Tyrant

Great premise for a series...the interaction of cultures seen through their humanity and frailties. The cast is variable, except for Ashraf Barhom, playing Jamal, who just blows me away with his fierce energy. Every moment he is on he completely dominates the drama. Everyone looks pale beside him -- his energy seems to come like a fire from within and burns up the screen. I think this is a new star... I'll be watching to see him in more! FX really does an amazing job bringing us really interesting series instead of the usual pulp on network TV. Just when you think you've seen it all, they come up with something new. Most of us have no idea what life really looks like in Middle Eastern countries. This gives us a cool story and lets us peek into another world. And GO BARHOM!

With a stunning and fascinating portrayal of a middle-eastern power structure, FX has outdone themselves yet again.

What does it mean to have true power, and can you ignore power when you are born into it? The central conflict of this show thrusts it's main characters back into the fray of just such a situation. It portrays power as both freedom and a prison. The Al-Fayeed family, rulers of a fictional middle-eastern country are no different from any other modern Monarchy except that it is still in defacto power and uses brutal tactics to stay there.

Assad, Khadaffi, Saddam, Bush...

These names conjure Dynasty's and dictatorships, and for thousands of years the power struggles within their individual kingdoms were largely ignored by western powers, or swept quietly under a convenient media rug. But for Barry Al-Fayeed, the violence and politics of his family have been left behind. He has no desire to rule anything then his pediatric practice.

As the younger son of a brutal dictator, Barry took advantage of his families wealth to leave the country behind, and hasn't seen home in twenty years. His wife and children are somewhat ignorant of their husbands and fathers old world, knowing only that they are 'sort of' royalty and that grandad is rich. Their ignorance is typical of the average American family, not stupid, but simply devoid of the truth of the day to day in tyrannical regimes in many parts of the world. When his brothers son is due to be married, Barry is called home, and the cycle begins again.

But the truth is, Barry's legacy is one of bullets and blood, of violence and ruthlessness, of intimidation and manipulation. What makes a tyrant? This show promises to show just how far one man will go to secure his family, his country, and his power.

Did you ever invest 2 seasons on a great show only to have writers run out of ideas by season 3, so they decide to make everybody sleep WITH Everybody? Well, this is that kinda show.

Most of the characters were somewhat stereotypical at first impression. However, the development of the characters has been executed nicely at a very gradual pace but accelerated to match the tempo of the development of the story.

I have found myself drawn into the characters and their psyche and I believe that most viewers can identify with most of them. The cast executes quite well in general. However, the "Big Brother" controlling Jamal is overdone and slows the development of his disposition. He is intelligent enough to make tough decisions. However, due to his father's influence coupled with the absence of his brother during his formative years, he sometimes needs to be pointed in the right direction yet maintains a cynical sense of humor and pretends to be dumb. This seems to invite the continual advice from his big brother. But the overbearing continual advice from the brother is still overdone.

Most viewers will find "Tyrant" to be a very distinct and unique series and very interesting to watch. It has very good content and nearly all ages can watch this for the sex scenes display more class than most shows on the air. These scenes are shown less and less as the show goes on and when they are shown they are done without unnecessary nudity and tasteless displays of the act. The violence has mellowed as well.

I sincerely hope that the writers keep up the good work, for so far they have shown great vision and originality!

I'm impressed with the courage it took to put this on TV. This is not an easy subject to cover and the honesty it is dealt with says a lot about the willingness of the entire crew to take risks.

The acting is superb and everyone gives their character the exact nuance required to convey the sliminess, brutality, tortured indecision, suffering, or shallowness required.

I never thought I'd see such depth and truth portrayed on a mere TV series. The people who put this on have guts and I'm impressed. I will continue to watch for as long as the producers, directors and actors are willing to avoid shallowness or cave to "political correctness."

I'm not a big fan of sex, nudity, or brutality on TV but this story could not be properly told without representing the characters as they really are.

Congratulations! And I'll be praying for you.