Mo is a dramedy series created by Mohammed Amer and Ramy Youssef, who had previously worked together on Ramy, and directed by Slick Naim. It is loosely based on Amer's experiences growing up as a Palestinian refugee in Houston, Texas.
Amer stars as Mohammed "Mo" Najjar, a Palestinian-born refugee waiting for his family's asylum case to be processed. In the meantime he has his mother Yusra (Farah Bsieso) and brother Sameer (Omar Elba) to support, as well as a serious girlfriend, Maria (Teresa Ruiz), who is a talented auto mechanic. The show balances illegal work, immigration concerns, Houston crime, and family/relationship drama in Mo's life.
The show's eight-episode first season premiered on Netflix on August 24, 2022. It has been renewed for a final second season.
Tropes:
- Back-Alley Doctor: Due to his illegal work activity during his pending asylum case, Mo refuses medical attention when he is shot at a grocery and goes to Chien, a tattoo artist, who patches him up and sends him home with some drugs. Chien's tendency to do this bites him in the ass when he does something similar for a diabetic thug, whose leg then needs to be amputated.
- Big Fancy House: Shila and Glen own a $6M Texas McMansion, which features bathrooms in every corner, a pool, and a zoo.
- Citizenship Marriage:
- Mo's friend Hameed marries an American woman primarily to gain a green card. He pointedly does so in a cowboy suit and extols her bottle-blonde hair.
- It's repeatedly asked, even by Maria herself, why Mo doesn't just marry his girlfriend Maria and get a green card when his asylum case is giving him so much grief.
- Courteous Canadian: Mo's brother-in-law Bob is Canadian and is an affable guy, even when Mo's sister is distant. When Mo's nephew Osama has an off day at a baseball game, Mo blames his Canadian genetics. And when Bob tells Mo off for going on the field, Bob apologizes immediately and Mo proudly notes that Bob actually showed some strength.
- Descent into Addiction: Chien gives Mo some lean (a mixture of prescription codeine-containing cough syrup and soda) to help with the pain while working on his bullet wound. Mo then becomes addicted to the stuff, despite being aware of its dangers.
- Everyone Has Standards: Sameer's boss Damon might be rude and dismissive towards him, but even he knows better than to call the cops on a refugee on the spectrum after Sameer basically steals from the till.
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: In addition to English, Mo is also fluent in Arabic and Spanish, and will often use one of the latter two languages to hide sensitive information from another party.
- Hope Spot: After a grueling process to even get in the door of the asylum hearing (and needing to relive all that they went through in preparation), the Najjars are met with a sympathetic judge who speaks fondly of their deceased patriarch, to their elation...only for him to recuse himself because he knew Mustafa personally. The court date will have to be rescheduled again.
- The Illegal: Variation. As a refugee with an in-progress asylum case, Mo can legally be in the United States. What he can't do, however, is work, which is why he works for sketchy places or independently sells counterfeit luxury goods.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: It's a point of contention that Mo's Muslim Palestinian family doesn't exactly approve of his girlfriend Maria, a Catholic Mexican, even though a marriage would actually help their immigration case. Mo claims that such a union would still get less flak than his sister Nadia's marriage to a white Canadian (which got her semi-estranged from the family) because Arabs and Hispanics at least share some culture.
- Middle Eastern Terrorists: Alluded to when Mo's white farmer employer, Buddy, watches him put some GPS trackers together and comment that it's like he's assembling a bomb. Mo asks if it's because he's Arab, and asks if he would think the same of Mo's Hispanic coworker. Buddy says that Manuel would never put together a bomb.
- Protagonist Title: The show is titled Mo, its protagonist's nickname.
- Spoiled Sweet: Deconstructed with Shila, Maria's pretty college friend who has now married a rich white man. They view themselves as philanthropists who want to give back to the community, but Maria throws Shila's "generosity" back in her face as condescension, and says that she has always been like this towards Maria, who is a lower-class Mexican woman.
- Tactful Translation: Subverted. In Arabic, Yusra disparages how their new immigration attorney, Lizzie, wears shoes in the house and goes barefoot in the couch. In English, Mo claims that she's complimenting Lizzie, but Mo's autistic brother Sameer bluntly tells Lizzie what Yusra was really saying.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Najjars love olive oil, especially because Yusra's homemade one is so good. Mo even carries a bottle around everywhere.
