In a Texan courthouse, Mo (Mohammed Amer) begins to break out in sweats at the least convenient time, while waiting to call his family’s number for a long-awaited hearing. After a fight with his girlfriend Maria (Teresa Ruiz), sickly worried for his mother, Yusra (Farah Basiso), and in the disbelief that their Palestinian refugee family might actually find the refuge they’ve longed for.
Needless, Mo is so overwhelmed and impatient that he can barely hold onto his seat. As with every episode of “Moe,” the new Netflix series created by Amer and Remy Yusuf (“Ramy”), the stakes are as high as Moe’s rising blood pressure.
But “Moe” is also a comedy with a fast-paced lion heart at its center, and as such, even this incredibly tense time can vibrate with the frisson of the ridiculous. An altercation ensues with a security guard who refuses to share his water when the vending machine breaks down. Yusra, who has been waiting for this day for years, can’t stop correcting Mo’s allegation that he gave Maria a cuff bracelet to hide her crucifix tattoo, in fact, not an entirely charitable act. was.
His flying former lawyer (Cynthia Yale) parades his current client in front of his new lawyer (Lee Eddy), who is fully capable but immediately loses points for not being Palestinian. Meanwhile, Mo’s brother Sameer (Omar Elba) goes missing briefly to chase a rare finch. Even as they are all trying their best to keep themselves and their family in one piece, the show keeps on finding ways to let Mo and the rest of the Najjar family be entirely on their own.
In eight half-hour episodes, “Moe” drops us into Moe’s life in Texas in the months before this hearing. Years after his family fled Kuwait, and unable to return home to Palestine, Moe is now a sociable hustler selling designer replicas from his trunk, while juggling jobs that would see his lack of American citizenship.
Director Solvan “Slick” Naeem finds a loose rhythm that swings between the Najjars and the occasional flashback to Mo’s childhood, when Mo’s father (Mohammed Hindi) was still comfortably alive. Shot on location in Houston, “Moe” approaches every location—whether a boxing ring, strip club, $6 million mansion, or bucolic olive grove—with equal likelihood of a story awaiting it.
Mo’s devoted relationship to his family is immediately believable and clear, as is his buoyant dynamic with best friend Nick (Tobey Nigwe) and a close relationship with Maria (played with grounded charm by Ruiz). Even when the show throws Mo into deep water—especially with local gangster Dante (Rafael Castillo) or the casual joyride for Mexico—their deep-seated “How did I end up in all of this?” The reactions make him a solid guide through every surprising turn.
As anyone who knows Mo well can tell, however, her ability to poke through any situation elicits an intense sadness, which she refuses to acknowledge to the point of the above sweaty meltdown. Does. Because, yes: “Moe” may be a comedy, but it still follows the journey of a specific experience of unprocessed grief and trauma that follows refugees like the Najjars throughout their lives.
Moe still finds plenty of reason to laugh, thanks to the show’s ability to tell a truly subtle story of a man, family, and the Palestinian experience that television rarely acknowledges, let alone more than half. Spotlight with idea and style “Mo.