Format: Web series. 1 Season. 10 Episodes.OTT Platform: Disney+ Hotstar
IMDb: 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 55%
Author’s note: As you can see, this kind of dissonance in ratings between RT and IMDb makes it even more important that we review it for our friends.
My rating: 8/10
Produced by: Jack Black & Tim Robbins (amongst others)
Genre: (Geo?)-Political satire
Premise: Pakistan has a coup and the new military dictator sets off a chain of events that create a situation where the safety of the world order (and perhaps humanity) is dependent on the (rather heavy) shoulders of a bumbling low-level American foreign officer in Islamabad (Jack Black playing, well, Jack Black) and the Secretary of State of the USA (Tim Robbins playing this part with the straightest face that side of the Atlantic).
Initial impressions: When I started to watch it, I was cringing at times because of extremely offensive references to the Pakistanis in particular, and SE Asians in general. Until the premise developed further and it became offensive to the Indians, and then the Israelis, and the Russians, and the Saudis, and the Iranians, and the British, and Indiana Jones, and Lara Croft, and career women, and white men, and tall men, and short men, and American politicians, and American lifestyles, and American foreign services, and evangelical Christians, and Muslims, and Hindus, and Jews, and US Senators, and US Congressmen, and the US Navy, and the Pentagon, and the officers and soldiers of the USA, and of Pakistan, and of India, and of Israel…you get the point.
Later: It was uproariously hilarious, but in a rather weird combination of what seems slapstick but is actually situational, if one thinks about it for a second. It spares no one, and nothing is sacred or beyond mockery. The protagonists and Americans are constantly parodied and mocked for their racist views, their exceptionalism, their cultural appropriation, their ignorant and boorish behaviour, their superficial view of the world, their selfish and narcissistic perspectives of life, their talking down to others, whether peers (like other world politicians) or adversaries, their hypocrisy and double standards, their constant need for validation, the societal, marital, and financial messes their lives are, even their sexual (and sexist) behaviour. But by the end, everybody is stereotyped, fingers are pointed at everyone, and it forces one to look into the mirror.
For: Right till the end, one is not sure if one is laughing with or at them. It is intelligent comedy disguised as farce, and needs some patience to enjoy.
Against: It is not for everyone, especially not for the thin-skinned. Also, and I have to type this out in caps, for I am indeed shouting, ‘WHY CAN YOU NOT GET NATIVE SPEAKERS OF A LANGUAGE THAT PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE STORY?’ This has been my constant bugbear with Hollywood. They had at least 6 major Urdu-speaking parts, of which they had ONE person who actually spoke the language like a native. Why, Hollywood, why? Or was that another segment you intended to offend? In that case, well played, Sirs. That was very meta.
Oh, and before I forget: Do NOT miss the end credits soundtrack. Here‘s the link to the Spotify playlist. You can thank me later.
Trivia: (1) The background score is by David Robbins. And in case that name sounds familiar, he is Tim’s brother; (2) The 7th episode is actually written by Asif Mandvi, who plays a major character through the series; (3) The series is shot entirely in LA; (4) The second season was cancelled by HBO because this one didn’t do too well.
