User reviews

I have to say I enjoyed this show and binge watched all 3 seasons ! So was exceedingly annoyed and frustrated that the last episode left the whole series hanging with no real ending! I get that networks pull the plug on many a show on its ratings but they normally give fair warning to allow writers to assemble a reasonable finale to the show however this was either not done for this show or the writers gave up? Either way as a viewer you feel ripped off after investing many hours over 3 seasons to end with a host of unresolved storylines is frankly a disgrace!

To be honest in this day and age of catch up tv recorders etc how any network can get a true reflection of a shows following by audience viewing on the actual night of broadcast is beyond me.

Show started out nicely, with good characters and interesting storyline but the everything crashed in season 3. s3 is an absolute disaster. characters are not themselves anymore and are way out of place especially Bassam and his wife. them becoming tyrants just felt rushed and almost stupid. season 3 ruined the show and it ended with a bad cliffhanger and now the show got cancelled. good job.

season 1 is great but s2 is better, it's my favorite. it's more intense and suspenful. shame it got cancelled.

Forewarning only the pilot has been seen so far, but based on that I was thoroughly impressed.

Tyrant is the story of the second son of a powerful middle eastern tyrant who has escaped the corruption and despair of his native land and spent two decades Americanising himself and building an unassuming life with his wife and two kids. Reluctantly he is brought back to his country of birth for the wedding of his nephew.

Its not immediately a genre I would find myself drawn to, but I was enthralled. Barry (the second son) Is a wounded character, wary of his father and everything he represents, and they depict him brilliantly. His interactions with his brother and father are complex and deep.

The setting for the show is very beautiful, right in the opening portion of the episode you get a great sequence of shots where the American family is being driven in a cavalcade to the palace, and you can really see the juxtaposition of the opulence of their cars, the palace with its gardens and forest, with the impoverished masses being kept at bay so the streets are clear for the motorcade.

Watching both Barry's reaction to this contrasting culture and his American families reaction is very interesting and adds a different element to the story. His wife's "Dr. Phil" moments trying to get him to open up about the atrocities he witnessed when Barry (and the audience) know she could never really understand, his sons oblivious superficiality and obnoxious self absorption help make the story relatable to me coming from a western culture, and also highlight how ignorant they (and we) are.

I've only seen the pilot, as mentioned above, but I loved this first glimpse of a, for me, unique new story. I cant wait to see how it unfolds, and I recommend the first episode highly.

Great premise for a series...the interaction of cultures seen through their humanity and frailties. The cast is variable, except for Ashraf Barhom, playing Jamal, who just blows me away with his fierce energy. Every moment he is on he completely dominates the drama. Everyone looks pale beside him -- his energy seems to come like a fire from within and burns up the screen. I think this is a new star... I'll be watching to see him in more! FX really does an amazing job bringing us really interesting series instead of the usual pulp on network TV. Just when you think you've seen it all, they come up with something new. Most of us have no idea what life really looks like in Middle Eastern countries. This gives us a cool story and lets us peek into another world. And GO BARHOM!

I'm impressed with the courage it took to put this on TV. This is not an easy subject to cover and the honesty it is dealt with says a lot about the willingness of the entire crew to take risks.

The acting is superb and everyone gives their character the exact nuance required to convey the sliminess, brutality, tortured indecision, suffering, or shallowness required.

I never thought I'd see such depth and truth portrayed on a mere TV series. The people who put this on have guts and I'm impressed. I will continue to watch for as long as the producers, directors and actors are willing to avoid shallowness or cave to "political correctness."

I'm not a big fan of sex, nudity, or brutality on TV but this story could not be properly told without representing the characters as they really are.

Congratulations! And I'll be praying for you.

With a stunning and fascinating portrayal of a middle-eastern power structure, FX has outdone themselves yet again.

What does it mean to have true power, and can you ignore power when you are born into it? The central conflict of this show thrusts it's main characters back into the fray of just such a situation. It portrays power as both freedom and a prison. The Al-Fayeed family, rulers of a fictional middle-eastern country are no different from any other modern Monarchy except that it is still in defacto power and uses brutal tactics to stay there.

Assad, Khadaffi, Saddam, Bush...

These names conjure Dynasty's and dictatorships, and for thousands of years the power struggles within their individual kingdoms were largely ignored by western powers, or swept quietly under a convenient media rug. But for Barry Al-Fayeed, the violence and politics of his family have been left behind. He has no desire to rule anything then his pediatric practice.

As the younger son of a brutal dictator, Barry took advantage of his families wealth to leave the country behind, and hasn't seen home in twenty years. His wife and children are somewhat ignorant of their husbands and fathers old world, knowing only that they are 'sort of' royalty and that grandad is rich. Their ignorance is typical of the average American family, not stupid, but simply devoid of the truth of the day to day in tyrannical regimes in many parts of the world. When his brothers son is due to be married, Barry is called home, and the cycle begins again.

But the truth is, Barry's legacy is one of bullets and blood, of violence and ruthlessness, of intimidation and manipulation. What makes a tyrant? This show promises to show just how far one man will go to secure his family, his country, and his power.

I will go through a few points about various elements of the show.

Casting - It doesn't seem like anyone is out of place, but there were a few confusions about child versions of a few characters. One of the children looks nothing like the adult version of the character, I was confused and had to look up the cast. Other than that the cast is solid.

Writing - Generally well written with a few odd circumstances but nothing that cannot be explained later in the show. I am glad the writers were up to the task because the show is very dialogue based there isn't a lot of action but I was still pulled in episode after episode.

Acting - Adam Rayner is the main character is this show and as far as I know it's his first lead he has had for a major network. All I can say is that he is playing his role right. This can be said for the rest of the cast with a few exceptions. I cannot say too much without giving away spoilers but I have no complaints about the acting.

Set - Most of the show was filmed in Morocco, the show is not set in Morocco but it had me convinced it was a middle eastern country.

I watch a unhealthy amount of television. Thus the summer is a time of incredible pain. This show can finally help ease this. After diving into the first 3 episodes I can safely say that this show is on the right track. Some plots, and characters can be somewhat 2 dimensional (Barry's son, wife and daughter come to mind) BUT can every character involved in every figment of a story be dynamic as the leads ? The plot is original for once, and the acting has thus far been superb. The sets are gorgeous and very true to the geographical locations as well. The realism and barbarity of a dictatorship/police state is also well portrayed. Give this show a full season and watch where it goes. I beg FX to let this series fly and play out.

9/10 thus far.

Did you ever invest 2 seasons on a great show only to have writers run out of ideas by season 3, so they decide to make everybody sleep WITH Everybody? Well, this is that kinda show.

My wife and I really enjoyed watching Tyrant. That is, till season 3. Then it just got ridiculous. So the eight stars are for the first two seasons. Season 3 ended with one star.

Most of the characters were somewhat stereotypical at first impression. However, the development of the characters has been executed nicely at a very gradual pace but accelerated to match the tempo of the development of the story.

I have found myself drawn into the characters and their psyche and I believe that most viewers can identify with most of them. The cast executes quite well in general. However, the "Big Brother" controlling Jamal is overdone and slows the development of his disposition. He is intelligent enough to make tough decisions. However, due to his father's influence coupled with the absence of his brother during his formative years, he sometimes needs to be pointed in the right direction yet maintains a cynical sense of humor and pretends to be dumb. This seems to invite the continual advice from his big brother. But the overbearing continual advice from the brother is still overdone.

Most viewers will find "Tyrant" to be a very distinct and unique series and very interesting to watch. It has very good content and nearly all ages can watch this for the sex scenes display more class than most shows on the air. These scenes are shown less and less as the show goes on and when they are shown they are done without unnecessary nudity and tasteless displays of the act. The violence has mellowed as well.

I sincerely hope that the writers keep up the good work, for so far they have shown great vision and originality!

I decided to DVR "Tyrant" after seeing a few promos. I'm happy to report that the promos didn't do justice to the series. I was hooked in the first ten minutes.

The adult cast is excellent. I expect that the children will be as well, but I haven't seen enough of them to be sure. The writing is mostly top-notch, and the relationship dynamics seem altogether plausible, with one exception (more on that below). The visuals are beautiful.

I wondered whether the depiction of an Arabic middle eastern country was accurate, but I've not visited there and have no frame of reference (other than news reports, which I take with a large grain of salt). I recommend that you read qusai-tamimi2000@hotmail.com's review, which I found very helpful.

My only real issue with the writing is with some of the interaction between Bassam and Molly. I get that the show needs to show us the dynamics of their relationship and tell us the back story. But I would expect these two characters to have a higher level of emotional maturity than the writers seem to give them credit for. Molly keeps trying to have serious conversations in public places where they're not appropriate, and Bassam doesn't seem mature enough to say more than "I can't talk (or won't) about this now." It's a common plot device, but I think this series deserves something less common.

I can't wait for the next episode.

I was skeptical about starting this show at first. I'm not a fan of "middle east conflict" stories and the premise just seemed boring, but I have to admit, this show has me hooked now. Me and my girlfriend are Hulu and Netflix junkies. We'll typically find a show and binge watch seasons throughout our workweek. Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black were a few of my favorites and Tyrant ranks right up there with the best of them.

At it's heart, Tyrant is a story of two royal siblings with different views on how the kingdom should be run, set in a modern world. The show does a great job of portraying the struggles that people face in the middle east and gives some insight as to why the people there sometimes turn radical. I think it's a bold move for the producers to humanize many of the extremist ideologies for American TV in an age where we still think of fanatical Muslims as puppets unable to think for themselves.

Don't listen to the negative reviews without watching it yourself. Tyrant is packed with plot twists, shocking moments, and great characters. Honestly, I think Adam Rayner's acting is a bit on the weaker side to be cast as the main protagonist, but Basam Al Fayeed is a great character nonetheless, a "good guy" who can make tough, sometimes very violent, decisions on the fly. Basam's brother Jamal is probably the most entertaining "villain" I've watched in a long time (just as fun to watch as Walter White or Jeoffrey Lannister for me). The rest of the cast do a great job also.

10/10 for me. I can't wait for the next episode.

Just want to comment on the part with Ghadafi comparison...because it is totally not correct comparison. It is true that Libya did not have elections, but Ghadafi spent so much state money on Libyans that it could not be called an Dictatorship. This may come as surprise to western people, but that is because you were lied by your governments... In Libya you had free petrol (you poor full tank and leave small change less than 1 USD....this is almost free), free education, free health care, free education and health care abroad if you are talented of can not be treated domestically. You get free house/flat when you get married, you get avg. salary when you become university student, you get a free farm from state if you want to grow plants or keep animals...

By my opinion, this is not dictatorship, and even if it is, then I would like to live in that one, no problem.

I joined IMDb as a result of a bad week and watching the first episode of Tyrant. The show itself has real promise. The premise is clearly not to be taken too seriously, therefore if you allow yourself to view the show as pure entertainment it is enjoyable.

Nevertheless, I must mention the character of Molly Al Fayeed. She is the most naive, stupid and therefore irritating character I've ever seen on the small screen . It's impossible to have any empathy for her. Her character traits are the only weak spot in an otherwise well written show. I realise the writers have to weave her into the story, but this has been done at the expense of any realism and makes poor Molly appear as being borderline mental. Anyone who possesses a modicum of knowledge will quickly ascertain as to what I speak of after viewing.

I gave the show a 6 but would of given an 8 if it weren't for the character flaws of old Molly. The writers must see the kink as nobody is that naive!

I love this show. Gives a good glimpse into the mind of a good person gone bad and the toll it takes on his family. Suspenseful and original.

This show could have been good edutainment. It could potentially bring deeper understandings to the struggles of everyday Arab people, give them names and human faces, and shine a torch on the ills of stubborn feudal system, and how the rulers - even those with good intentions - continue to self-sabotage and cause blood shed every power transition or at the slightest foreign meddling. Yes it did all that. But an honest and balanced presentation, this story is not.

Art direction is superb. I particularly like the theme song: epic, somber, deep, emotive, beautiful and austere. But the "key story voice" is anything but. Overall the producing, writing, directing are disappointingly SHALLOW given the available ingredients and excellent human resource they have at their disposal.

The actors do try their best, but there're just too many 'pander to mainstream American sentimental clichés' and cringe-worthy moments. Cringe-worthy, because the writer/director think their viewers are idiots, and the producer think "audience are lured in by either bloody visual violence or crying/seductive female baits". They must hit every VERY HARD on every points like we still haven't exited PATRONizing 60's.

It is not enough that the bad king acts like a testosterone ape, he must choose to CALCULATEDLY act out the most psychotic and "CREATIVELY SADISTIC" evil stunts, even when he is celebrating a moment of psychological triumph, or sneaking around his palace betraying his own less powerful family members with petty sinful acts many powerful American family males do regularly without blinking. Yawn.

Women, the damsel/virgin and the bitch/whore. Captain Obvious writer and director only know these two types of female species... Yawn...

The exotic queen is a real bitch - she just want the man she STILL loves to DIE. Oh, and she uses her sexuality (on her own husband!!!)to get her ways. So un-American and evil whore of her. Wow really. LOL.

On that note, the exotic/bad queen Leila is tall enough as is but insists on catwalking all the time in 5inch high heels just so that her mid-build hubby Jamal the bad king looks like a short angry-teen and her adult son looks like telly-tubby next to her. Telly tubby prince also has a tall fashion-model-frame wife, another one-dimensional damsel/virgin object with (unmatching)British boarding school accent.

Imagine the two VIP couples standing in a line. The cartoon visual is NOT intended, however, and that is the core problem with the production: the casting decision is 300% TESTOSTERONE-driven.

Testosterone excess always seek estrogen excess. Thus...the "good" wife of our leading hero is too whiny and fluffy and lacking in "first lady in line" qualities.

As an actress Finnigan just pouts and botox-widen-eyed innocence-posturing and camera-poses to much - ANNOYING even when she's supposed to elicit audience sympathy. Her self-absorbed acting made more jarring by her excessively groomed hair and over-stretched-face and "dreamy white angel in Moroccon resort settings" Vogue fashion shot parades. A 30-something actress who BEHAVES like a flighty 30yr old department store executive would of course FAIL to convince as a 40+ DOCTOR wife OF A DYNASTIC FAMILY with 18 year old children! What? She's a child bride of Bassam at 14?

Finnigan as Molly = most distracting and anti-immersion and cringe-inducing element in the entire show.

Bassam's American family are shallow, banal, run-of-the-mill stereotype Californian upper middle class private school bred, doesn't act like they've grown up with a serious conscientious intellectual "Persian prince" as a father, or a doctor as a mother, even as the kids apparently hung out with their cartoon-psychopath-playboy-millionaire uncle during school holidays in the exotic land of complications. The father's focus is on the lives of millions, his shallow family just want to drink French wines in resort palace and whine about daddy/hubby not caring abt his poor little angelic family? Huh? Seriously?

Overall, it's just bad use of good talents. The daughter is a post-porn era wannabe Lisa Simpson who talks social justice but walks ubercool fashion cafe streets. The son, a caricature of a self-pitying super-brat, another captain obvious "bad seed" Al Fayeed.

But still, Bassam the hero is THE ONLY good AND strong one - so stereotypical Jesus earnestly seeking martyrdom he even looks like Jesus in some scenes. Jamal is just cartoon in his inconsistent evil-type: one minuet he's one super-EFFECTIVE Machiavellian schemer, next minute he pulls another psychotic idiotic stunt sneakily behind his wife/son's back. Huh?

The white/good couple against the exotic/bad couple. So neat. So politically correct. So obvious. Even the attempt to be "edgy" and controversial (cross-cultural male homosexuality) is also neat and captain obvious.

After all that logic holes and glaring flaws, the show has redeeming qualities. There is actually a main story arc still held together by the good dedicated actors and art directors. I'm in the second season start, bracing myself for the tedium of filtering out Finnigan's distracting Botoxed face with bad queen's inappropriate catwalk parades in between more desert sand and beardy males with captain obvious black or white morality.

Those who think Homeland and Zero Dark Thirty are morally just and unbiased will really like this show.

Most educated and rational people will find the gratuitous Arab/ female objectification excessive. I wouldn't say the show adds to the suffering and misunderstanding of those who have to live in that reality, but it certainly isn't as high-minded as it presents itself.

Recommended as a high budget cartoon that pretends to be serious drama. Brace oneself for unnecessary visual and psychological violence.

Everyone seems to think this is some sort of timely drama about the Middle East. Don't be silly! This show has as much to do with the Middle East as Outsiders has to do with the Appalachians or Deadwood has to do with South Dakota. You know Friends was filmed in LA, right?

Nope, this show is yet another in a long line of shows seeking to replicate the magic of The Sopranos: the loving, dysfunctional family as a romantic, outlaw enterprise. Sons of Anarchy did a good job. Outsiders did a fairly poor job. This one is somewhere in between.

We have the family, obviously, containing the (at least) one requisite nut job. Can't actually have arrive psychopath on television (or in a movie) because then you wouldn't have any drama. No emotion = no drama. We have the (semi-) honorable family member trying to impose morality on the wealthy and privileged family living on its ill-gotten gains. We have at least one old curmudgeon trying to remind everyone of the "good old days." The good imitations have strong female characters trying to influence the men, who think it's a man's business. The poorer imitations have supposedly strong women, who are just paper tigers. It's all there in Tyrant.

Why ask more of the show? It's not going to tell you anything about the Middle East. That story has been going on for 5,000 years and no one has figured it out yet. Read a book or watch PBS if you want to learn something about it. This is simply a moderately good television show.

Enjoy it for what it is.