I'm no Middle East expert and I'm sure it will rattle on all sides, but I just peeked S01E01 and now can't wait for next week. This one could just taste good.
So your father is so raging at his subjects from his palace that at age 18 you decide to leave it alone, take a plane to America and change your name to Barry (GUEST! FROM ALL THE NAMES YOU COULD CHOOSE!). That goes well for years, but then your nephew decides to get married and of course you have to be there. You drag your family on a plane for a lightning trip to the Middle East, with your feet in the lead, but once there, there are some unpleasant surprises lurking that will extend your stay considerably. It is the completely invented life story of Bassam El-Fayeed and FX has made a series about it. A very mediocre series, which I somehow enjoy. You don't have to be a Middle Eastern expert to see that Tyrant is an accumulation of prejudice and caricatures. For example, in Barry's country there are only absurdly beautiful women (in itself perfectly fine of course), all the guys have hair on their backs and a hot temper and the population is ridiculously submissive and they let themselves be dictated to without too much murmuring by a true psychopath. Add to that the fact that the acting is just below par in many areas and that the story borders on complete madness and you actually have a dredge series of size. Still, I liked to watch it and I'm not ashamed of that. Well, maybe a little bit then.
Beginning is strong, ending is unexpected. But after the 5th episode I missed something. Too little depth in the characters which irritated me Bassam's motivation to become president was bad for me. His brother the dictator very good actor! What is the major force behind the series, there are too many poorly cast actors within this Arabic setting. The mother of basses makes you think of someone from the English court.
June 17 the series starts again ..... the only thing that really fascinates me, is how Barry is released again ... the rest of the stuff around it ... can get old quickly, I don't mean old ripened cheese.
A great series! An unexpected gem. I enjoy watching it. Perhaps predictable on a few points, but also knows how to surprise. Acting work fine. Rightly rewarded with 2nd season.
To be honest, I think this is a hit after having seen 9 episodes. The only thing that surprises me is that only 2 people here voted for Ashraf Barhom, who, as far as I am concerned, plays a hell of a role, even though you can hardly love his character.