Tyrant

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.

Forewarning only the pilot has been seen so far, but based on that I was thoroughly impressed.

Tyrant is the story of the second son of a powerful middle eastern tyrant who has escaped the corruption and despair of his native land and spent two decades Americanising himself and building an unassuming life with his wife and two kids. Reluctantly he is brought back to his country of birth for the wedding of his nephew.

Its not immediately a genre I would find myself drawn to, but I was enthralled. Barry (the second son) Is a wounded character, wary of his father and everything he represents, and they depict him brilliantly. His interactions with his brother and father are complex and deep.

The setting for the show is very beautiful, right in the opening portion of the episode you get a great sequence of shots where the American family is being driven in a cavalcade to the palace, and you can really see the juxtaposition of the opulence of their cars, the palace with its gardens and forest, with the impoverished masses being kept at bay so the streets are clear for the motorcade.

Watching both Barry's reaction to this contrasting culture and his American families reaction is very interesting and adds a different element to the story. His wife's "Dr. Phil" moments trying to get him to open up about the atrocities he witnessed when Barry (and the audience) know she could never really understand, his sons oblivious superficiality and obnoxious self absorption help make the story relatable to me coming from a western culture, and also highlight how ignorant they (and we) are.

I've only seen the pilot, as mentioned above, but I loved this first glimpse of a, for me, unique new story. I cant wait to see how it unfolds, and I recommend the first episode highly.

Show started out nicely, with good characters and interesting storyline but the everything crashed in season 3. s3 is an absolute disaster. characters are not themselves anymore and are way out of place especially Bassam and his wife. them becoming tyrants just felt rushed and almost stupid. season 3 ruined the show and it ended with a bad cliffhanger and now the show got cancelled. good job.

season 1 is great but s2 is better, it's my favorite. it's more intense and suspenful. shame it got cancelled.

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!

I will go through a few points about various elements of the show.

Casting - It doesn't seem like anyone is out of place, but there were a few confusions about child versions of a few characters. One of the children looks nothing like the adult version of the character, I was confused and had to look up the cast. Other than that the cast is solid.

Writing - Generally well written with a few odd circumstances but nothing that cannot be explained later in the show. I am glad the writers were up to the task because the show is very dialogue based there isn't a lot of action but I was still pulled in episode after episode.

Acting - Adam Rayner is the main character is this show and as far as I know it's his first lead he has had for a major network. All I can say is that he is playing his role right. This can be said for the rest of the cast with a few exceptions. I cannot say too much without giving away spoilers but I have no complaints about the acting.

Set - Most of the show was filmed in Morocco, the show is not set in Morocco but it had me convinced it was a middle eastern country.