Ramy: Season 2, Episode 7 “Atlantic City” (A-)
I was completely wowed by the opening montage of this episode featuring romantic conversations between Ramy and Zainab, and that did not prepare me at all for some of the content that came later. I thought for a second about when we saw them both last and realized that it’s been since episode four thanks to the very worthwhile focus on Ramy’s sister and mother. It’s crazy to think that they might already be headed for marriage, but that beautiful sequence of calls showed just how much they’re opening up to each other and realizing that they may in fact be a good couple. While that means one thing for the newly religious Ramy, his friends understood it to be their last chance to get him to come out and party, something he was not at all up for at this point in his life. Not wanting to disappoint Steve and Mo convinced him to go to Atlantic City even though he knew it was a mistake, and it went about as expected. Getting kicked out of the strip club for talking about religion was hardly a badge of honor, and it just left everyone feeling disappointed. Ramy needing to help Steve finish what was started in the strip club could have been played for outright comedy, and I appreciate more that Steve was so intent that Ramy couldn’t do it if it was purely to absolve himself of sin. Steve isn’t religious but he does have certain principles, and even though he asserted his desires over his friend’s, he doesn’t appreciate the indoctrination and superiority that those with strongly held beliefs try to exert over others. The most powerful scene for me was when Ahmed confronted Ramy in the bathroom about how he had prayed for so long for Ramy to be better and wasted those prayers on someone he hadn’t found deserving.
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