5.8

Tyrant: “My Brother’s Keeper”

(Episode 1.03)

By Amy Amatangelo  |  July 9, 2014 | 10:00am
TV Reviews
Tyrant: “My Brother’s Keeper”

Well, my friends, I know we’re only three episodes in, but it’s time to come up with the Tyrant drinking game. First up, take a drink every time someone mentions that Barry has been gone for 20 years.

I mean, we need something to keep us entertained as the show slips further into absurdity. Barry has decided to stay in Abbudin. Silly Molly wants to stay with him, and so do the kids. I need a scene where Barry and Molly call back to Pasadena and get someone to cover their patients. When was the last time you could just up and leave your job indefinitely?

Last week, I complained about how clueless Molly is. This week, it’s Barry who is acting like he didn’t get the memo about what kind of leader his father was. When he learns that Jamal plans to publicly hang the man responsible for the attempt on his life, Barry is shocked. SHOCKED! Again, if this is the kind of thing that occurs in Abbudin regularly (which apparently it is, since John Tucker refers to it as “the national pastime”), should Barry really be that shocked?

He also can’t believe it when Fauzi tells him that they are about to hang the wrong man, and that the lab reports that there was ricin in the syringe used in the attack on Jamal is incorrect. Barry is downright flabbergasted. What? A dictatorship ruling through terror would frame the wrong person? Impossible!

Barry finally learns the truth. Jamal regularly raped the woman who was in the car with him. Her husband, Hamid, planned the attack. When Barry learns the truth, he is horrified (as he should be). “Your brother is the devil,” Hamid tells Barry.

A distraught Barry goes to see Molly and asks her to stay in Abbudin with him. “I don’t think I can do this without you,” he pleads. “I need one other sane person I can talk to.” Molly is delighted that her husband is finally asking her to stay. Because who wouldn’t want to stay in a violent Middle Eastern country with their two children?

Barry goes to see Jamal and attacks him. “This is the 21st century. The whole world is watching. You’re going to get caught,” he warns Jamal. Barry makes a deal with Jamal to let the political prisoners go and to promise to provide for Hamid’s children. In return, Jamal gets to hang Hamid. Um, how is that better? A man is still being executed without a trial or the opportunity to defend himself. Barry has made a deal with the devil.

Other thoughts on “My Brother’s Keeper:”

• Is Justin Kirk going to have a bigger role, or is he just going to appear and dispense a snarky one-liner every episode? And where is Jordana Spiro, who played his girlfriend in episode one?
• How long until Abdul and Sammy get caught? I don’t see this going well for them – especially for Abdul.
• I still say the math on the show doesn’t work. Barry has been gone for 20 years (take a drink!), left when he was 16, and yet he’s been married to Molly for 19 years. Discuss.

What did you think of “My Brother’s Keeper?” Talk about it below.

Amy Amatangelo is a Boston-based freelance writer, a member of the Television Critics Association and a regular contributor to Paste. You can follow her on Twitter or her blog.

 
Join the discussion...