Woobie / Al-Rawabi School for Girls

Woobies in Al Rawabi School For Girls.

Season 1

The Woobie

• Mariam.
  • She is beaten, kicked and has her head stomped on by the Layan and her group, and then framed as the abuser when she's the victim. The other girls, despite having no knowledge of the situation, instantly side with Layan because she's more popular. Even the therapist her family send her to assumes she's in the wrong and does little to help her, owing to cultural views that people like her are Hysterical Women.
  • Mariam is then broken heavily again after Layan publicizes her diary and struggles with mental health, even crying alone in the bathroom stall as the other girls call her a freak and throw paper balls at her. She even contemplates going to another school. She's encouraged by Noaf and Dina not to give up, and then later they end up befriending the same bullies that beat her.
  • During Layan's vigil, Mariam sits next to Dina and Noaf, and breaks down in tears because Layan is now dead. They both try to put their arms around her, but she's still inconsolable as she'll have to live with the guilt of what she did forever, regardless of how terrible Layan was to her.
• Layan and Ruqayyah play a prank on Dina where they paint her skirt with red nail polish as they compliment her outfit. Layan then photographs it and sends it to the whole class. Dina is laughed out of the school field in tears. Later, Dina and her Mariam fall out, and she watches helplessly as Mariam executes the final blow to Layan.
• Laith invited Layan over to hang out, and will now live with the weight of her death forever as Hakem mistook them as sleeping with one another (when all they did was play in the pool). Season 2 confirms that Layan was shot and not him, as some girls hold a vigil in her memory.
• Joad is a child, but is kicked and shaken by Ruqayyah, who also takes her inhaler (while Layan and Rania mock her). All because she was Noaf's sister, and Noaf was blamed for something she didn't do. She even hides what happened from their mother because she doesn't want to get Noaf in trouble.
• Summayah tells Layan that she has a family to feed, but that doesn't stop her from threatening to get her fired (as well as possibly unemployable by other places) by saying she was smoking in the bathrooms. As a result, Summayah is forced to out Mariam's identity as the tattletale.

Jerkass Woobie

• Ruqayyah. Her I Am Not Pretty mindset drives a lot of her issues, from feeling like the odd one out because she's the only one of the trio who doesn't have a boyfriend, from her mother telling her that her sisters are much prettier. When it comes to her best friends, even they're not supportive to her at times, like shutting her down from joining the football team because they want her spots, and deserting her when they're going partying while making her carry the drinks. Her self esteem is so bad that Mariam is able to manipulate her into taking off her hijab. When pictures of her circulate online, we see her horribly abusive mother's vitriol increase tenfold, and she forbids her from going back to school because she's Defiled Forever.
  Ruqayyah's mother: Nobody wants damaged goods, do they? A girl's reputation is all she has. It's just like a glass vase. If you break it, it can't be fixed, and even if you do fix it, it will never be the same. And now, Ruqayyah, you're just a broken vase.
• Rania lives with an abusive alcoholic father, who's temperament changes on a whim. She's the main target for his anger and he's extremely controlling of her. When he finds out that she went out clubbing on the field trip, he gives her a black eye. Rania is then seen in the bathrooms as Layan tries to help her cover it up. Afterwards, Rania tells Layan that she's one of the few good things in her life.
  Layan: Does it hurt?
  Rania: Not as much as it did when he first hit me.
  • In Season 2, a vigil is held for Layan. Rania plays a song for her, tearing up as she remembers her friend and even imagines her in the crowd watching her sing. Rania bursts into tears at the end, and has to be hugged by Noaf, Dina and Mariam.
• Even Layan is someone the audience ended up shedding tears for.
  • At first we're led to believe that she has a picture-perfect life, until we see her home situation - her brothers are given a pass to control her and police who she talks to, and they milk this for all it's worth. Layan feels especially suffocated by Hakem, who acts like his authority overrides their father. Seeing Hakem and Khalil know they can get away with everything they do, because Layan is a woman, is infuriating. Hakem is also Ax-Crazy and murders her because she had a boyfriend.
  • In Season 2, we see a mural at Al-Rawabi. It says "Present not in body, but in spirit. Gone but not forgotten.". The camera pans to show just who is on it◊.
• Principal Faten Qadi, despite being a horrible person. Given The Reveal that Laith is her son, imagine her anguish when she'll come home and see that Layan was murdered there, and her son has lost his girlfriend.

Season 2

The Woobie

• Farah. The sheer amount of things she goes through is jaw-dropping.
  • Farah idolizes her cousin Tasneem for being popular and well-liked, and desperately tries to join their Girl Posse. However, Tasneem's friends find her a drag and go out of their way to exclude her any way they can. When Omar throws a party, Farah gets all dolled up ready to go, only to never get an invite.
  • When Tasneem announces her dance group, Farah is eager to join, only to find out that Tasneem relegated her to lights and sound. She desperately tries to plead with her to let her join, only to be denied. Finally, a lonely Farah sings alone in the auditorium, unaware than Hiba is observing her. Hiba praises her Beautiful Singing Voice, but tells her she will never be allowed to stand beside Tasneem and her clique because "she needs more than that" (Farah is very chubby and has a poor sense of fashion). Farah is left crying by the end.
  • At the end of the semester, Shams airs her documentary, which has dirt on all the other Al-Rawabi girls. When it comes to her segment, Shams states that if Farah wasn't Tasneem's cousin, then no one would be bothered with her amongst other humiliating clips. Everyone laughs at Farah. Later, Hiba has an inkling something isn't right, and follows Farah to the bathrooms, only to find out she slit her wrists.
• Sarah feels lesser than all her other classmates because she's from a lower-class background and not as wealthy. When she gets a big break thanks to a Tiktok video, the Alpha Bitch invites her into her clique, and she faces frequent scorn from the other girls (including Ensa, a musician who she's a huge fan of, acting sweet to her face and mocking her later). Desperate for money, Sarah starts sending pictures of her feet to men online, which culminates in full body nudes. Her reputation is ruined as even her brother is bullied for it and her parents can't stand to look at her.

Jerkass Woobie

• Tasneem has an eating disorder because her mother constantly critisizes her and forces her to attend ballet/piano classes so she can have the "perfect" daughter. Even though she's the school's resident Alpha Bitch, she constantly feels insecure about it and acts belligerent as a way to hide it. And it's all for naught, as at the end of the semester Shams outs it in front of the entire school, complete with footage of her throwing up at the school bathrooms.
• Shams herself. Ever since she was a child, she learned that people befriended her not because they liked her, but because they wanted to get close to her big brother Omar. Omar himself states that he doesn't like Shams and does his best to not associate with her. Shams is full of resentment for years of being treated like she doesn't exist, and decides to mark her presence by producing an incriminating documentary on the students of Al-Rawabi.