Ramy

Serves me right for not watching award shows. Had I watched the Golden Globes in January 2020 (remember January, we could go outside, touch our loved ones, hug them, weird times), I’d have seen an Egyptian man win an award for a show I’d never heard of.

Until a few weeks ago, when that very same show was recommended to me. And now, let me tell you, I’m a believer.

That Egyptian is Ramy Youssef, and that show, is a series on Hulu called Ramy. The show tells the story of an Egyptian – also named Ramy – who lives in New Jersey with his parents and younger sister. The series is a wonderful snapshot of the new immigrant American story – where not only are they immigrants to a country that has recently decided that not being American is a bad thing, but also of being a different religion from everyone else. The wrong one. Ramy tells his story as he tries to navigate New Jersey in the 21st century, where being Muslim means one thing, while being in your thirties means something completely antithetical to that. This is a series that deals with more than just of being the wrong identity, but of finding your own identity, not just in a country that makes being different difficult, but also in the wider scheme of things.

Ramy reminds me a lot of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None. Except for one big difference. Ansari’s Dev is a non practicing Muslim, trying to live the American dream and not let the religion of his parents and his people stand in his way. Whenever it comes up, Ansari uses Islam as a thing to run away from, like when Dev and his cousin visit a barbecue food festival during Ramadan. Dev isn’t anti-Islam the way Republicans are, he’s just not religious the way your parents are.

Ramy, however, is a practicing Muslim and very much a believer. And his journey, in trying to find his place in the world, should be something that is instantly recognisable to many middle-class Muslims in Malaysia. Middle-class Muslims who have spent way too much time in bars drinking Coca-Cola with friends. And then going for Friday prayers the next day in jeans and a Dave Matthews Band t-shirt. Muslims who grapple with doing the “right” thing, while trying to get through another stressful week. 

As one of those middle-class Muslims, Ramy is a refreshing watch. It isn’t Master of None’s Dev who might be a little embarrassed by his religion. It isn’t Man Like Mobeen where the line between “us” and “them” is clearly drawn in the sand. This is a refreshing watch because most of the non-Muslims Ramy encounters don’t really care that he has faith. Ramy reminds me that the biggest struggles of religion isn’t between “you” and “them”, but between “you” and “yourself”. It is the struggle to be better. 

Towards the end of the first season, Ramy travels back to Egypt to visit his family and his grandfather, hoping to find enlightenment in the country of his people. As he lands, his cousin jibes him for not being American enough and for wanting to visit the mosque. His cousin takes him to a party where he sees Egyptians his age drinking, smoking and, snorting cocaine. You know. Doing American party things. Throughout the episode the audience is made to feel like Ramy, that these Egyptians are trying to be so Western, they are forgetting themselves.

When he asks someone at the party about the protests at Tahrir Square and how they must be so proud of themselves for what they had done, he is met with stoney faces. But then the truth comes out and Ramy is made to feel worse. He realises that he is doing exactly what an American would do, to go to a foreign country, and dictate his own morals and ideals to its people. To think he knows better. To think that seeing something on tv is the same as having to live that life daily.

Ramy isn’t a show just for Muslims. Just like The New Pope isn’t really a show just for Christians. If anything, it’s a show most Muslim parents wouldn’t want their kids watching. Ramy is a very good TV show about a character trying to deal with his own personal baggage. Ramy is a very good show about one man’s search for his place in the world. It reminds you that everyone has the same problems, of finding love, of trying to overcome your own inner demons, and of trying to be the best you that you can be.

If you haven’t seen Ramy yet, you have time to get on the train. I for one can’t wait for Season 2 to drop on the 29th of May. Mahershala Ali will be in it. Oh and Mia Khalifa.

Post Script: All three seasons of Ramy are now available to stream in Malaysia on Lionsgate Play.