Lighthearted Lebanese series are a guilty pleasure. I support series that show the beauty of our culture, our heritage, our food, and our society. Beirut City, a promising series, really makes an effort to deliver this to a high standard, and what I will say is that despite the flaws that I will get into, an effort should be given to the camera crew, the setting, and the producer for their A plus effort.
I'm going to weigh out the pros and cons of this series. Pros that I believe really helped lighten our beautiful and resilient city, and cons that I feel have let this series down to a point where there was a lot of wasted potential, from the actors, to the direction, to the writing. I will start with the cons, and leave the pros to the end as a reminder that this series is lighthearted, cute, and all in all, accessible to those who want to rewind after a long day, or be reminded of our Beirut.
CONS: Charaters - we are introduced to the 4 main women: Carla, Yara, Nadine and Rose. All four characters hail from similar backgrounds. Bearing in mind that Lebanon is a very diverse country with Beirut being a diverse city, it would have been more effective had each girl been more diverse, so that we can really see the beauty in our diversity. With the exception of Carla and Rose, Yara and Nadine are very one-dimensional women, with not enough depth into their characters. I don't blame this on the actresses, and I think I lean more towards the screenwriting and the direction that these girls lead. Yara has lived her whole life in the US, and on the first episode, she moves with her uncle to Beirut. We aren't informed why, and we aren't given insight into how her life was in the US, which I believe could have made this series more effective if they really explored Yara's two different worlds, and how she merges life in the US vs Beirut, or her life as an expat in Beirut. Yara moves to Beirut for the first time and adapts outstandingly well for someone who has never been in the country before. She knows her way around in the space of one day, immediately blends in with the locals, and doesn't communicate or have any sense of homesickness, which is what I found quite unrealistic in the series. Yara goes through her own conflicts in the show, ones that are not new or surprising to common Lebanese folk who are in conflict over whose land or "ard" belongs to who in the family. However, she does not respond to her conflict well, and this is where I talk about the screenwriting here - Yara is upset that her uncle hid information from her. There is no expression or communication from either one of them in terms of WHY he did it. An example conversation from them really entails to this (I'm paraphrasing here): "Yara- You hid my second family from me?", Uncle "let me talk to you", "Yara- walks away", cue repetitive music. End scene. Because we aren't given enough insight, it makes it difficult for the audience to care about this storyline, which now leads me to - Nadine. The perfect workaholic boss lady mother, who has her emotions in check, really in check that her blunt responses to her own work crisis would make one think it's just another day in the office. There is an allegation of theft in her workplace, but Nadine seemingly has all the time for her friends or a night out. Nadine is also struggling with raising her teenage daughter. Really groundbreaking stuff there. Considering that she has her ex-husband who loves her more than the air he breathes and a driver and a maid and a full support system in place. But that isn't enough for our Nadine. There isn't much on Nadine for the audience to also get into her character, or feel somewhat of a connection to her, which is why her character disappears later on in the series, and more thought is given to the other characters. Which brings me to.... Carla- quite possibly the worst character in this show. Her character is simply too vile and selfish to be likeable. She insults other adults, mocks her friends who call her out for her rudeness, insults strangers, threatens and demeans her father who has granted her, her own house, a job in his office, increasingly flexible hours where she can walk in, make her Nescafé and pretend that she's working for the next couple of hours, and unconditional love that he reminds her of every single day. Carla's love interest, Jimmy, is ever so perfect to a point where his character feels cartoonish. She spends the first few episodes threatening to expose her father's secret affair, to spend the rest of it trying to get her parents back together, thinking only about HER, not her mother, or her father, or their complex relationship, no, it's all about how CARLA feels. Her panic attacks stem from the stress of.... Get this, the pressure SHE feels to use her father's affair to her advantage. From the beginning to the end there is no character development. I don't blame the actress for this. In fact, none of these actresses are given much to work with in their roles. There isn't much these characters could truly offer which is why I think this series never got a sequel, and we never find out what happened to Rose, speaking of... Rose! Rosey-Rose as the characters like to call her. Arguably the most humble and relatable character as she is presented with her flaws of being stubborn, impatient, but also very considerate, attentive, loyal to her friends, and willing to amend her mistakes. Rose is introduced firstly as someone who is unable to compromise her religious beliefs to her previous partner, she is then introduced to a new interest, one that she previously knew through her childhood, and with the help of her family support, is able to connect with Alan. Rose lives an ordinary life, she is not boastful or vindictive like her peers are, which makes me wonder why she is included in the group. Rose is given a character development as we have insight into her upbringing and character, and Rose's relationship with her family is explored in depth. It is a shame that her character has to suffer with life or death ambiguity.
MEN of the show- the men are divided into two categories. They are either perfect cartoonish love interests with absolutely no flaws. Or they are awkward, man-children, serving for comedic effect. Because the men are all one dimensional characters, there isn't much to report on them, this show could have not focused on relationships and the rating would have had the same income.
PROS- all in all, it's an enjoyable show to watch, despite its imperfections. Don't expect too much depth from these characters. I've seen the show a couple of times so you really have to walk through this with an unbiased viewpoint. I applaud the actresses and the producers who do a fantastic job with the little that they have been given.
I'm going to weigh out the pros and cons of this series. Pros that I believe really helped lighten our beautiful and resilient city, and cons that I feel have let this series down to a point where there was a lot of wasted potential, from the actors, to the direction, to the writing. I will start with the cons, and leave the pros to the end as a reminder that this series is lighthearted, cute, and all in all, accessible to those who want to rewind after a long day, or be reminded of our Beirut.
CONS: Charaters - we are introduced to the 4 main women: Carla, Yara, Nadine and Rose. All four characters hail from similar backgrounds. Bearing in mind that Lebanon is a very diverse country with Beirut being a diverse city, it would have been more effective had each girl been more diverse, so that we can really see the beauty in our diversity. With the exception of Carla and Rose, Yara and Nadine are very one-dimensional women, with not enough depth into their characters. I don't blame this on the actresses, and I think I lean more towards the screenwriting and the direction that these girls lead. Yara has lived her whole life in the US, and on the first episode, she moves with her uncle to Beirut. We aren't informed why, and we aren't given insight into how her life was in the US, which I believe could have made this series more effective if they really explored Yara's two different worlds, and how she merges life in the US vs Beirut, or her life as an expat in Beirut. Yara moves to Beirut for the first time and adapts outstandingly well for someone who has never been in the country before. She knows her way around in the space of one day, immediately blends in with the locals, and doesn't communicate or have any sense of homesickness, which is what I found quite unrealistic in the series. Yara goes through her own conflicts in the show, ones that are not new or surprising to common Lebanese folk who are in conflict over whose land or "ard" belongs to who in the family. However, she does not respond to her conflict well, and this is where I talk about the screenwriting here - Yara is upset that her uncle hid information from her. There is no expression or communication from either one of them in terms of WHY he did it. An example conversation from them really entails to this (I'm paraphrasing here): "Yara- You hid my second family from me?", Uncle "let me talk to you", "Yara- walks away", cue repetitive music. End scene. Because we aren't given enough insight, it makes it difficult for the audience to care about this storyline, which now leads me to - Nadine. The perfect workaholic boss lady mother, who has her emotions in check, really in check that her blunt responses to her own work crisis would make one think it's just another day in the office. There is an allegation of theft in her workplace, but Nadine seemingly has all the time for her friends or a night out. Nadine is also struggling with raising her teenage daughter. Really groundbreaking stuff there. Considering that she has her ex-husband who loves her more than the air he breathes and a driver and a maid and a full support system in place. But that isn't enough for our Nadine. There isn't much on Nadine for the audience to also get into her character, or feel somewhat of a connection to her, which is why her character disappears later on in the series, and more thought is given to the other characters. Which brings me to.... Carla- quite possibly the worst character in this show. Her character is simply too vile and selfish to be likeable. She insults other adults, mocks her friends who call her out for her rudeness, insults strangers, threatens and demeans her father who has granted her, her own house, a job in his office, increasingly flexible hours where she can walk in, make her Nescafé and pretend that she's working for the next couple of hours, and unconditional love that he reminds her of every single day. Carla's love interest, Jimmy, is ever so perfect to a point where his character feels cartoonish. She spends the first few episodes threatening to expose her father's secret affair, to spend the rest of it trying to get her parents back together, thinking only about HER, not her mother, or her father, or their complex relationship, no, it's all about how CARLA feels. Her panic attacks stem from the stress of.... Get this, the pressure SHE feels to use her father's affair to her advantage. From the beginning to the end there is no character development. I don't blame the actress for this. In fact, none of these actresses are given much to work with in their roles. There isn't much these characters could truly offer which is why I think this series never got a sequel, and we never find out what happened to Rose, speaking of... Rose! Rosey-Rose as the characters like to call her. Arguably the most humble and relatable character as she is presented with her flaws of being stubborn, impatient, but also very considerate, attentive, loyal to her friends, and willing to amend her mistakes. Rose is introduced firstly as someone who is unable to compromise her religious beliefs to her previous partner, she is then introduced to a new interest, one that she previously knew through her childhood, and with the help of her family support, is able to connect with Alan. Rose lives an ordinary life, she is not boastful or vindictive like her peers are, which makes me wonder why she is included in the group. Rose is given a character development as we have insight into her upbringing and character, and Rose's relationship with her family is explored in depth. It is a shame that her character has to suffer with life or death ambiguity.
MEN of the show- the men are divided into two categories. They are either perfect cartoonish love interests with absolutely no flaws. Or they are awkward, man-children, serving for comedic effect. Because the men are all one dimensional characters, there isn't much to report on them, this show could have not focused on relationships and the rating would have had the same income.
PROS- all in all, it's an enjoyable show to watch, despite its imperfections. Don't expect too much depth from these characters. I've seen the show a couple of times so you really have to walk through this with an unbiased viewpoint. I applaud the actresses and the producers who do a fantastic job with the little that they have been given.
