TV Review - Ramy: Season 2

It was quite the surprise this year when Ramy Youssef won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, beating fellow nominees Michael Douglas, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd and Ben Platt. It was certainly a step forward for Muslim representation in American media. Aziz Ansari won the Golden Globe two years prior but his series Master of None has him as a non-practicing Muslim. Youssef's series has his character as an actual, practicing Muslim. What's interesting though is that the first season of this series has him proud to be a Muslim but he still struggles and grapples with his religion and faith. This second season continues his struggle and grappling. From interviews that Youssef has done, it's clear that he's fairly devout or dedicated to his religion, but the overall tone of this series would suggest that he's low-key being critical of Islam or at times mocking it. One could argue that he jokes about being Muslim because he loves it. Having a sense of humor could be argued as an expression of his appreciation for it. What I see as critiques of his faith might not be interpreted that way for him.

Youssef reprises his character of Ramy Hassan, a 20-something guy living in northern New Jersey. He's the son of Egyptian immigrants. He's of the Muslim faith. He has a job at a jewelry store in the Diamond District in Manhattan. He only has that job though because his uncle owns the store. Otherwise, Ramy is a bit adrift in his life. He doesn't seem to know what he wants for his life or have any kind of solid direction. In my review for Season 1 of this series, I pointed out that the series mainly focused on his dating life. At the end of Season 1, a bizarre and monumental thing occurred. Season 2 picks up some time after that bizarre thing, as we watch Ramy deal with the aftermath of that bizarre thing. As a result, instead of his focusing on his dating life necessarily, Ramy tries to give himself some new direction and some purpose.

Spoiler alert! If you don't want to be spoiled as to what happens at the end of Season 1 because it is a bit of surprising or shocking thing, then skip this paragraph, as I will reveal what it is in the next sentence but will only refer to it in this paragraph. Spoiler alert. At the end of Season 1, Ramy falls in love and has sex with his own cousin. This series begins some time later when Ramy is reeling from his breakup from his cousin. This season returns to that story line, but only to avoid it yet again. This series takes the issue of incest and dangles it above the head of the main character and the series as a whole, but it never really wants to address what the consequences of what something like that would be. It could be something for next season, but probably will remain as a joke that will flow as an odd undercurrent.

There are ten episodes and about half of them aren't even about Ramy as a character. Half of them are about Ramy's family and one is about Ramy's friend. I will say that those episodes are the best episodes in the whole series. Even though the other half that are about Ramy do involve an aspect that I think is something that is rare for television, still the episodes that don't focus on Ramy and his issues stand as supremely better television overall.

Mahershala Ali (Green Book and Moonlight) is the special guest star who is that aforementioned aspect that I think is something rare for television. Ali is notably the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award, which he did for Moonlight. In most of the roles that Ali does, he doesn't actually play a Muslim. Here, he does. He plays Sheikh Malik. Sheikh isn't his birth name. "Sheikh" is a title that is given to him, a honorific. He runs the local Sufi center. A Sufi seems to be an order or type of congregation within Islam. Ramy goes to the Sheikh because he's attracted to Sheikh's strong, spiritual teachings, as well as his brutal honesty but high compassion. To Ramy, the Sheikh represents the best example of what a Muslim can be and he wants to be the Sheikh's disciple, as it were.

Of course, the comedy comes from Ramy's failure to live up to the Sheikh's teachings, or, it comes from Ramy taking the Sheikh's teachings and literally going too far with them. Ramy though doesn't seem to grasp that trying to live up to those alleged ideals and follow strictly with the teachings of Islam are what's causing his problems and various others. Maybe that's a lesson for him to get at the end of this series, whenever that will be. If that is the case, then Youssef is rather brilliantly deconstructing that kind of religious devotion and the culture surrounding it. If that's not the case, then Ramy is just a bumbling idiot or simply a horny, unmotivated Millennial. As such, I'm not that interested in him. I am interested in his vastly more interesting family.

As mentioned, half of this season is devoted to Ramy's family. There is an episode that is dedicated to each one of them. That's a total of four episodes. There's also a fifth episode that's dedicated mostly to one of Ramy's friends that's also quite compelling. May Calamawy plays Dena, the sister to Ramy who's studying to be a lawyer but the pressure to be a successful professional is getting to her.  Hiam Abbass plays Maysa, the mother to Ramy. She's an older woman who is unlike most older women of her type. She is desperate to assimilate and Americanize herself but stumbles a lot in trying to understand cultural differences. Amr Waked plays Farouk, the father to Ramy. He's lost his job and struggles to find a new one but being an immigrant of his age makes it harder.

The three episodes, focusing on those three family members of Ramy, are very, very good in and of themselves. However, the two best episodes involve Ramy's most contentious family member and quite frankly his most contentious friend. Steve Way plays Steve, the friend to Ramy who has muscular dystrophy. Episode 7 involves him and is akin to the plot of Come As You Are (2020). Only, it's way better here because it involves an actor who actually has muscular dystrophy. It's not able body actors pretending to be disabled. The ending to it also brilliantly challenges all kinds of ideas of sexuality, friendship and masculinity.

In a strange sense, the other best episode, the one about Ramy's most contentious family member also brilliantly challenges all kinds of ideas of sexuality, friendship and masculinity. Laith Nakli plays Naseem, the uncle to Ramy. He owns the jewelry store. He's a racist, sexist, misogynist and homophobic jerk. Episode 9 is all about him coming to grips with all that, especially his homophobia when he encounters two, different gay men: one who is Latino, Paco, played by Raymond Neil Hernandez, and one who is Muslim, Yassir, played by Waleed Zuaiter. I also think that if there were ever an episode that was more critical of the Islamic faith or Muslim traditions, it's this one. Even though it's not explicitly stated here, there's only one source of where that homophobia emanates.

Rated TV-MA-LS.

Running Time: 30 mins. / 10 eps.

Available on Hulu.