Photo Courtesy Of FX
Warning: Spoiler Alert
Sometimes we can run as fast and as far as we can and still end up at the place we started. Bassam Al Fayeed tried to run away from his destiny for over 20-years. However even after being left for dead in the desert by his older brother Jamal, Bassam’s on the verge of helping his brother save Abbudin and in turn his presidency. The phone conversation between the two brothers in the final scene of the latest chapter of the FX Original Series “Tyrant,” was just one of a series interesting events, in an action packed episode that seemed to fly by.
The first scene takes place in the hotel room of Molly Al Fayeed, whose surprised when she wakes up next in bed next to her attorney James Timmons. She sees that she’s fully clothed as is the attorney, turns out they both imbibed heavily the night before on Chinese whiskey and simply passed out in her bed. Timmons infers he has feelings for Molly, but he says what ever this is, they’ll have time to figure it out once they get back home to California.
Molly’s elation about heading back to the States, doesn’t last long as she gets a disturbing call from Sammy. He tells her he’s on the road with Marwan and they’re about to meet with the leader of the Red Hand, a group that’s trying to defeat the Caliphate Army and need funding. What neither Sammy or Molly realize, is the man Sammy’s heading to meet is Barry/Bassam.
Barry’s treating an injured child in Ma’an when another aerial barrage rocks the area the Red Hand occupy. Siddiq enters the shelter and says the Caliphate Army must know that’s where the Red Hand’s hiding, but Bassam tells him that an aerial attack’s emanating from the government. He then makes a call on his cell phone, Siddiq asks who he’s calling.
Jamal’s praying in Arabic, calling out to God to show him the right path and keep evil away from his family and his country. He switches back to English and asks that if someone whose committed the evils he has, even has a right to pray. He tells God he realizes he’s being punished for killing his brother, but asks how much of a price he has to pay? He’s lost his grandson and half his country, he’s willing to sacrifice himself, but asks that his son Ahmed be spared.
Leila storms into the room and berates her husband for his self-pity. She says that God has too much to do, to punish Jamal. She then says you’re the President and Abbudin needs you, stop your crying and get back to work.
Colonel Mahmoud enters Rami’s office and tells him a man claiming to be Khalid, the leader of the Red Hand’s on line three, Rami asks if he’s legit and Mahmoud says all he knows is that’s whom the caller claims to be. General Said gets on the phone with the man who in reality’s his uncle and starts asking for proof. Bassam responds he’ll give him a target, the address of the compound that houses all the Caliphate Army’s leadership. Rami says he could be setting him up to bomb innocent civilians. He says that he wants the Red Hand to set-up a Caliphate Army cell and take them down and then he’ll believe him. Bassam says he’ll call back with the target.
Mahmoud tells Rami that he best let Jamal know what’s going on, after all it should be his decision to make. Said tells the Colonel he’s absolutely correct and he’ll inform his father. However Rami keeps the information to himself, a decision that will come back to bite him.
Bassam tells Daliyah that he needs to contact Munir and get a target. Daliyah looks shocked, she asks him if he’s willing to work with his brother? Bassam responds one devil at a time.
At the hospital where Nusrat’s recovering from her miscarriage and hysterectomy, she tells Leila that she keeps second-guessing herself, about what she could have done differently to save her son. Her mother-in-law responds that’s nonsense and it wasn’t her fault. Nusrat says yes, but this changes everything and Leila suggests they talk about it when they get home, but Nusrat wants to discuss things right then.
Leila’s a viper, very protective of her family and can strike at any second, which is what happened next. She told Nusrat that they’re family and she thinks of Nusrat like her own daughter. However one day her son will be President of Abbudin and then one day his son will become President. Nusrat finishes the sentence, a son she can no longer provide, then asks if Ahmed’s aware of this?
Leila says not yet, that her daughter-in-law will end the marriage, telling her husband she loves him to much to saddle him with a barren wife. In return the Al Fayeed’s will set her up for life, wherever she wants, Paris, London, Dubai. Leila says you need to leave this country that’s taken so much from you, then she leaves the room while Nusrat starts to contemplate her world’s fallen apart.
Bassam meets with Munir and he tells him that the Caliphate will be targeting five homes of Christian residents that evening. Bassam says they can evacuate all the occupants and load all the homes with explosives and they’ll detonate the bombs when the soldiers enter. He tells Munir he did a great job and then the teenager starts to breakdown and cry. He says he doesn’t recognize his brother Kasim any longer and last week feels like ten-years ago. Ihab Rashid’s gone insane due to the death of his wife and Munir’s not certain how much more of this he can take. Bassam hugs the teen, but the softness that we’d expect to see in his eyes doesn’t appear.
Marwan and Sammy meet with Halima and one of the members of the Red Hand and they frisk Sammy. He’s not carrying a weapon, but they find his wallet. At that point the advice his cousin Ahmed gave him about keeping his identity unknown’s meaningless. He looks Halima in the eyes and tells her he’s Sammy Al Fayeed.
Jamal arrives at the home of an elderly well-to-do man, who appears to be an Iman or some sort of religious leader. He says that Jamal hasn’t been to his home since his father passed away, but the President instead of responding to the statement tells his host he thinks God hates him. He then talks about all the bad things that have occurred since he left Bassam in the desert and asks his host his interpretation. The man responds God’s will and Jamal says, or is it his hatred of me.
The man says he’s not going to straighten out the problems in his country, until he first straightens out the problems in his palace. Jamal asks the man if he thinks someone in his house is working against him and the man responds with some cryptic statement.
Kasim finds Munir counting boxes and tells him his brother that he’s leading one of the teams that are arresting the Christian families and he wants Munir to accompany him. Realizing the homes are filled with explosives, he says he can’t go, he has to finish this task and Kasim has to help him. Kasim tells his brother he’s crazy and they’re both going to arrest the Christians.
Bassam and Siddiq are on top of a building with the detonator in their hands, when the soldiers approach. Bassam’s excitement’s tempered when he realizes that Munir and Kasim are among the soldiers who are soon going to enter the homes. Siddiq says they have to abort, they can’t lose a good man on the inside like Munir. That’s the only way that Siddiq knows Munir, as an ally on the inside of the Caliphate Army, but Bassam has a much deeper relationship with the teen. Munir’s the son of his late friend Ahmos Al Yazbek, the man who took him in when he was near death from the desert, the man who died by his side when they released some of the prisoners held by the Caliphate.
There was a time not long before, that Barry would have agreed with Siddiq’s suggestion to abort, but instead he said that if they failed to detonate the bombs they’d lose General Said as an ally. He says they have to go through with the bombing. Munir however had to strong a sense of self-preservation and wanted to save Kasim as well. As soon as the doors got bashed in and the soldiers rushed into the homes, Munir backed up about 100 yards and called to Kasim saying he couldn’t see. Kasim rushed towards him and the bombs got detonated, with them both far enough away to survive the blast.
At the palace Rami’s overjoyed at the news reports on TV that the Red Hand killed twenty soldiers from the Caliphate Army. He shuts off the TV and turns to Jamal, saying this man’s the answer to our prayers, we’ll meet with him and he’ll be a great ally. Jamal’s contempt’s barely contained when he says to his son, you mean this man that you neglected to tell me about until right now? Rami says he was being cautious and Jamal says that decision cost them the chance to kill Ihab Rashid and the rest of the Caliphate leadership. He says from now on he’s to be informed before any decisions get made and he’ll be the one talking with the leader of the Red Hand. He then tells Colonel Mahmoud to follow him and they leave the room.
Jamal asks Mahmoud if he knew about this and he swears that General Said promised to discuss it with Jamal and he assumed he had. The President tells the Colonel he trusts him, but he’s not sure how much he trusts his son. Mahmoud says he made a mistake, Jamal asks was it he that made a mistake in bringing Rami to the palace, perhaps the Rashid blood that came from his mother burns too hot. He then tells Mahmoud to arrange a call to the head of the Red Hand.
General Said and his top aide meet on a balcony and the head of Abbudin’s Air-Force tells Rami that he should get a jet gassed up and sitting on the runway, to escape the nightmare he’s heading into. Rami says he’s my father, the man responds, Idi Amin, Papa Doc, Saddam Hussein, the family all disappeared first.
Bassam returns from the bombing of the soldiers, to find Daliyah waiting for him outside the shelter they live in. She says that Halima brought the rich American kid there, but the kid’s Barry’s son Sammy. Al Fayeed doesn’t believe her at first and then says that Sammy’s far from rich. However she corrects him, telling his son scored a huge inheritance when Barry died.
Barry says to Daliyah to send him away, but she tells him he has to talk to him. She says Sammy came all this way and he deserves to know that his father’s still alive. Barry realizes she’s right and goes to the alley where his son’s waiting. He looks at him for a few minutes then walks towards him, Sammy doesn’t recognize him immediately but Barry removes his head-dress.
He tells Sammy how Jamal had sentenced him to execution but couldn’t go through with it, so he left him in the desert to die. Somehow he survived and with the world believing he died, he decided to remain dead. He said he didn’t want to hurt Sammy or the rest of the family again. The response infuriates Sammy who tries punching his father, but Barry grabs and hugs him and the two hug each other.
The drama’s far from settled however, as Barry says that Jamal would have kept him from returning to California and at best all he’d be is a voice on the phone. He said he wanted the family to move on, he wanted Molly to live her life and go on without guilt. Sammy says he always thought Barry felt he was a disappointment, but it turns out that Barry’s the disappointment. Barry tells his son he can’t stay there and has to go home but Sammy refuses. He asks Siddiq to set Sammy up with sleeping quarters.
A member of the Red Hand approaches Bassam with a cellphone and tells him that President Al Fayeed’s on the other end. Bassam puts a handkerchief over the phone and talks to Jamal. The President asks him who he is and Bassam responds he’s the man that’s going to help him fight the Caliphate Army. Jamal says that in times like these, it’s hard to know who to trust, but there’s something in his voice, that makes the President believe he can trust him. He then asks can I trust you and Bassam replies, yes Mr. President.
The Story Continues Next Tuesday Night at 10:00pm on FX.
