Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
On the ageless sands of Abbudin, change has come.
After decades of rule by Khaled Al Fayeed, a man as hard and unforgiving as granite, this oil-rich land has been in the midst of three seasons of upheaval. Khaled’s initial successor, eldest son Jamal, is dead. Jamal’s mostly American brother, Bassam, heads the country now—at least until the next elections. But it’s a tough time to be president, what with an ISIS-like Caliphate threatening the country, elections just a few months away and internal factions grappling for power, including one headed by Jamal’s widow (and Bassam’s former lover), Leila. Oh, and let’s not forget Bassam’s chummy relationship with the always-popular United States military, headed in the country by Gen. William Cogswell.
It’s all quite convoluted and complex, befitting its very own security briefing. For now, Bassam stands astride a country built, literally, on shifting sands. He wants to do the right thing, but ancient rivalries feed into modern paranoia. And as time goes on he seems less a child of freedom-loving America and more a product of the traditionally-autocratic state he now heads. And so he, all of Abbudin and the audience of this FX drama are left to wonder: Will change bring about a new dawn? Or a darkness drenched in blood?
This being cable TV, probably both paths will be explored, depending on the episode. But Tyrant is actually more of a soapy summer show predicated on sibling rivalry and palace intrigue. It’s Dallas without the cowboy hats … and with an unpredictable standing army.
Abbudin is certainly an Islamic country, where religion and secularism warily eye each other across the aisle. And while religious tensions have increased since the show’s first season, you won’t get much insight on Islam here.
What you will get are piles of sex scenes and moments of brutal violence, and sometimes both at the same time. A woman is callously raped in the pilot episode. Another girl is forcibly “inspected” (onscreen) to verify that she is a virgin. Add to that a subplot involving closeted gay characters who risk being murdered if they come out.
Tyrant seems meant more as a summertime diversion than as an Emmy-contending smash. It has much of the severe content we’ve unfortunately come to expect from prestige-minded cable, but little depth to go with it.
Change may be coming to Abbudin. But this FX show seems all too familiar.
As elections near, Leila joins forces with al-Qadi, a cleric whom Bassam banned from the race. Leila promises that if she’s elected president, he’ll be her prime minister—effectively doing a political end-around past her former lover/brother-in-law. Bassam, meanwhile, is preoccupied with visions of his dead daughter, Emma. Her killer, Ihab Rashid, prepares to lead the Caliphate into battle against Abbudin’s less-than-vaunted military machine.
Ihab and his lady friend, Mahdiya, have sex. We see her completely naked from the rear and watch as they have a quick bout of intercourse, including explicit motions and sounds. Meanwhile, college student Hamila and her boyfriend, both virgins, talk about having sex together (as she reaches for and touches his crotch). The boyfriend says he’s researched sex through pornography, and Hamila suggests that they watch some together. But they’re spied nearly smooching in a public place. And when Hamila is called a “whore,” she suggests they slow their relationship a bit—much to the dissatisfaction of her boyfriend. Also meanwhile, Sammy, Bassam’s son, confronts his male lover (who’s a professor) over the fact that he’s fleeing the country because of his sexual orientation (even though he’s also married). But when Sammy calls him a “gay man,” the professor denies it, saying the fact that they slept together doesn’t mean anything. Also also meanwhile, Gen. Cogswell is having an affair with Leila. He orders her to undress, and she does, showing off a lacy negligee. He pushes her onto the bed, and the two begin to make out.
A bomb blows up, setting at least one man on fire (he extinguishes himself in a well) and killing a prominent radical cleric. “What if we’re wrong [about paradise]?” he wonders as he dies. “What if it’s not true?” Cogswell accidentally kills a man whom he believes is blackmailing Leila over her and his relationship (taking pictures of the two kissing): He throws the guy over a table, where the victim’s head hits a wall. The body lies in a pool of blood. Bassam’s dead daughter hangs out wearing a white top stained with blood. We hear discussion of Islam and Sharia law. Characters say the s-word twice, “a–” once and “h—” once.
“What the World Needs Now”
Jamal meets with his family’s lifelong rival, Sheik Rashid, who insists on bringing free and open elections to Abbudin. Barry convinces Jamal to agree—much to the consternation of his hardline general/uncle and cagey wife, Leila.
Leila is so furious that she withholds sex from Jamal, and they talk frankly about erections and masturbation. Jamal responds by flying into the arms of a mistress; they kiss sloppily, engage in foreplay, make explicit sexual movements and share after-sex pillow talk. (She wears either lingerie or an open, see-through blouse and panties.) We hear an allusion to forced anal sex.
A man hits a rival on the back of the head and smashes him into a toilet, apparently killing him. There’s talk of using poison gas on civilians and of killing protestors to silence them. Jamal and Barry drink hard liquor. The sheik smokes. Someone coughs and gags into a toilet bowl. We hear the s-word once, as well as “a–” and “g–d–n.”
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
