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[Saty]

Painfully expected. Trying too hard to make the meeting seem like a bust that it was guaranteed Ihab's father was going to show up at the end. It would have been nice in some way if Jamal said 'screw it' and killed everyone else, but on the other hand they are already using a big-ass brush in portraying him as some no holds barred villain.

I also like how they try hard to have everyone speak in a middle-eastern accent but then don't give a shit about the mother speaking like a British royalty.

 

[Dysun]

I enjoyed the pilot, but the next few episodes have been pretty mediocre/bad. I might stick around to see if it picks up, seemed like it had promise

 

[ambientmystic]

I also like how they try hard to have everyone speak in a middle-eastern accent but then don't give a shit about the mother speaking like a British royalty.

I was under the impression that the mum was indeed not from around those parts? Perhaps the choice of accent was intentional.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

I was under the impression that the mum was indeed not from around those parts? Perhaps the choice of accent was intentional.

Yeah, I think she's british. Not like that isn't unknown. Syrian leader has a foreign wife.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

I only did the hulking out bit. That the part you want?

That was a great scene.

Quality improved drastically without the kids being present on screen.

Countered by Jamal becoming more neutered by episodes end.

 

[Saty]

I was under the impression that the mum was indeed not from around those parts? Perhaps the choice of accent was intentional.

If she's supposed to be, they didn't say anything that i recall of. Just sticks out against how hard they are trying with the accent.

Also, the writing is weird. Like the one with 'who killed your puppy'. Some of the lines seem to be written for people from that region with that region's language, but being in English they sound out of place; and some lines are just what you'd expect Americans to say to each other that aren't quite natural when they are coming from Arabic characters that should be speaking Arabic, especially when they are talking to other non-Americans.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I either fell asleep watching this because I was feeling sick, or I got sick and fell asleep because I was watching this.

haha

I had such high hopes for this and Power and both have been pretty disappointing so far.

Power especially, but this isn't the thread for that.

Power is quite a bit better than Tyrant. Why did you have high hopes for it though?

Spoiler

you can answer in the Power thread if you want

- Onion A|V Club review

With the premise of the show explicitly stated to be Barry’s Godfather-style incremental corruption, leading him back into his family’s dark business (of tyranny), Tyrant has yet—halfway through its season—to show that Barry is remotely corruptible. When Molly confronts her husband, saying, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re getting off on this,” the words simply don’t register. In Rayner’s performance, there’s no hint that Barry is doing anything but trying to make everyone play nice.

Yeah, that hasn't come across at all. I've never gotten the impression that Barry was being corrupted, or that he was even capable of being corrupted.

I was under the impression that the mum was indeed not from around those parts? Perhaps the choice of accent was intentional.

I'm pretty sure they mentioned the fact that she wasn't from Abbudin in the pilot. Anyway, her profile on the official website states:

Alice Maud Krige stars as "Amira" - The matriarch of the Al-Fayeed clan, Amira is the first lady of Abbudin with a strong sense of control over her family and their position as rulers of the country. Originally from England, Amira stood firm behind her husband throughout his rule, and her relationship with Barry suffers because of it.

 

[Omega]

Yeah..when I heard of the show I figured Barry would eventually be like the rest of his family. But that seems highly unlikely. He's shown absolutely no signs of being corruptible. Anyway they try to do it, it will be forced and make no sense.

I'll stick with the show, because it's still not worse than Sons of Anarchy post Season 2, but it's kind of disappointing when compared to other FX shows.

 

[Saty]

Don't think i would want the show to take that direction. There are enough series that do a morally degrading protagonists and anti-heroes.
Jamal's characterization as The Worst Person Alive has already been incredibly crude, and he had the head-start of being a tyrant's son. Can you imagine how are they going to make Barry lose his shit? And what, Molly is then supposed to roll with it? They ARE 2 Doctors on top of it all. And Emma that can barely stand to be in the situation as it currently is?

What's going to be interesting in Jamal & Barry wreaking havoc? We've seen the quality of writing and performance, doubt they can pull it off. You don't have interesting opposing characters to root for so you'll be waiting until something happens that snaps Barry out of it that would lead to him stepping down\ forcing Jamal and others from out of ruling and then leaving Abbudin.

In practice this grand arc may result in good series, but it won't for Tyrant with its writing, performance and production issues. Maybe they saw the materials they had to work with it and how they reworked the pilot etc. and decided to step back from going with the corruption angle. Which i would say is a good decision seeing the quality of these less ambitious 5 episodes.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Is it a corruption of Barry when we know he's capable of doing things that not even his older brother was capable of when they were younger?

It seems Barry is the one that's trying to convince himself and by extension, Jamal, that people can change. He's still the brutal murderer we see him as a child, he somewhat successfully repressed it while in the US but now that he's home, it's clearly bubbling to the surface and the way he's trying to repress it now is by trying to reform Jamal and the country.

It'll backfire though, it inevitably does.

 

[Funky Papa]

Everybody in this show is so inept and prone to last minute decisions it's nothing short of a miracle they are still breathing.

At this point I'm only watching this mess because I want to see if S2 can live up to its potential.

 

[Cornballer]

New episode tonight:

What the World Needs Now

Spoiler

Barry convinces Jamal to meet with exiled opposition leader Sheik Rashid; Jamal is forced to make a difficult decision that will impact the lives of his family and his country forever.

 

[kehs]

its on

 

[lazybones18]

Let me take that under advisement

 

[KumaJG]

Jamal not getting the love he wants

 

[johnny_park]

Has this show gotten better? I only watched the first two episodes and thought it was just ok.

 

[Freezasaurus]

Hahahahahahaha, oh man... That ending. XD

 

[DerZuhälter]

No matter how horribly predictable and clicheed that ending was to the episode, this was still by far the best one to the series yet. And guess what: The fewer screentime all the fluff characters get the better the episodes were.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

No matter how horribly predictable and clicheed that ending was to the episode, this was still by far the best one to the series yet. And guess what: The fewer screentime all the fluff characters get the better the episodes were.

Agreed.

Jamal exiting stage left after a meeting is interesting enough. On one hand I'm surprised that Jamal is putting on a good face and listening to his brother. He doesn't want to do it, but there isn't a better option for continued self preservation. Then again he is wising up to how much manipulation is taking place and still has a mean streak where he'll do things his own damn way.

 

[Cornballer]

- Promo for next week's episode (please spoiler tag any discussion)

 

[MrGreencastle]

I actually have really liked the actor who plays Jamal's performance. Past couple episodes have really sold me on that guy, some pretty intense scenes.

 

[darkwing]

yikes I did not see that ending

 

[Dominican Power]

yikes I did not see that ending

I did. I was waiting for Jamal to snap. This episode conveyed how intoxicating power can be and how hard it is to give up that kind of absolute power.

 

[ambientmystic]

yikes I did not see that ending

'Bout damn time if you ask me.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

"Have you a toilet? His mouth is full of phlegm."

No matter how horribly predictable and clicheed that ending was to the episode, this was still by far the best one to the series yet. And guess what: The fewer screentime all the fluff characters get the better the episodes were.

Agreed. It still wasn't good but it was sure as hell better than anything that's come before it.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

So is the American brother going to end up running against Jamal?

 

[DominoKid]

man this show wouldn't be shit w/o Jamal. it feels like he's carrying most of the airtime.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

man this show wouldn't be shit w/o Jamal. it feels like he's carrying most of the airtime.

He's literally carrying the entire show on his back.

 

[darkwing]

I did. I was waiting for Jamal to snap. This episode conveyed how intoxicating power can be and how hard it is to give up that kind of absolute power.

'Bout damn time if you ask me.

lol I thought for a second there he would be a good guy, but I guess the series would be over quickly, this is getting interesting

 

[Saty]

Would have been smarter if Jamal had faked urgency and ran out of the bathroom asking for help.

At some point that ending wasn't a shock, they lay it out thick about Bassam pulling all the strings and you knew Jamal is going to have enough of it.

 

[jett]

That's the best episode of the season right there. Quick and snappy, shit moved in a brisk manner, no filler at all. It's not great, but it's a definite guilty pleasure right now.

 

[Mr.Swag]

This feels like a show that was going to get canceled. Where can the story go? Does Barry inevitably become president himself?

 

[Funky Papa]

This feels like a show that was going to get canceled. Where can the story go? Does Barry inevitably become president himself?

I'm getting the same feeling. I lacks aim, although you can tell from the get go that the general is going to pull a coup sooner than later.

It's just so unremarkable at everything but the ass factor. Which was in full force during the latest episode. Also, what are the odds of that blonde lady being a rat?

 

[Valhelm]

This feels like a show that was going to get canceled. Where can the story go? Does Barry inevitably become president himself?

I'm pretty certain Jamal will die this season, or a civil war will break out.

 

[a secret-boss]

Finally jamal showed some backbone, but yeah the sheik's death was predictable

 

[Niraj]

Show would be better if they just centered it around Jamal, especially since he's the only character who's actually worth a shit. Focus on how he didn't really have a choice in becoming the leader, delve more into how he has no friends/happiness/whatever/blah blah. At this point, it really feels like Barry and his family are completely pointless. They could've just had his wife or son or whatever go to an international school and be "enlightened" with the virtues of democracy and serve the same role as Barry in offering differing opinions. Yeah, they're positioning Barry as a real menace/leader or whatever, but he's so limp in his role that it doesn't really have any effect at all, or at least not the intended one. Maybe all this would also be a mediocre show, but it doesn't seem like it'd be any worse at least.

 

[Cornballer]

New episode tonight:

Preventative Medicine

Spoiler

Jamal is terrified to discover that Sheik Rashid might actually survive Jamal’s brutal attack, while Amira’s disclosure of a twenty year old secret leads Barry to question everything he’s ever believed about his father.

 

[Funky Papa]

Wow, that preview has some pretty big spoiler.

I'm sure it will be reveled right off the bat, but still.

 

[lazybones18]

Barry's world just keeps crashing down

 

[Dominican Power]

Who mentioned before that the attack on the barracks and ma'an was done by Tariq?




I don't know why Jamal had to kill that woman.

 

[Vlad]

I don't know why Jamal had to kill that woman.

Yeah, I didn't quite get that, either. The only thing that I could think of was that he was kind of getting used to the idea of running away with her and leaving everything behind (all his talk of being a bad president), especially since he figured that there was no way that Barry would actually do what he asked him to do. Since Barry killed the Sheik, Jamal lost the reason he could have given himself to run away, and the woman (did she even have a name?) ended up being representative of the happiness he knew he could never have.

 

[Cornballer]

- Promo for next week's episode (please spoiler tag any discussion)

 

[Saty]

Yeah, I didn't quite get that, either. The only thing that I could think of was that he was kind of getting used to the idea of running away with her and leaving everything behind (all his talk of being a bad president), especially since he figured that there was no way that Barry would actually do what he asked him to do. Since Barry killed the Sheik, Jamal lost the reason he could have given himself to run away, and the woman (did she even have a name?) ended up being representative of the happiness he knew he could never have.

Which is nonsense, he could have given any reason to stay and the woman would have gone with it. He could have said that actually he would miss his brother now that he has come in his aid.

Ending suggest now Barry will try and torpedo Jamal staying in office. I wonder how long he can manage that before someone will figure out he is behind it.

 

[a secret-boss]

so this is the show. if someone wants something it will happen (getting the sheik to comply, Jamal almost killing the sheik, and Jamal telling Barry to kill the sheik) so no twist or hesitation from the character.

 

[DominoKid]

I don't know why Jamal had to kill that woman.

I didn't get it either but it just felt necessary. I called him snapping her neck while the scene was unfolding but suffocation works too.

 

[RustyNails]

"Btw ur dad was ok"

 

[RatskyWatsky]

There it is: Barry finally starts down the path to the dark side. It only took 7 hours for them to get to the actual conceit of the show.

Also, Jamal walking towards the camera in the opening scene needs to be a gif. #PagingVertBoil

 

[Dominican Power]

Who mentioned before in the previous episode that the attacks were perpetrated by Tariq?

 

[Saty]

There it is: Barry finally starts down the path to the dark side. It only took 7 hours for them to get to the actual conceit of the show.

What dark side? Barry doesn't want Jamal winning because he has now learned first-hand he is a terrible and 'broken' person after what he made him do. If Barry is to find himself ruling the country i don't see how he's going to suddenly be all iron-fist and ruthless. Barry is agonizing over what Jamal had him do and in the end of the episode he pretty much regrets he agreed to do so, and he is now trying to find a way to make Jamal lose the election.

 

[Vert boil]

There it is: Barry finally starts down the path to the dark side. It only took 7 hours for them to get to the actual conceit of the show.

Also, Jamal walking towards the camera in the opening scene needs to be a gif. #PagingVertBoil