Today,
I’m staying home for everyone who’s unemployed right now.
I’m
really enjoying this Hulu comedy. At times, its humor reminds me a bit of Atlanta, because it can be so low-key
and suddenly get ridiculous (not as
ridiculous as Atlanta, mind, but it
still has a little of that air to it,) and the characters are interesting and
engaging.
Ramy
is having a crisis: personally, professionally, and spiritually. He’s trying to
figure out what he wants to make of himself while simultaneously suspecting
that he should’ve had that worked out by now. He balances what he wants to do
with his life with the need to support himself, as well as his desire to settle
down in a relationship with his desire to have fun. Through it all, he tries to
be a good Muslim… while he also tries to understand what that means.
Even
though there’s plenty to like about this show, I have to start with Ramy
himself. I feel like we see so few characters who are exploring what their
religion means for them, and that often feels especially true with Muslim
characters. From characters like Sayid on Lost
or Abed on Community (who are
explicitly noted as Muslim but are hardly ever seen to engage with their faith)
to characters like Anwar on Skins
(who goes out of his way to not
follow most of Islam’s teachings,) Ramy is a character who feels much more
honest. He’s a little all over the place. He has sex, but not with Muslim
girls. He doesn’t drink or do drugs and he prays regularly, but he’s not sure
how much connection he feels to God. Season 1 of the show finds him trying to
recenter himself by reconnecting with his religion, and that journey isn’t a
straight line. It’s a wandering one, full of leaps, uncertainty, and
backsliding. I really appreciate that.
While
Ramy, as the title character, is certainly the driving force of the show, I
like that the series also takes time to spread the love around. The first
season features a couple of episodes that Ramy is hardly in at all, and we
instead follow his sister Dena or his mother Maysa, learning so much about
their lives that Ramy never sees. There’s also an episode told mainly in a
flashback to 9/11 and its immediate aftermath for the Muslim-American community
(seeing Ramy’s dad put up an American flag outside their house – man, that gets
me!)
The
only actor here that I’m really familiar with is Hiam Abbass as Ramy’s mom –
she played Mouna in The Visitor –
although I know I’ve seen Amr Waked, who plays Ramy’s dad, before too. Ramy
Youssef is both our star and our creator, and so it’s no surprise that he plays
Ramy with earnest aplomb, bringing heart and humor to the role in spades but
also stepping back at important moments to give other characters/actors time to
shine. May Calamawy is excellent as Dena, shining in her spotlight episode. I
also want to give the show kudos for casting a disabled actor to play a
disabled character, something that is far
too rare in Hollywood. Steve Way plays Ramy’s friend Steve, and their
often-caustic friendship is a great addition to the show.
Warnings
Language
(including racial slurs,) sexual content, drinking/smoking/drug use, violence,
and strong thematic elements.
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