Gharabeeb Soud

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.

I don't think that there can exist two series or even films which speak of this kind of scheme, of topic. How an ISIS cell really works. ISIS from the Inside. OK, this TV show is produced by Saoudians and shot in Lenabon. Saoudians were, a few years ago, too much implicated with the Muslims extremists - or at least suspected by the international community - and then they decided to produce this stuff to make things clear to the rest of the world. This series is outstanduing but not flawless either. I think there are too many clichés, that we could consider as propaganda, anti ISIS propaganda...But, on the other side, if ISIS works this way, is this really propaganda? But some scènes in this series are maybe too simple, to easily shown, in a too much didactic way...As if it was made for idiots, or for children. See what I mean? But that remains a true interesting series. A real must see. But I don't think it will be shown everywhere in the world, even in the western Europe. I discovered it thu Netflix. Thanks Netflix.

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!

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.

This is the worst acting I have ever seen its even worse than Bollywood acting. The characters are not believable and the only way you can tell something dramatic is happening is by the music certainly not the actors. Was this intended as a comedy but it does not work as that either.