Firstly, mad love for Aziz Ansari, comedian, actor, producer and director. And a genuine visionary who, through this new series fought for representation and honesty. It’s easy to run away from valuable subjects we’re uncomfortable with but Aziz managed to cover a range of topics in 20 episodes. Discussing race, sexuality, discrimination, diversity, the road to success, fame,failure, love, sexual harassment, friendship, family and religion.
Discussing race, sexuality, discrimination, diversity, the road to success, fame,failure, love, sexual harassment, friendship, family and religion.
So it makes you wonder a little bit, if this single Netflix series has realised this in such a small number of episodes, then why aren’t more television shows doing the same. But hands down, a likeable show, good sense of humour and identifiable simplicity. As a first generation from an immigrant family to go to university and expected to be successful, I understood Aziz when he showed cultural differences. Our parents won’t understand the world we’ve learnt to operate in, but we could at least try to maintain the important things to them, to show that we’re not forgetting where we came from and that we still love and appreciate their culture.
In the show, Aziz struggles with his Muslim faith and finds it hard to tell his parents that he doesn’t believe in God. However, soon after telling them the truth, he realises that there is no harm in keeping up traditions with them, despite not necessarily sharing the same beliefs. Compromise.
Which is another thing this series shows us, whether it’s compromise in our friendships, relationships, family or career, Master of None has it.
Dev didn’t know whether to take the opportunity or whether he should “play the race card”
What I found powerful is the fact that there was no shying away from topics we don’t usually see in TV shows. When his character, Dev experiences a racist comment through an email from a powerful producer/ director, Dev didn’t know whether to take the opportunity or whether he should “play the race card”. But it seems that no matter how much he tried to be that difference as an actor, it was the producers and directors who stood in his way and told him he had to be the Indian dude with an accent.
Now, for those who don’t know Aziz, the story lines we see here and there are mostly from his own experiences. So, there’s a lot of things Dev and Aziz have in common, which is that they are pretty much the same person. One’s, the least successful version of the now famous actor and comedian.
In the second season we experience a much more personal and funny journey with Dev. He moves to Italy, learns the language, culture and also how to make pasta. The black and white episode absorbs you into his world immediately and you just want to watch another episode, however they’re not all monochrome, sorry to break it to you. 1st episode was more of a homage to L’avventura, an Italian classic from the 60s. Maybe also a narrative relevant to the story line in the 2nd season but hey, I’m not going to spoil too much for you.
If you’re in need for something a little different and new, well, they’re also speaking in Italian for like an episode or two. So get ready, you can’t turn away! There’s subtitles! Brilliant! This season we learn more about forbidden love and finding yourself but what you can also expect from season 2 is, a series of narrative from other perspectives. You’ll be seeing the narrative of a deaf girl, a french-African taxi driver and a gorgeous Italian chick who’s engaged and in love with… somebody else.
homesickweekend 