This is the autobiographical story of Muhammad Amr, a Palestinian refugee – but unlike what we may have gotten used to from summaries that start like this, it’s really, really not a heavy drama. “Mo” is an autobiographical comedy by stand-up comedian Mohammed Amar (you may have seen his Netflix specials, “Mohammed in Texas” and “The Vagabond”) – yes, it’s political, of course it’s political, but it’s much more concerned with everyday things of Immigrants, of young people, so much so that there is something almost depressing about how easy it is for us to connect with her and identify with her.
Mo Ammar (who was born in Kuwait, from where his family fled in 1990 during the war with Iraq – straight to the United States) lives in Houston, Texas. He listens to hip-hop (by the way, note that the trailer has a song by DAM, the Palestinian rap group in which Tamer Naper started his career), he is a DJ, he rolls from one bad job to another bad job. His mother demands too much from him, the type of conflicts typical of first-generation immigrant families – succeed, move forward, fit in, but wait, don’t stray too far from tradition. He has a Mexican Catholic girlfriend who doesn’t quite understand what it means that her partner is Muslim. When he gets scratched by a bullet from a gunshot he accidentally got into (Texas, after all) his mom is more concerned with being angry about the tattoo he turns out to have done in secret than worrying about his safety. And yet, the only thing that really brings him out of his peace is when the saleswoman at the grocery store offers him chocolate hummus – now that’s offensive. We told you it’s easy to identify with him.
The result is a little “Atlanta” (because of the southern touch), a little “Master of Naan” because of the immigration experiences of young people in the United States who can’t quite find their place among their parents and their environment, and a lot of Muhammad Omar. The man is simply bursting with personal charm, how can you not fall for it?
Mo, season one is now available on Netflix