Gharabeeb Soud

I am only on the first episode, but these are my first impressions:

Glad to see MBC TV make it to Netflix. Good TV told from the Arabic lenses, and deals with sensitive topics such as loss, gender, class, and cultural values. The show provides unabashed realism of the vast gray areas between a secular Islam and fanatic fundamentalism, writ large.

What I like is to see a series that goes beyond typical West VS East, cosmopolitan VS terrorist values, good guys VS bad guys plots associated with today's, pretty much universal, "Other": ISIS.

Also, the show tackles gender and terrorism in a very 2018 way, meaning that the women here are self-aware and possess a sense of personal power and purpose.

Finally, while the dialogue is good, the acting and filmography are so expressive, the vignettes are interrelated, yet tightly constructed, and the suspense is so palpable that the linguistic barrier is quite negligible. Very little cognitive dissonance. In comparison, I don't think a Bollywood series could do this or has done this. Definitely has a Netflix or Amazon series production feel. Overall, very good TV, glad I found it!

This series is far from western standards in several ways: plot, direction, acting, photography, etc. This doesn't mean it is bad. It is different. The most important thing is the fact it offers an arabian point of view about ISIS. We usually focus our attention on "our" way to intend ISIS phenomenon and we don't pay attention to what may arabs think about islamic terrorism. This series offers a different point of view, helping us to understand how arabs feel in relation to islamists. I found very interesting the parallel between the point of view of the moderate islamic narrator and ISIS extreme interpretation of the Quran. It shows how also arabians don't agree with such extremist points of view, how they horrorified in front of summary capital executions, tortures and violence in general. Often medias offer us a distorted vision about arabs and thei faith, as if they are all terrorists. It doesn't correspond to reality at all. Too many times we don't (or we don't want...) distinguish between moderate muslims and islamists. This is a great mistakes, and this series helps us to have an idea about the sufference of muslim people forced to live under the threatening of ISIS. That's why it doesn't matter if the plot doesn't follows western standards, the actors are not the best performers on the field, the soundtrack was not written by Danny Elfman, and so on. What really matter is the message production tries to give us. We also have to consider this production is not intended for western people! The main aim of the producers was to show ISIS violence to arabians, and this makes a big difference!

If you prefer first degree, stay away, if you enjoy second degree stay tuned. This is a saudi-lebanese coproduction of pure anti Isis propaganda, i believe that most of the horrors portrayed are actually true but the treatment is so over the top and caricatural that one cannot help but laugh. Isis leaders are cast as were villains in spaghetti westerns, while all Isis would be joiners are as dimwitted as thugs in home alone, of course on the other hand spies concerned parents or oppressed minorities are heroically portrayed as stallonian or schwartzenegerian heralds of virtue and courage. So don't come and watch this looking for enlightenment, you'll remain in the dark probably puzzled and nonplussed as to why such non luminaries cause such a threat, and anyone on the brink of joining these monsters will not be swayed by what he watches. But if, like me, your cynicism is stronger than your militant side you may get a good laugh out of this, villains as nuanced as death wish's, heroes as half shaded as star wars', cliffhangers as revealing as burqas, you will get it all, and oh yes the mufti shot JR.

A hilarious lampoon of Isis? I hope so--I was laughing my ass off!

Just wow... this is bad on so many levels... bad actors, horrible plot, bad scenery, bad music... Do yourself a favor and don't waste so many hours of your life, like me. Good idea, though, hence the 3 stars.