a figurehead. 

The episode mostly works as a series finale, where this is an insane inverted version of Syria, where the perpetual rebels are fighting for democracy against a tyranny and have nothing to do with Islamic State, er, the Caliphate, while the US is cynically sacrificing democracy to the sake of the struggle against Islamic State, er, the Caliphate. Safely fits the more demented propaganda. Still, this is nowhere as insulting to reality and common decency as Homeland, I think. 

The Sammy conclusion where all of a sudden the professor is avowing his love makes no sense whatsoever. We know of course that Sammy can't be paralyzed, since he hasn't got a central nervous system to paralyze. Otherwise he'd have left the country. He's not an Abuddinian, doesn't speak Arabic, has no serious political commitments and has a boatload of money left to spend on decadent homosexual pursuits. But if you mentally excise all Sammy, it works rather nicely, I thought.

[catrox14]

Well that was an interesting finale. It seems a set up for s4 but with the cancellation news so many unanswered/ambiguous ends dangling.

I'm glad Leila declared herself President.

I was totally fooled by Barry's nightmare about killing Daliyah. And he is torturing Daliyah. That was an awful scene :(. Ugh.

I was really rooting for Barry to destroy the portrait and walk away. But alas.

Molly is still completely messed up from Emma's death.

I was really upset when Sammy was shot in the back but happy that his boyfriend admitted his love for him.

[tvmom]

What a mess this show has become. 

[cyberfruit]

17 hours ago, slothgirl said:

If this ends up being the series-ender, it was worth it for the awesome smackdown of Bassam by General Maloof. Barry has been an idiot ever since the general arrested Leila way back at the beginning of the season. Barry really thought he was calling the shots. So did Molly in her own way.

The army has been calling the shots from the moment Jamal got shot.

FINALLY something realistic happened on this show!

The realest scene in this entire show. 

And Bassam is just like his father who was basically a figurehead for General Tariq.

Edited September 8, 2016 by cyberfruit

[ganesh]

22 hours ago, candall said:

Best of all, someone FINALLY calls Bassam on his shit in a way he can hear.  And the wake up call is so literal, it includes "Good morning."  LOL

This was the only part of the episode I liked. 

I found it really dragged, mainly because it was kind of predictable. Hey, let's all stand up straight and tall while there's a ton of shooting going on. Then run into open space!

The twitter plot should have been introduced way earlier in the episode. That was the only other interesting thing. On top of getting a signal in the dungeon. 

13 hours ago, Constantinople said:

So Leila unilaterally proclaimed herself President?

And she claims she's not really an Al-Fayeed.

That was so bizarre. They can just plan to arrest her whenever. 

This was probably 12 minutes too long. I think they really blew what was a compelling narrative going into this season.

[slothgirl]

17 hours ago, Constantinople said:

So Leila unilaterally proclaimed herself President?

And she claims she's not really an Al-Fayeed.

Well she seriously channeled Eva Peron in the final shot after her speech, so....

I half expected her to break out in a rendition of Don't Cry for Me Abuddin

[subina167]

Extremely disappointed. I really enjoyed the first two seasons but S3 became  a ridiculous soap opera. Both Sammy and Molly are meaningless. Out of nowhere, Molly doesn't love Bassam  anymore and she's become one tough lady. Right, really believable. If such is the case, then get the divorce and go back to America. But no. She wants a baby from a husband who no longer loves her and whom she no longer loves as well. He weakly says "no" but she wins out. That last storyline with the ridiculous sex scene was so absurd and stupid, that I won't watch the show again even if it's renewed.

[ganesh]

I can't complain about Molly because she's been all over the place from the start. It has to be hard for an actor to not have an idea of where the character is going. 

They really dropped the ball by disconnecting Barry's time in the desert with this season. The show said it itself, "he could have set the elections for 12 months instead of 6." He could have spent that time actually building the democratic institutions the country would need. I think it was a huge miss to not go in the greek concept of 'tyrant'. Whether Barry would have been successful or not would have been interesting, if the general was introduced as a real protagonist.

In hindsight, as much as I like the smack down from the general, it kind of came out of nowhere. I would have liked a few more clues along the season that they were building to that. It's a good idea, but it seemed added on. 

[sjohnson]

I think the show would have had problems building up Maloof as an antagonist without showing US support for him, either Cogswell or Exley, if not both. They can allow a general, non-specific pacifist critique (oh, how dreadful, war kills noncombatants!) but actually showing the US supporting vicious reactionaries, shameless crooks and sectarians doesn't pass the first audience, the producers and execs. 

[subina167]

Well,  according to Sidereel.com, Tyrant has definitely been canceled.

[scrb]

Yeah but it sounds like the studio which owns the show is going to shop it to another network or maybe Netflix.

[slothgirl]

13 hours ago, ganesh said:

In hindsight, as much as I like the smack down from the general, it kind of came out of nowhere. I would have liked a few more clues along the season that they were building to that. It's a good idea, but it seemed added on. 

I assume you mean Maloof, not Chris Noth playing "Big-Goes-to-War."

The clue was back when Barry and eyelinerguy couldn't prevent the arrest of Leila and Ahmed because the army refused to stand behind Barry without their arrest. The general was calling the shots and Barry had to go along. Barry only succeeded in ANY of his plans with the support of the army. My only objection was that the general's overall stance or policy position didn't seem consistent. But it has been consistent that Barry had no power of his own.

[ganesh]

Well, it was awfully subtle then. I'm skeptical they were really building to that climax in the finale. 

[slothgirl]

I guess we remember it differently. As I remember it, Barry and eyeliner opposed the arrest, and Malloof said quite plainly that it was the price for having the support of the military for Barry's presidency. At that point, it seemed clear that Barry would always have to bow to their will.

Of course, then the whole truth and dignity commission thing meant Leila and Ahmed got OUT of prison, but that never made sense to me even at the time. It was a complete reversal of what her enemies had insisted on. And I couldn't credit Barry with forcing the issue, because they had just shown us by their arrest that his power was limited on any issue opposed by Maloof.

But then consistency has never been this show's strong suit.

[NorthstarATL]

On 9/9/2016 at 1:56 AM, slothgirl said:

Well she seriously channeled Eva Peron in the final shot after her speech, so....

I half expected her to break out in a rendition of Don't Cry for Me Abuddin

I think the only way the finale could have worked would be as a musical. We could have had the Professor sing "I Don't know How To Love Him", Molly and Barry duet on "Sunrise, Sunset" and/or "Having My Baby", Dahlia singing something about being popular, and the entire cast singing "Abuddin Forever", written especially for the episode.

[ganesh]

I would like to see that.

[slothgirl]

2 hours ago, NorthstarATL said:

I think the only way the finale could have worked would be as a musical. We could have had the Professor sing "I Don't know How To Love Him", Molly and Barry duet on "Sunrise, Sunset" and/or "Having My Baby", Dahlia singing something about being popular, and the entire cast singing "Abuddin Forever", written especially for the episode.

I'm sure there are some Les Miz adaptations that would work.

"Do You Hear the People Scream?" (Maloof)

"On Your Own" (Barry to Dahliya)

"Bring Her home" for Emma. Especially poignant with many meanings for the line "She's like the son I never had". 

"One Day More" : the fight against cancellation

"I Dreamed a Dream" . Pick any character! Especially good for Nusrat.

"Who Are You?" Sung by the audience to Molly

the list goes on and on!

[dungeonwriter]

3 hours ago, slothgirl said:

I'm sure there are some Les Miz adaptations that would work.

"Do You Hear the People Scream?" (Maloof)

 

Do you hear the people Scream? (General Maloof) 

Do you hear the People Scream?

Singing the song of broken men?

It is the wailings of a people 

Who shall be slaves again 

When the beatings I give out 

Defeat Caliphate rebel scum 

It is the future of Maloof 

When tomorrow comes 

I shall lead a great crusade

Al-Fayeed should take a knee 

Democracy shall be betrayed 

And the people won't be free 

So join in the fight, or I'll set you right

The power in this land is me!!!! 

-----

(On Your Own) 

And now you're in chains again

Nowhere to go, no one to turn to 

The prison clothes are awful here

And the scenery is make do 

And when I am near 

I cause in you such fear 

So I come to you again at night

When Molly is plotting in her sleeping 

I see you here, in the prison where I'm keeping 

You chained to a bed, but I still love you in my head

On your own, because Molly says you're a whore 

On your own, I'll imprison the one I adore 

On your own, you'll rot here, though I love you 

 I shall do what I please, because I am above you 

And I know, I'm a hero only in my mind 

That I'm fooling myself, and no one else

And although I'm acting dumb and blind 

Still I say, there's a way for us!

I love you, but when the night is over 

You're in chains, a prison's just a prison 

Without you, the revolution will stop churning 

The world is full of happiness, that you will never know 

I love you, I love you, but now you're on your own....

----

Bows. 

[slothgirl]

Thunderous Applause!

[thuganomics85]

I would be down for a Les Miz adaptation with Tyrant characters!

Once again, I was entertained, but mainly because all these characters are either losing their damn minds or just such big idiots.  The fall of Barry has been the best.  Just seeing his face when he realized that Maloof really does have his number and he is hopeless without him, was the funniest thing ever.  Barry really is the biggest idiot on the planet.  Have fun being the President now, Barry!

Meanwhile, Molly is flipping around between being stone-cold heartless and then crazy to the point that she's basically guilt-tripping Barry to put another baby in her.  Leading to the most hilariously awkward sex scene ever.  I thought for sure we were going to get a shot where Barry was going to pretend he was actually having sex with Daliyah instead, but alas, it was not be.

So, Leila's grand plan is to basically just swear herself in as president and be the people's president or something?  I guess it's good to have popular support, but I would put more stock on the guy who has the army?  What is her endgame, here?

The Caliphate finish off Hussein, so now Nafisa is Team Leila.  Still not sure what was the point of getting Annet Mahendru for this role, unless the plan is making her character more important next season (if that happens...)

Hunger Strike Daliyah still manages to be kind of hot.  I guess it's hard to make Melia Kreiling look unattractive!

You know, in most normal circumstances, taking over someone else's Twitter account would be a dick move and kind of creepy, Fauzi....

Sammy gets shot.  Lives, but might be paralyzed.  At least the professor finally admitted he loves him.

If another network does revive this show, I'm not sure what they are going to do.  It's gone into full-blown soap now and while Morian Atias is still awesome and most everyone else has their moments, I just feel like this show is missing something now that Jamal/Ashraf Barhom has been removed from the picture.

[ganesh]

If they do land on another network, I think they need to do a time jump so they can reboot. I'd ship Molly and Sammy back to the USA and forget about them. 

[TheRabbi]

Alright I binged this season over the past week. Maybe going through it in rapid succession makes it easier to gloss over certain aspects (plus the first 2 seasons I would check forums week to week so all the flaws were pointed out), but I found this to be the most compelling of the 3 seasons, and I'm disappointed it's canceled. 

Yes Barry was a bit ignorant, and some of his storyline with Dahlia dragged at points, but I enjoyed the political battling this season, and it felt a bit more focused.

I didn't quite get Leila's story with how she can somehow just swear herself into the presidency? I did enjoy her partnership with the other candidate this season (I'm terrible with names). 

Sadly this does not work at all as a series finale, and it sucks We won't get more. Generally in today's television age, once a show has a couple seasons under its belt, producers may get a final season warning in time to write a finale, but the ratings this season were pretty disastrous, so FX reminds us it's still a brutal world for tv shows.

[candall]

I contributed my share of snark, but I loved this show.  I would have happily followed the next generation of brothers, newly anointed Daliyah,  President Bassam in opposition to everyone.  Changing the characters in fundamental ways was risky and ambitious and handled reasonably well.  (I like GoT, too, but the characters spend years inching toward the embrace of any new value system.)

Several shows feature contemporary political intrigue, but this was by far the most visual and juicy.

Ah well, I guess Barry's now President For Life.

[slothgirl]

It took me awhile to figure out how Leila could just declare herself president too. I finally rationalized with the following "logic" behind her action:

Fauzi has fled the country and withdrawn from consideration

Her coalition running mate is dead.

There are no other candidates.

Barry suspended the lawful election

She was the likely election winner (being the only one left)

Therefore, she is the "de facto president-elect".

She proclaims herself the "winner" (although no election was held) and establishes a government in exile. Technically I guess Fauzi could also claim to be the head of a government in exile, but we all know that he's totally unsuited to be president. Not that anyone else really IS suited to it, but in the best of peacetimes, Fauzi is a big mushy bowl of ineffectual and uncommitted goo.

[Ottis]

I don't understand how Barry can make boneheaded moves, let his wife prod him into poor actions, excuse his own emotional responses... and then suddenly feel sorry for himself and the painting he is "afraid" captures his image. Either own it, or stop doing it. I have no sympathy for you or your family. Commit or get out. 

[3toddlermama]

I would love if this show was re-imagined with the focus on Leila, Dahlia and Nafisa rebuilding Abuddin.  Barry, Molly and Sammy can get exiled back to the US for all I care.