Tyrant

You know what I'm really liking about Bassam's arc? He's finally coming out of himself. He's saying more things than are strictly necessary, like when he told Tarik he would see him tried for war crimes. Even his lies and manipulations are carefully constructed from fragments of truth. It's all quite elegant.

But no, he's not nearly a villain yet, or comfortable being a liar. He's no Lorne Malvo. He just grits his teeth, and goes through with what his loyalty to his family and to his values demand of him.

edited 21st Aug '14 3:20:56 AM by TheHandle

FUCK, THEY CLIFFHUNG US!

New season is going to start this month on June 16th. Looking forward to it.

We'll I'm not. The whole thing's a trainwreck. And the more I learn about Middle Eastern monarchs and autarchs, the more trainwreck-y I find it. It takes the lives of actual people and turns them into melodramatic soap opera!

Season 2's first episode was definitely soap opera-esque in it's ending cliffhanger.

And now it's starting to look like Basam is going to become a modern Moses. Not only is the plotline about Jamal (a "pharaoh", in a sense) sparing Basam by exiling him into the desert similar to how Moses himself was exiled, he was also found and sheltered by a small tribe. And what are the odds that he'll grow close to his caretaker's 2nd wife, and one day make a triumphant return to Maan to save his "people"?

No wonder this drivel is filmed in Israel. The trouble with that Whole-Plot Reference is, Jamal and Bassam's people are one and the same.

My biggest problem with the show are the Murdock Islamaphobe fingerprints all over it. Did anybody else get physically sick when Bassam makes the decision to kill the rebel leader after he prayed in a mosque? Unfortunate Implications aside, what the hell were they trying to do there?

Seems like Bassam is turning out to be a bit of a Marty-Stu. The guy went from being a good diplomatic adviser to Jamal, to a solid insurgency tactician capable of holding his own against the Caliphate (basically an ISIS expy). Kinda getting the feeling that this isn't going to be like Breaking Bad in the sense of this being Bassam's start of darkness - he's just too much of a good guy and optimist, even despite the morally suspect things he's done.

Jamal has also become more likable. Probably because he's now trying to emulate Bassam's political successes and personality, despite his wife and General Tariq's constant encouragement to use more violent methods. He's starting to break down, though; when the Caliphate started winning and over-taking Ma'an, not only did he Finally get fed up with Tariq and kill the bastard , he's starting to act somewhat resigned to the fact that his regime might actually lose the war.

Good diplomatic advisor? His constant proposal of presdentialist democracy as all costs and as a good unto itself was hasty to say the least. There were plenty of formulas and systems that he didn't seem to consider. Like, for instance, getting a parliament off the ground and writing up a consensual constitution.

Then again, Ma'an seems to basically be the size of Monaco. It's really a very short-scope environment: the whole top brass of the military was just a hundred guys?

Also, when is he getting rid of Mrs. Violence: "I don't love you but I sure love my position. Even though my not-loving-you causes the position to be very emotionally stressful. Miserable even. I just value power and wealth over my own dignity and emotional well-being, let alone that of others. What a pitiful figure I am."

I've given up on trying to figure out Abuddin's exact geographical location or size. In one episode it's mentioned that they share borders with Syria, and then another with Lebanon. They've also got a coastline and a major U.S. naval station (which, by the way, never gets mentioned again in season 2 when ISIS invades). Only potential candidate left would be Jordan, but they have no access to the ocean, so even that's doubtful.

As for Leila... I'm getting the feeling that it's gonna be the other way around. Jamal is tolerating her, but Leila is increasingly growing frustrated and acting like a REALLY irritating armchair general towards him. Part of me is thinking that at some point she might try to make a play for the throne by having Jamal killed and letting his son Ahmed take the presidency, while she "advises" (read: pulls virtually all the strings) from the sidelines. Won't be a very long-lived regime, though. She shares far too much of General Tariq's approach towards conflict and prefers to threaten and intimidate to get what she wants - something that Jamal, despite all his horrid behavior, was actually more tame in using.

I'm starting to sense that the writers really don't have a solid characterization or endgame in mind for many of the characters, especially Leila.

The majority of seasons 1 and 2 showed how Leila's influence on Jamal was just as bad as Tariq's, and that her advice was to be avoided. But as of the last two episodes she's suddenly changed from being a person interested in the throne and little consideration for anyone else but herself, into a character looking to set things right.

Her interest in the throne via Ahmed taking control hasn't disappeared though - now it just suddenly has a positive tone to it. Granted, it's probably because Ahmed probably won't turn out as bad as his dad, who at this point has ruined almost every important aspect of his own life and regime including killing his own mother during an attempt to kill his illegitimate son out of paranoia, but still...

edited 27th Aug '15 11:53:12 PM by SgtRicko

The writers of this show are bad and they should feel bad.

As for Leila, maybe she's just trying to fool herself and others around her in thinking that she's not a terrible person.

Probably should have started this show once the real life counterparts were already done for. That way the writers would have more plot to mooch from.

The Syria parallel with Bassam being an Asad expy doesn't even work anymore. Bassam's far too intelligent and adverse to brute force to become anywhere near as bad as his supposed real-life counterpart. Now Jamal fits the description somewhat, but ends up being even sleazier than the real Assad due to his psychopathic man-child tendencies. We might want to change that on the Trope page.

edited 28th Aug '15 5:21:57 PM by SgtRicko

He killed his own mother. Why hasn't he killed himself yet?

Season 2 came to an end last night.

If things were to end with Tyrant not getting approved for a third season, I guess this would be a rather conclusive ending. With the Caliphate successfully routed from Abuddin, Bassam becoming more or less the people's hero, the UN pressing charges of Crimes Against Humanity against Jamal's regime, and Jamal being (very likely) assassinated by Nusrat (of all people!), there's not much to elaborate or build upon. Perhaps a power struggle between Leila and her son Ahmed vs Bassam or the previous members of Jamal's government hierarchy could occur, but there's already alot of momentum going against them vs Bassam's newfound popularity. It'll be a very rocky and short-lived regime if Leila seized power, that's for sure.

edited 3rd Sep '15 8:17:54 AM by SgtRicko

And Abu Omar just vanishes for good? We might as well have just had Ihab found the Caliphate instead since he seemed to be The Heavy anyway (I missed the first half of the season so I know that doesn't help).

If the Caliphate had any remaining control of the outskirts of Abuddin, maybe. They did cross over from Syria after all, which apparently shares borders. Otherwise, what's the point? With the foreign mercenaries buffering Abuddin's troops and the Caliphate's heavy losses, Abu Omar would need a very good reason to justify another invasion attempt.

Season three started a few weeks ago. Only had a chance to catch up on the show this week, and well... I don't think we're gonna be getting a season four.

Right off the bat, the season starts killing off big names. While Jamal ultimately survived the assassination attempt by Nusrat last season (albeit in a coma), she doesn't live much longer after some troops loyal to Leila decided to "help" her commit suicide. Said kill streak continues to take characters that you'd think would have value to the plot, or were probably just too much to money to keep onboard, with Jamal finally being unceremoniously killed by his son Ahmed, while bed-ridden.

The plot itself has taken a depressing tone as well. While the first episode makes things sound mostly upbeat, what with Bassam being given a loyal military and secure grip on the throne, along with a populace who adores him as a hero, once the shit starts hitting the fan, it doesn't stop. Bassam quickly loses said popularity due to harassment from the Caliphate, and the people of Abuddin seem to have forgotten how godawful those guys were, since Bassam quickly loses all his good credit despite all his efforts.

And it even feels intentional; after Bassam's daughter Molly is publicly executed by the Caliphate, the show focuses on how gloomy his family and the overall attitude of the Fayeed household has become. It's almost as if the director is trying to kill off the series, since its becoming hard to imagine continuation with so many deaths and failures.

What makes me imagine we might not get another season is that I didn't even know this season had started until your post.

But hey, if the point was to humanize Bashar Bassam and his inevitable descent into tyranny, it sounds like it's about to come full circle and hit an "end" point anyway.