Now that Bassam has postponed the elections, Leila, Daliyah, and Fauzi try to regroup. Get a sneak peek of tonight’s Tyrant, “How to Live”.
If you’ve been following these sneak peek posts or joined me on twitter to live tweet Tyrant, you know that I have a running list going called #MakingOfATyrant (kind of a play on the NETFLIX series Making a Murderer).
Anywho, I think many of us have realized the character trajectory of this show… Bassam, a self-proclaimed democrat (with a SMALL “d”) runs away from Abuddin and totally rejects his father’s and brother’s authoritarian rule. However, in the end, circumstances are conspiring to make Bassam the most tyrannical of them all.
Think about it:
1. Daughter killed by The Caliphate.
2. Wife leaves country on self-imposed exile.
3. Cracking down on civil liberties via the military.
4. Hooking up with a sidepiece.
5. Almost losing your sidepiece in a terror attack.
6. Banning political candidates and parties.
7. The ghost of your daughter is haunting you and you’re taking her advice on foreign policy.
8. Losing your sidepiece when your wife returns home from exile.
9. Declaring war in the last month of your interim presidency to avenge your daughter’s death.
10. Canceling *cough* I mean POSTPONING the democratic elections. *wink-wink*
11. Disbanding the Truth and Dignity Commission.
12. Instituting a curfew and giving the military extralegal powers to “maintain order”.
Yep, Bassam is turning into one hell of a tyrant!
I think what surprises me the most in last week’s episode “Ask for the Earth” is that Molly is all for Bassam skirting around democracy to avenge Emma’s death and kill Ihab Rashid.
But as so many people have warned Bassam (Leila, Al-Qadi, Fauzi, Daliyah) that these extreme actions are totally playing into the Caliphate’s hands.
I mean, after Mahdiya does the suicide-bomber thing in Germany… *SHIVERS* The Caliphate is definitely in a winning position, or so it seems.
One of my fave parts of last week’s episode is Daliyah’s speech: “Democracy is not a sometimes thing.”
Of course she’s right, in theory. But in practice we see that the execution of democratic politics is much more complex, especially with a group like the Caliphate at large.
But I share Daliyah’s heartbreak. I also wonder what this means for my Bassaliyah ship *CRIES*
I’m also very curious about two other things.
First, Leila is totally milking this. She feels very confident that she’ll be Abuddin’s next president, despite Bassam postponing elections.
This leads me to believe that she has something up her sleeve, and that thing is General Cogswell.
Remember how he makes a phone call to Exley and tells her to get to Abuddin? Remember how the first time Bassam meets Exley, it’s to plan a coup to replace Jamal with Bassam? Think about it!
Second, I’m hella concerned about Sammy’s relationship with his parents, especially with Ahmed trying to be “son of the year” and playing an intermediary.
In tonight’s Tyrant, the impossible becomes possible because things get EVEN WORSE. “How to Live” was directed by Peter Weller with the story by Anna Fishko and teleplay by Emmy Grinwis and Addison McQuigg:
Chaos reigns in Abuddin and Daliyah asks Fauzi to leave and takes a stand against Barry. Elsewhere: Barry allows Maloof to take down Leila’s opposition; Ahmed pressures his mother to give up; and Coswell makes a bold move that threatens his career.
WOWSA!
Looking at the episode trailer and images confirm all this craziness:
What’s this about Daliyah being in danger? And can we even trust Molly’s judgement right now? What do you think?
Tune in to Tyrant tonight at 10:00pm ET|PT on FX and live tweet with us (@WeSoNerdy)!