Mo tracks the life of Palestinian refugee Mohammed “Mo” Najjar as he navigates a life coloured with twists, emotion, and trauma in Houston, Texas.
Starring stand-up comedian Mohammed Amer as the show’s eponymous protagonist, Mo offers a realistic view into the lives of refugees living in America as they navigate multiple cultures, languages, and identities in Houston, Texas. Weaving snippets of humour into delicate concerns of citizenship, trauma, and livelihood, Mo reveals the reality of the refugee experience in a sharply authentic portrayal of Mohammed Amer’s dramatized life experiences.
The Story
Mo and his family, comprising his mother Yusra (Farah Bsieso) and elder brother Sameer (Omar Elba), are Palestinian refugees who had left Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1991, relocating to Houston, Texas. The Najjar family are not legal citizens of America and have been struggling with pending asylum claims since Mo’s father’s imprisonment and subsequent death.
When Mo is fired from his job at the hardware store to avoid ICE raids, he decides to keep the news from his worrying mother. He reveals his plan to return to his counterfeit business to his Mexican-Catholic girlfriend Maria (Teresa Ruiz), of whom Yusra does not approve.
Mo’s visit to the grocery store is rudely interrupted when he is caught in a shooting, leading to a bullet graze on his arm. He gets his injury treated by his friend Chien (Michael Y. Kim), but as an aftermath of the injury, Mo finds himself getting addicted to Lean (a mixture of Promethazine with Codeine syrup). However, Yusra is ludicrously more concerned about his secret tattoo than the bullet wound.
When Mo realizes that their Palestinian family lawyer Rhonda Modad (Cynthia Yelle) has been careless with their asylum claims and court case despite years of patient waiting, he fires her in a fit of frustration. He consults the Jewish lawyer Lizzie Horowitz (Lee Eddy) upon Hameed’s recommendation, who turns out to be more prompt with the case.
However, Lizzie accidentally divulges the truth about Mo’s father’s asylum claim- that it is built on his father’s torture in prison. Gruesome images of his fathered cigarette-burnt body haunt Mo as he fights conflicting feelings and repressed trauma.
Mo’s trauma manifests itself in violent means as he gets into a fight with a customer at his workplace, subsequently getting him fired from the “Dreams” strip club. He reluctantly agrees to attend confession upon Maria’s request.
Still distraught from his father’s torture and struggling with his lean addiction, Mo finds himself stuck in a dangerous kidnapping when his counterfeit business leads him to Dante. When Chien is revealed as the kidnapped man, Mo strikes a deal with Dante (Rafel Castillo), gaining Chien’s release in exchange for proceeds from both their businesses.
Mo decides to take up a job at Buddy’s olive farm but is frequently harassed by Dante with sketchy drug collections and tasks. Meanwhile, the Najjars’ asylum case reconciles Mo with his estranged sister Nadia (Cherien Dabis).
Struggling with familial ties, complicated pasts, court cases, addiction, strained relationships, and dangerous alliances with Dante, Mo navigates the waters of modern-day Houston as his exploits steer him to uncharted territories.
Read More: Mo Ending Explained: Does Mo make it out of Mexico?
Reasons To Stream
Mohammed Amer portrays his dramatised life experiences as “Mo” with remarkable ease, typifying the idiosyncrasy essential to his character while keeping the emotional intensity and traumatic reaction intact. Teresa Ruiz essays a strongly individualistic character in Maria’s role, while Farah Bsieso weaves vulnerability and resilience into Yusra’s personality, developing a unique and constantly learning persona in Mo’s mother.
Mo is an honest depiction of the reality of the seldom-acknowledged refugee experience of Palestinian-Americans. The Netflix comedy manages to showcase the intricacies of asylum seekers and the traumatic experiences of the wartime Gulf without romanticizing or glorifying their suffering or falling into the trap of cultural appropriation.
Mohammed Amer weaves a compelling comedy in the semi-autobiographical account of Palestinian immigration and the family’s violent experience in the Nakba. Real-life incidents and characters from Amer’s life are interlaced with comic interludes and dramatic re-enactments to create a bittersweet portrayal of the difficulties and complexities of refugeehood in America.
Mo manages to entwine political and cultural concerns within the fabric of family life and precariously-dealt relationships. Mo’s brother Sameer who is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome faces belittlement in the workplace; his sister Nadia was alienated from the family when she married a Canadian, and Yusra disapproves of Maria due to their conflicting faiths. However, every character is an individual in their own right – from Mo with his hustle culture to Yusra with her entrepreneurial aspirations.
The Netflix original seamlessly interlaces cultures and faiths into an inclusive cast and plot, while Mo’s idiosyncrasies and escapades are sure to leave viewers simultaneously in laughs and tears.
Reasons To Skip
Despite being branded as a comedy, Mo is not a light-hearted romp as it appears to be at first glance as it deals with highly-sensitive issues of race, citizenship, trauma, and wartime crises.
Re-enactments of the Palestinian Nakba prove triggering to the characters of the show and might be a hard pill to swallow for viewers relating to their experience. The gory scenes can be unexpected to those who wish to watch a thorough comedy.
In an attempt to expand upon Mo’s experiences, other characters are left underdeveloped. Yusra’s experiences, which would have been significant considering she became the primary guardian after leaving Kuwait with her children, are barely touched upon. Moreover, Sameer is relegated to a background character only existing to establish Mo as the provider of the family, the depths and complexities of his experiences of Nakba remaining untouched altogether.
The Verdict
Mohammed Amer does a commendable job in translating his lived experiences into a high-intensity comedy-drama in Mo. Instead of shying away from politically and culturally sensitive topics, the serious comedy heartily embraces the reality of the Palestinian refugee crisis while simultaneously weaving a parallel plot of absurd exploits to balance the emotional intensity of the Najjars’ traumatic experiences.
The entire Najjar family’s struggle epitomizes the struggle of millions of refugees across America and the world, leaving viewers smarting in indignation as indefinitely postponed court dates and legal proceedings harangue families for access to basic human rights and allowances.
Rating: 4/5
Mo is now streaming on Netflix.
Read More: House of the Dragon Episode 1 Recap & Review: Promising return to Westeros
