Mo Amer is a Palestinian comedian. At the age of 9, he and his family immigrated to Houston, Texas, as a result of the Gulf War. Amer's father was a telecommunications engineer who passed away when Amer was only 14. He turned to comedy as a way of dealing with his grief. He befriended Ramy Youssef, an American comedian of Egyptian descent and a fellow Muslim. Amer had a supporting role in Youssef's award-winning series, Ramy (2019), but Youssef helped Amer create this series, which is semi-autobiographical about Amer's family and his own personal life. There aren't many TV shows in the United States that center a Muslim family, let alone a Palestinian one. Amer's show might be the only one, which gives it the perfect position to give us the perspective of people who might only be perceived as Hamas-supporting terrorists.
In terms of the story here, the narrative picks up almost immediately after the first season ended. The first episode even sets down the fact that the series takes place in the year 2022. In real-life, Amer signed an open letter, urging President Joe Biden to push for a ceasefire during the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. If this show comes back for a third season, no doubt Amer will comment upon that conflict, but for the purposes of this show, the narrative takes place before that invasion. However, Amer's show does take many opportunities to show that conflict in other ways, underscoring the fact that Palestinians have been oppressed long before that invasion occurred.
Simon Rex (Blink Twice and Scary Movie 3) joins the cast as one of the few new characters. Rex plays a Jewish man named Guy, a restaurant owner in Houston who is currently dating the ex-girlfriend of Amer's character, Mohammed Ajjar. Guy is the veritable stand-in for all Israelis. If Guy wasn't dating Mo's ex-girlfriend, Mo probably wouldn't be as hostile toward him. Mo's hostility grows because he discovers that Guy has essentially stolen a recipe and food product from Mo's family and the Palestinians in general. The recent Oscar-winner for Best Documentary Feature is No Other Land (2025), which outlines how Palestinians are having their land and property taken. Mo's rivalry with Guy is a great parallel without getting too much in the weeds. What adds insult to injury is that Guy is a successful businessman who is excellent in his field.
This makes Mo jealous because Mo also wants to be a successful businessman and he does have a charm about him that allows him to make in-roads, but he often ends up having the worst luck. That, and his immigration status causes several stumbling blocks. Yes, there's a current of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but another hot-button topic that this show tackles is immigration. The season opens with Mo taking a trip into Mexico in order to help with his family's business and he ends up getting stuck there. He has to try to get back to the United States and his home in Houston, but he's basically an undocumented immigrant and the pitfalls that come with that kind of status is sharply explored in this series. Even though the show is set during the time that President Biden was still in office, a lot of sharpness here is critiques of President Trump's immigration or border policy.
Teresa Ruiz (Luis Miguel and Narcos: Mexico) co-stars as Maria, the ex-girlfriend of Mo. She's trying to move on with Guy as her new boyfriend. Guy seems to have everything she would want in a boyfriend. She works as a mechanic in an auto repair shop. She's very much a straight-shooter. She's sympathetic to Mo's immigration and business problems, but she wants some reliability and stability. She does love Mo and she feels bad once she realizes how upset Mo is about Guy stealing his family's recipe and food product, specifically Mo's family's olive oil. As a result, she keeps getting pulled back to Mo.
Amer is a great comedic presence in this show. He could be described as a brown or Muslim version of Seth Rogen. However, he's much funnier and has more of a point-of-view in his comedy. He's also a better actor than Rogen. The comedy is certainly on point, but he nails the emotional bits, especially in the final episode, which is in a lot of ways an homage to Amer's father, vis-à-vis his character's father. The final episode is in fact the sweetest and most heartbreaking thing depicted for the Muslim characters here.
Of course, the mark of a good series are often its supporting characters and in that, this series is very strong. Omar Elba (A Hologram for the King) also co-stars as Sameer Najjar, the brother of Mo. Sameer's story line definitely fits the bill of being the sweetest and most heartbreaking thing. There were intimations in the previous season that Sameer might have an issue, a medical one. That issue is further explored here and Elba performs those moments so superbly. Minor roles from Tobe Nwigwe, a Grammy-winning rapper who plays Nick and Moayad Alnefaie who plays Hameed, a friend to Mo who is also Palestinian and who is all about assimilating into Texan culture. Alnefaie gets some great lines that are hilarious.
Rated TV-MA-L.
Running Time: 30 mins. / 8 eps.
Available on Netflix.