By: Brandon Wolfe
Maybe ‘Tyrant’ isn’t a total lost cause after all. In its first two showings, the series had set itself up to be a sensationalized soap opera, using its provocative premise as mere window dressing rather than something to really sink its teeth into. While I cannot say that “My Brother’s Keeper” necessarily negates any of this as being the case, the episode has a very clear focus on the story it’s trying to tell, and it’s actually a pretty interesting story. In a pinch, this will do.
It’s Jamal’s first day as president of Abuddin and his first order of business is to appoint Bassam to the permanent position of Special Consultant to the President. While Bassam has had a change of heart and now does want to play a role in his family’s empire during this transitional phase, he still intends it to be a temporary one, though his wife Molly is dubious that he will be out in the three-week time frame he has designated. Jamal’s second order of business is to deal with the man behind his recent assassination attempt. Habib Mahfouz (Sammy Sheik), the husband of the mistress who made the attempt on Jamal’s life, is stating that rebel leader Ihab Rashid (Alexander Karim) forced the couple to perpetrate the act. This is all Jamal needs to order that Rashid, a longtime opponent to the Al-Fayeed dynasty, be captured and hanged immediately. But Bassam’s old friend, journalist Fauzi Nadal (Fares Fares), claims to possess evidence that Jamal is going to hang the wrong man, and will present it to Bassam if he uses his position to free Fauzi’s defiant daughter, Samira (Mor Polanuer), who was arrested along with Rashid’s crew.
Bassam does free Samira, who has no gratitude whatsoever toward being rescued by an Al-Fayeed, and returns her to her father. In exchange, Fauzi hands over proof that Rashid was innocent of the attack and that the substance used against Jamal was not ricin (someone’s been watching ‘Breaking Bad’) as reported, but actually just household bathroom cleaner. Bassam then confronts Habib, who breaks down and confesses that he and his wife acted alone out of hatred toward Jamal for his repeated forced dalliances with the woman while her husband and sons were held at gunpoint and made to listen in the next room. Bassam, furious over Jamal’s wretched actions, takes this new information to his brother, who initially does not care that he is about to punish an innocent (at least of this crime) man, but is ultimately swayed by his Bassam’s reasoned forcefulness to do the right thing. He agrees to set Rashid free, hanging Habib in his place while setting up the man’s children for life. In exchange, Bassam agrees to commit himself further to his brother’s regime in the future.
“My Brother’s Keeper” does not scrub free all of ‘Tyrant’s’ problems. It’s still a potboiler masquerading as something substantial. It still has the same stilted, overcooked dialogue, all of it still delivered, nonsensically, in English. It still has no idea what to do with the characters of Bassam’s wife and children, who still come across as hopelessly naïve or irksomely petulant (and the show is still batting around the son’s clandestinely gay flirtation with a young Abuddin man as if it were interesting). But the focus this episode casts on its primary storyline makes it work. The political intrigue and Bassam’s role in unraveling and influencing the messy situation, attempting to deploy his more evolved Western sensibilities into a situation where they are not customary, is genuinely involving. Even Adam Rayner, while still bland overall, manages to carry himself with a bit more presence than he’s been able to muster up to this point.
I don’t know if ‘Tyrant’ will be able to claw its way out of the pit of mediocrity it has dug out for itself. The series has a premise that could truly lead to fantastic television in the right hands, yet it resides in the hands of journeymen either unwilling or incapable (or both) of doing any justice to it. However, even if the series doesn’t prove itself able to rise to meet its potential, if it can keep telling workably intriguing tales like the one presented to us in “My Brother’s Keeper”, at least ‘Tyrant’ can stave off the stigma of being a complete waste of time.
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