We open in Egypt with Farouk, who is standing on an abandoned construction site and looking at his so-called investment: an unfinished building whose ad boasted a “sea view†despite there being no nearby sea. In short, Farouk was scammed. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Dena is seeing a therapist, but the therapist’s office is one giant red flag. Little Buddha statues and appropriated Asian iconography are all over this white woman’s office as Dena opens up to her about not taking the bar exam.
For the second episode in a row, Ramy is not the main character of Ramy. Instead, episode six forces Dena, Maysa, and Farouk to confront their own internal conflicts. They’re all trying to figure out who they are and how to make sense of the worlds they live in. Themes of home and identity return as Farouk struggles to comprehend what it means to be Egyptian and American and how he fits into both cultures. I liked this episode for its exploration of each character’s individual struggles, though some of the scenes — like the ones with the racist therapist — feel a little too far-fetched.
When the therapist asks Dena how she feels about “the virginity,†Dena tells her she used to have nightmares about not having sex (which we saw in season one). After she finally did it a few years ago, a part of her felt shame, but another part realized she had never really felt her body before, and having sex made her feel like a woman. She started making her own decisions and felt a different power. As we’ve seen this season, Dena has grown. She’s more confident and more herself than before.
It was interesting to see Dena’s take on sex versus Ramy’s over the past couple of seasons. The sex Ramy has is always somewhat shameful (his cousin, a married woman from the mosque, etc.), and it almost seems as if he seeks out these situations as a form of punishment. It’s like he can’t allow himself to have healthy sex because he grew up with the idea that sex is associated with shame. So he seeks out situations that will make him feel worse about himself because it’s how he has come to understand sex. Dena, however, has found sex empowering. Like Ramy, she felt shame because of their upbringing, but she was able to move past that. The conversation with her therapist was illuminating, but I do wish we could have seen that growth for Dena, rather than just heard her talk about it. But again, most episodes of this show are about Ramy, not Dena. We’ll have to save those scenes for the imaginary Dena spinoff.
Things take a turn when, out of nowhere, the therapist asks, “Do you agree brown cultures have emotional relationships with food?â€
After that, it was hard to believe Dena stayed on or took the therapist seriously. Aside from being racist, the question had nothing to do with what they were talking about. Even though Dena had never been to therapy before and doesn’t know how it goes, it seemed out of character for her to just indulge the therapist’s racism given that we so often see her call out her parents, Ramy, Uncle Naseem, and others. At the end of the session, the therapist suggests that Dena join group therapy and bring her mom.
“Everything you’ve told me about your family is emotionally abusive,†says the therapist.
“I thought I was just Arab,†Dena responds.
The therapist immediately writes that down. More fuel for her racism, no doubt.
When Dena gets home, she asks her mom to go to therapy with her, and Maysa says, “Are you out of your mind?†She adds, “We have God, Dena.†She then accuses her daughter of complaining about her parents and sharing family secrets and asks if Dena has ever seen The Real Housewives because those are women who need therapy.
“I am the real Real Housewife of New Jersey,†Maysa shouts.
Back in Cairo, we learn Farouk has been to Egypt only once since he moved away. He says he doesn’t need to visit because he’s Egyptian, so Egypt is always with him. His brother disagrees, saying Farouk is American now, having lived in the U.S. longer than he lived in Egypt. Farouk, once sure of his identity, doesn’t know where he fits anymore, again calling into question what home really means. He also has another business idea: American life coach.
In the U.S., Maysa agrees to go to group therapy, and the session is a complete disaster. She starts off complaining about Farouk, and when the therapist asks if she has considered divorce, Maysa gets even more angry.
“Habibti, I am a Palestinian woman, and you don’t fucking know what I went through, okay,†she says. “When we have problems, we figure them out. We don’t walk away like we don’t have any family. Not like you people.â€
Yes, Maysa! She has always been good at standing up for herself. When she storms out, the therapist asks Dena to stay and things just continue to go south, but not before a quick check-in with Farouk in Cairo.
His driver, whom some may remember from season one’s Cairo episode, heard Farouk is now an American life coach. Word travels fast in Egypt, I guess. He wants Farouk to help his daughter, Shereen, who has been depressed.
“Yallah, coach,†the driver says when Shereen arrives. When the two of them are alone, Shereen tells Farouk she needs an abortion and she found a guy who can do it that night, but she’s afraid to go alone because she doesn’t want him to rape her. She figured since Farouk is American, he can help. She says her dad would kill her if he even knew she had sex.
Farouk doesn’t know what to say, and Shereen asks how he talked to his own daughter about this and how many abortions she’s had, as though everyone in America is getting abortions left and right. Farouk tells her abortion isn’t as easy as she thinks. It seems as though in Egypt, they still don’t know the political mess we’re in over here.
In the U.S., Maysa sits in her car after storming out of group, and she’s on hold with a divorce lawyer. What the therapist said is actually getting to her. When someone answers, though, she quickly hangs up and walks to a smoke shop across the street to buy cigarettes, but the woman at the counter says they have only vapes. After Maysa goes on a rant about how Dena hates her, the woman, out of pity, hands her some free tobacco and cartridges. This episode does a good job of showing Maysa’s place in a world she no longer understands. The store’s having only vapes feels symbolic of a changing world Maysa can’t keep up with. And like Farouk, she doesn’t see herself as American. Her values are so different from Dena’s, and they can’t see eye to eye. Dena is young and grew up in America. Her identity is not the same as her mom’s, and Maysa struggles to come to terms with that.
Dena’s sticking around for more therapy was probably a mistake. The therapist asks two members to play Dena’s parents. A white woman playing Dena’s mom puts on an Indian accent, and a white man playing her dad puts on a Borat accent and asks Dena why she doesn’t cook for him. The whole scene devolves into a wildly offensive skit. When Dena finally goes outside, Maysa is sitting in the car vaping (no more cigarettes, just vapes, showing that Maysa is changing). “These Americans are crazy,†Maysa says. For the first time, she and Dena are on the same page. Dena nods and says “yeah,†and even though it’s not much, it’s a surprisingly nice mother-daughter moment.
Dena then goes to see Tarek. She wants to apologize for what she did and tells him she’s been having a hard time, and her parents don’t listen to her, and she doesn’t even know who she is or what she believes. Her apology sounds more like a series of excuses, and Tarek calls her out on her bullshit, saying he’s seen how Dena acts with Maysa, and even though Maysa is “a bit much,†Dena acts like a baby. He tells her he stands up to his parents.
That was an interesting conversation because Dena is fairly opinionated throughout the series. But at the same time, she doesn’t stand up for herself, as we see with the therapist. Although she has gotten more confident, she’s not confident enough to leave her parents’ home or to call the therapist out on her racism. Tarek, in the short time he’s known her, has already noticed the toxic dynamic Dena allows to flourish between herself and Maysa.
While all this is happening, Farouk is accompanying Shereen to her abortion. He’s proving himself to be caring and supportive despite his personal misgivings. A man answers the door and tells them to wait, but we can hear a woman screaming inside, offering a glimpse into the reality of a country where abortion isn’t easily accessible. Farouk asks Shereen if the man who got her pregnant knows, and he naïvely tells her that love solves all problems, even though his own marriage is falling apart.
After more waiting, he tries once again to get Shereen to keep the baby, but she pulls him inside to get an abortion anyway. It’s unclear how successful his life coaching has been.
No Compatibility
• When Farouk asks Shereen if she loves the man who got her pregnant, she says yes but adds, “He’s an Aries, I’m a Cancer. There’s no compatibility.†It looks like the astrology girls made it to Egypt, too!
• Dena talking about sex: “I don’t even think that I came, ever, but it doesn’t even matter.†I really hope Dena has better sex in season four or in the Dena spinoff I’m writing in my head.
• Farouk’s brother says Amani hasn’t been the same since she returned to Egypt, and he doesn’t know why. Ramy really messed up her life, it seems.
• At one point, Shadi overhears Dena and Maysa talking about therapy and comes in to offer his help. He hands Maysa a jar of ’shrooms. “What the fuck is wrong with you?†Maysa asks. Personally, I would love to see Maysa on ’shrooms.