A Sameer Appreciation Post(Stream Mo--it's really good!)

 I binged 2 seasons in a week

There seems to be a minor vogue for neurodivergent characters on TV and streaming recently, to, in my opinion, mixed effect. Some shows lean in a bit too hard to the “It’s like a superpower” dynamic to the point of creating a stereotype that seems like it would be as hard to dislodge as the tragic kind it’s meant to replace. Maybe that’s why I’ve only seen, say, “The Good Doctor” twice, even though it has Richard Schiff in it and therefore can only get so bad—it’s hard for me to get interested in a character caught somewhere between “icon” and “really effective machine.” Of course, many shows take seasons to explore dynamics, and even something I think is great to watch might have an episode or two that either fails in its mission or serves a larger arc that failed to capture my attention. It’s nice to see a show take a more leisurely approach, though.

What makes Sameer interesting is what makes the show, Mo, itself interesting. Comedian Mo Amer has a brother on the autism spectrum, which gives their characters’ interaction a personal and cultural context—for instance, Sameer is a more thorough guardian of his family history than the more easy-going and code-switching Mo, who at least in an initial meeting seems like he could fit in most places(Is that because so many places are both “home” and not for him?)

Although my own disabilities are very different than Sameer’s and I come from a very different background—my own ignorance of Islam frequently on display as I binge-watched both seasons in about a week because I’m feeling, well, not exactly stateless, but that the United States does not provide a haven for its disabled citizens, there was just something so, you know, capital-D, Disabled, about Sameer knowing and caring so much about a chicken business that he has such a minor right to, when the abled people whose jobs it really might be either stopped giving a shit or never did. 

 Sameer had some ideas that he got, both from paying(maybe too much) attention and from his culture. Watching that situation made me fill up with love, pride, and the frustration you feel when a family member steps in it.I think he had a good idea that good bosses might pay attention to.  A lot of places don’t have good bosses, though.

Was very impressed with the later-diagnosis storyline, both as we watch Sameer connect dots that he has been seeing all of his life.  “I feel like everything I do makes people uncomfortable,” he tells his therapist, and also the fact that eventually? It’s not Mom and Culture vs.  Diagnostics the way that it might be on other shows…Mom has a point about the harm of labels and the fact that his family does do a decent job of being supportive and including him in things(Mom is also traditional without being, well, a rube, right? She does come to accept that her grown son might need help that she can’t provide.)

The therapist doesn’t push too hard or try to drive a wedge, though, allowing him to reach his own conclusions in a way that I wish everyone could get, also.