YMMV / Al-Rawabi School for Girls

• Accidental Aesop: While a huge focus on the series is misogyny and bullying faced by woman, a good chunk of the perpetrators are Female Misogynists - Ruqayyah is victim-blamed for her photos by Miss Abeer and many other girls are just as eager to slut-shame their female peers as their male ones. It goes to show that misogyny from females is just as deadly as misogyny from males.
• Awesome Music: You can't deny that the song Tasneem and Hiba perform in the season 2 finale, "We're The New Rawabis" is spectacular, with an acapella opening, an infectious, grandiose beat (even sampling the school's anthem at one point!), beautiful singing and empowering lyrics!
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Miss Abeer is either a Reasonable Authority Figure who genuinely cares about her students or a Control Freak who only cares about values and rules above anything else? This is deconstructed in Season 2, implying that Miss Abeer cares about her values and rules because she believes it is what is best for her students, but it also too stuck in tradition to realize the repressiveness of said values and rules. Season 2 sees her become more open-minded as she makes genuine efforts to understand Sarah's situation and protect her, in contrast to how she had victim-blamed Ruqayah in Season 1 when the same situation had occured.
  • Is Laith genuinely a Nice Guy? Although all his scenes have him being caring with Layan, we must not forget that his mother is an Incompetent Authority Figure and his girlfriend is a Alpha Bitch, and since he only interacts with the latter it is ambiguous if he is really gentle or Layan is his Morality Pet.
  • Many viewers (most of who are not-Arab) view Hakeem as sexually attracted to his sister, and his actions at the end a result of If I Can't Have You…. When he assumes she had sex with Laith, there's an...uncomfortable shot where he puts his hands through her clothes. He's also extremely possessive of her.
  Hakeem, indiginant: "Privacy? Privacy? What does a 17 year old need "privacy" for, anyway?"
  • After the events of S1 E5, Rania becomes a nicer person, apologizing to Noaf for victim blaming her and asking Dina if she wants to hang out, despite previously bullying her. That night, she had been hit in the face by her alcoholic dad. Did him hitting her make her realize the sort of pain inflicted on others, hence her befriending Dina? Similarly, this could be why she befriended Noaf, since like her she was also a victim of male violence.
  • Is Mariam's mom abusive, or just a bad parent with good intentions? Mariam herself never gave her a reason to doubt her, but she started to after a classroom full of girls insisted up and down that she was the culprit. That being said, she could have been convinced had Noaf not kept quiet.
  • Some fans view Mariam's parents as good, as when they were told their child committed assault, they promised to punish her appropriately. In addition, unlike Layan's family, they invert traditional gender roles as her mom is a businesswoman while her dad is easygoing and fun and does the household's cooking. They also sent Mariam to a therapist after Layan insisted she was perving on her, whereas in the Middle East it's common to disown your queer kids. Detractors state that "not kicking your kid out for being gay" is a very low bar and it's possible they were hoping being gay was a phase that could be cured with therapy.
  • Is Shams really a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who doesn't care about hurting others to succeed or does she have some undiagnosed disorder causing her behavior? Did Shams not care about the emotional damage she caused to her classmates with her documentary or did she firmly believe that she was doing the right thing and she realized too late her mistakes in pushed Farah over the edge?
  • What was Layan's brother doing at the court in the S2 finale? While he definitely committed murder, the fact that he was with a lawyer and wearing plain clothes (instead of a prison jumpsuit) implies that he was likely acquitted (alongside the fact that he's the son of an influential politician).
• Aluminium Christmas Trees: In S1 E6, we see Layan's dad on the phone with someone, who he refers to as "Your Highness". Jordan is actually ruled by Kings.
• Americans Hate Tingle: The show received backlash from conservative Arabs.
• Base-Breaking Character: Noaf. Some fans like her for her goth, "cool girl" attitude, but others hate her because she saw Maryam being beat up and accused of assault by Layan, yet never told anyone. Some also blame her for Maryam's Roaring Rampage of Revenge, because had she proven her innocence, she wouldn't have gone through the lengths she did.
• Broken Base: Whether Mariam's actions towards Layan, Raina and Ruqayyah constitute as justified retribution or not. Fans who favour them point out that Mariam never assaulted or blackmailed anyone like they did, she merely revealed the truth (admittedly, using underhanded means). Fans against it point out that it doesn't matter, because by the end of it, one of the girls is dead.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • As serious as the moment is, Mariam throws Noaf and Dina their hypocritical behavior back in their faces is very satisfying after the two girls (who were her only friends) abandoned Mariam for Layan and Rania.
  • Farah giving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Tasneem was well regarded by viewers due to the latter's Manipulative Bitch behavior, especially since because of this Tasneem tries to improve as a friend.
  • Hakeem's brief but cathartic cameo leaving a courtroom after being sentenced for murdering Layan.
• Cry for the Devil: Despite her Alpha Bitch behavior and abhorrent behavior throughout the series, it is difficult not to feel for Layan during her final moments as her own brother points a gun at her and she tries in vain to beg for her life until she finally accepts her fate.
• Designated Hero: Noaf and Dinah. They often proclaim one minute they'll stand by Mariam no matter what and then leaving her the next. They were the ones who pressed Mariam to go through with her revenge plan after she told them she wanted to give up. And then they choose to befriend Layan and Rania, knowing all the bad things they've done, and tell Mariam to stop it.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Miss Abeer is liked for providing several of the show's Funny Moments due to her uptight, religious nature. Netflix MENA uploaded a special video for her. Her popularity exploded in Season 2 where she undergoes Character Development and is there for her girls when they're bullied.
• Epileptic Trees: Some fans believe that Principal Faten knew all along that Layan was dating her son Laith, and supported it because she wanted him to marry into her politically powerful family.
• Fan Nickname: Many imdb reviews dub this series "Jordanian Mean Girls".
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: It is popular in Latin America, as a Spanish dub was made available on Netflix. Viewers are intrigued by the school drama and revenge story, which is quite reminiscient of Hispanic telenovas. It's popularity from word of mouth has also resulted in a few North American fans too.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The honour killing of Layan in the finale of Season 1 can be hard to watch since three months earlier that year in April, a Pakistani woman named Saman Abbas was also murdered by her family for the same reason as Layan — having a secret boyfriend.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Principal Faten, the Head-in-the-Sand Management headmistress of the all-girls school is played by Nadira Emran. Previously, Emran was the dub voice actress of another character who attended an all-girls school...except she was The Gadfly and liked bending rules.
• It Was His Sled: The Alpha Bitch is a victim of honour killing in the finale.
• Memetic Mutation: With friends like these, who needs enemies?^Explanation Many viewers say this about Dina and Noaf, because they flip-flop on being Mariam's friends and even befriend Layan and Rania after knowing they brutally beat Mariam
• Misaimed Fandom: You'd be surprised at the number of viewers that think Mariam is right no matter what, and hate Dina and Noaf for trying to talk her out of it. This is because some of the things Layan and her friends do to her are so cruel (like beating her up and throwing her journal pages all over the school) viewers are rooting for her to get back at. Yet, even Mariam in the second season acknowledges that she went too far with her revenge at Layan's vigil.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Layan, Rania and Ruqayyah beating Mariam to near-death, because she revealed that Layan skipped school. Mariam is so bruised that she would have died had Noaf not called an ambulance. To add insult to injury, the three then mock her when they're interrogated by the police. It's why many fans didn't weep for Layan when she was eventually killed in the finale.
  • Layan accusing Mariam of sexual abuse, permanently damaging her reputation and having her suspended from school. Mariam pleads that she's innocent, but nobody, even her own mother, believes her. Even worse, the one person who knows that Mariam didn't do it, Noaf, never comes forward.
• She's Just Hiding: There are still people who believe that Layan was not killed at the end of Season 1, not only because her death was not shown on screen but also because her brother was able to shoot her in a non-lethal aerial shot of the body or alternately shoot her boyfriend who I was witnessing the events. Season 2 puts this to rest by confirming in Episode 4 that she really is dead.
• The Scrappy: Jazham. Many viewers found it annoying because his character only exists to cause tension between Mariam and Dina, and in his last appearance he ends his friendship with Mariam simply because she did not want to spend time with him.
• Tainted by the Preview: While many fans were excited about the confirmation of a second season after three years of not knowing anything about the series, these same fans were quite discouraged when it was announced that the story would replace the main cast. Although this calmed down a bit with the season premiere proving to be a worthy continuation and the new characters gaining their own fans, , there are still those who would prefer that season 2 had continued with the first cast due to how superior their season is considered.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Noaf and Dina have to be seen as heroic for abandoning Mariam's revenge plans and wanting burying the hatchet with Layan's Girl Posse, but instead they end up seeming like bad friends to Mariam because they were the ones who motivated Mariam to continue with her revenge and in the end they end up being just as apathetic as Rania (one of the bullies) regarding the harm that Layan did to Mariam. While Noaf at least had the Freudian Excuse that Layan and Rania had previously defended her, Dina without reason chooses to befriend the bullies when she is supposed to be Mariam's closest friend.
• Values Dissonance: A lot of the show's conflict stems from being told from the Middle Eastern Muslim society of Jordan.
  • Ruqayyah is slut-shamed, pulled out of school, forbidden to see her old friends and told she destroyed her family's honour because...she dared to show a picture of herself without her hair being covered to a guy. In Islam head coverings are considered a way to preserve female modesty, and it is only allowed to take them off in the presence of family members.
  • Hakeem's obsession with his sister Layan's "purity". To Westerners, his obsession with keeping her in check, his fury at seeing her clothes at another guy's house (thinking she slept with him, when they actually just played in the pool for a bit) and him being driven to kill her when he finds her with her boyfriend come off as Incest Subtext, Crazy Jealous Guy and If I Can't Have You… all rolled into one. But in the Middle East, men with his mindset are common because familial honour is a huge part of the culture.
  • Many girls (including Mariam, Rania, Ruqayyah and Layan) meet their boyfriends online on Facebook and not in person. In the West this would be seen as foolish because of stranger danger.
• The Woobie: See here.