Aside from being a reliable role player in the NBA, Iman Shumpert also isn’t too shabby when it comes to rapping. He has once again shown off those skills by linking up with his famous and talented wife, Teyana Taylor, on her new song, “Wake Up Love.”

On the smooth track, Taylor brings up some concerns about the relationship, opening the song, “One thing’s for certain / Need you right here in my arms, baby I’m yearning / But I think I got a bone to pick with you / Lately I’ve been wondering what’s with you / I need you to hear me, baby.”

Shumpert comes back with a reassurance, saying, “I’d save you from a burning building / I wear the burns as gold medals, turn you on to remember.” He later continues, “I know I demand a lot and you don’t like that / So let’s just leave the baggage, I’ma hop us on this flight back / You like that, right?”

Taylor previously teased that her next album, appropriately titled The Album, would receive a June release. That said, it’s not clear if current events will have an impact on when the record comes out. Either way, Taylor has so far previewed it with new songs like “Bare Wit Me” And “Made It.”

Listen to “Wake Up Love” above.

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Our Longest Summer series will look at the eight teams whose seasons are now officially over, and will have to wait until mid-October to make decisions on what’s next and how to proceed after falling short of the cut-off for a continued 2019-20 campaign.

The 2019-20 season wasn’t kind to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The John Beilein era ended after just 14 wins in 54 games and, while the team did perform better after making a coaching change, Cleveland’s overall performance left plenty to be desired. Defensively, it was a near-total collapse and, even with offensive sparks flying at times, the Cavs were relatively dismal on the way to the NBA’s second-worst record before the hiatus.

Now, with 22 of the league’s 30 teams heading to Orlando, the Cavaliers have an extended offseason to attempt to right the ship. Some parts of the team are seemingly in decent shape but, for others, there are real questions that the organization has to answer, leaving uncertainty in a broad sense.

2020 Free Agents

Andre Drummond (player option), Tristan Thompson (UFA), Matthew Dellavedova (UFA), Ante Zizic (UFA)

2020 Projected salary cap space (assuming $115 million salary cap)

None, per Early Bird Rights

Areas of Strength

The Cavs didn’t do much well this season, but Cleveland does have some talented pieces. Should he choose to exercise a lucrative player option, Andre Drummond remains an above-average starting center. Kevin Love isn’t the player he was in his prime but, offensively, the former All-Star brings a lot to the table. On the perimeter, Collin Sexton made considerable strides in terms of efficiency and production, developing his three-point shooting in intriguing fashion and leading the team in scoring. The Cavs also enjoyed flashes from rookies Kevin Porter Jr. and Darius Garland, with some reasonably solid supporting play from veterans like Larry Nance.

Areas of Need

While it isn’t too hard to find positives on the roster, the overall picture is grim. If not for the historic efforts of the Washington Wizards, the Cavs would get more attention for deploying a truly abhorrent defense for much of the season. The talent on that end of the floor is, well, not very good, and the team’s pieces don’t fit all that well together, especially when considering Sexton and Garland in the backcourt. It is at least possible that one (or more) of the rookies makes a leap in the future but, in a more practical sense, Cleveland needs pieces that can defend at a high level and they probably need the true No. 1 option that so many rebuilding teams are looking for along the way.

Biggest Decisions

Drummond will make the decision for the Cavs in some respect and, while not impossible that he exits, most of the buzz would lean toward the veteran center opting in to his deal for nearly $30 million. Cleveland didn’t pay much in the trade for Drummond, making the risk a reasonable one, but how they navigate his one-year pact (if it happens) and pending free agency will be crucial. In addition, Love could be on the trade market once again and, with Tristan Thompson hitting free agency after a lengthy tenure, considerable turnover could happen in the frontcourt. On top of that, the Cavaliers could have a top-three pick in a draft loaded with backcourt contributors and, if fit is a consideration in any way, things could get dicey.

Overall Offseason Focus

The Cavaliers should be in asset accumulation mode. That isn’t ideal for a team that still owes quite a bit of money to Love (and Drummond), but Cleveland simply isn’t close enough to contention to worry all that much about fit and short-term gains. As an over-the-cap team, the Cavaliers have less flexibility than they’d like to, but hitting on their first-round pick this year is paramount, and if they are able to shed Love and/or Drummond with an eye toward flexibility, it might be the time to go ahead and blow it up completely.

Nicki Minaj and Tekashi 69‘s new collaboration “Trollz” is out now and the two colorful rappers chose their midnight release to address some of the criticisms against them on social media. Each took a different approach, but it was clear that the former “Fefe” collaborators found the message of the voices arrayed against them a bit out-of-sync with the realities of the rap game.

Tekashi went on Instagram Live, pointing fingers back at some of his biggest critics, which include Future, Meek Mill, and Snoop Dogg. In the past, each rapper has either subtly or directly criticized Tekashi for being a “rat,” a snitch, and a phony. However, according to Tekashi, “This rap game is full of liars.” He told his viewers, “I’m a show you how this rap game full of rats … I’m a show you how the rap game really works … The rap game don’t want you to know certain stuff. I’m a expose the rap game right now, ’cause I got facts.”

Starting with Meek Mill, Tekashi connected the Roc Nation affiliate with an executive of the company who was at one point a cooperating witness in a federal drug case. Pointing out how Meek works with that executive, Tekashi called out Meek, saying, “You can’t pick and choose who you want to call rats. This is public information.” He also poked at Meek with the words from Drake’s “Back To Back”: “Ever since Nicki left you, you are a nobody… ‘Was that your tour or your girl’s tour?’”

Then Tekashi turned to Future, noting that Future had obliquely dissed him in an Instagram story with a message that said, “I believe if u hang with a snitch u a snitch and deserve to die.” Tekashi pointed out that Future regularly works with Meek. He also reminded Future that neither of them lives the lyrics of their raps. Future admitted in the promotion for his 2019 album The Wizrd that he didn’t want to reveal that he’d gone sober and risk losing fans. “You rap about molly, percs, all this shit, never got locked up for no drug offense,” Tekashi sneered. ” You say, if you hang out with a rat, you’re a rat. So what does that make you? ‘Cause you hang out with these n****s.”

Finally, he called out Snoop, who addressed Tekashi’s testimony a number of times during the younger rapper’s trial and incarceration. “”For the two years I was locked up, you aired me out,” 69 shrugged, “I’m just replying. Wasn’t it Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill who couldn’t keep my dick outta their mouths?” That was when Nicki Minaj appeared to back him up.

Nicki cut through Tekashi’s outright trolling to the heart of the argument: That rappers aren’t really gangsters. “You rappers are in rooms all the time with people with sketchy pasts,” she said. “I’m not judging anybody … I have so much respect for so many of these people … [but] none of you n***as are from the block. If these n***a are still out there doing what they’re doing and really living that life want to talk about it, I gotta respect it because they play by a different code … But as far as rappers they gotta just play it easy, ’cause y’all know y’all bend the rules for certain people … Talking ’bout snitches when there’s snitches in your camp.”

However, Nicki also wanted to remind their critics that the proceeds from “Trollz” were being donated to The Bail Project. “We just want to make sure the protestors and everybody on the front lines … we want you to know how much I respect the people out there protesting and lending their voices.”

Watch Nicki and Tekashi’s Live conversation above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Holey Moley is a lot of things.

It’s a summer competition series that ABC recently rolled out for a second season. It’s an extreme mini-golf challenge that features very large, very elaborate holes that make your local mini-golf course look like the saddest little rinky-dink operation you’ve ever seen. It’s a spectacle to the ridiculous, featuring Wipeout-style physical challenges on every hole and people in costume and just the dumbest collection of ideas and commentary and human bodies flailing through the air that you’ve ever seen. It is also, for my money, the nation’s finest television program.

That’s a bold claim. I’m aware it’s a bold claim, partially because Holey Moley is a bozo carnival of cartoon violence masquerading as a television show, sure, and partially because of the competition. There are so many other good shows out there. Very good shows. Succession is a good show that mixes humor with an in-depth examination of class and status. Better Call Saul is a good show that somehow built off of another good show (Breaking Bad) in such a magical way that it might end up eclipsing the original. Barry is a good show that features Noho Hank, a tatted-up Chechen mobster who is actually the sweetest and goofiest character on the show and my favorite character on television. All of these are terrific television shows that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys high-quality entertainment.

But did any of them dress a man in a suit of armor and light them on fire with fake dragons in the first 10 minutes of their season premiere?

They did not.

There are a few things in play here. I’ll concede that. Some of it is the timing, both general and specific. There’s the summer of it all, the thing where it’s warm and nice out and you might prefer to watch putt-putt maniacs heave themselves off of padded obstacles instead of, say, spending a chunk of a weeknight watching some bleak show about a murdered child and the alcoholic detective tasked with bringing the killer to justice. That’s understandable. Holey Moley is a great show to watch with a light summer-y beer or a cone of soft-serve in your hand.

There’s also the larger thing happening right now, today, in this specific summer, where we are all in the middle of a pandemic and a recession and there are protests against police brutality and systemic racism in every major city in America and it’s all building up to an election season that looks like it’s going to be very ugly and stressful. You can be forgiven if you’re not fully prepared to binge a true-crime series or dive into something that requires more than a half dozen brain cells after a full day of consuming that kind of news. Take a break for an hour. Turn your brain off. Find something stupid and soothing that asks nothing of you but a mild suspension of disbelief.

Something like, say, a show that features a man in a gopher costume — who goes by Dr. Frankengoph — throwing a giant switch and sending electric shocks through the arms and legs of contestants after each missed putt on a specific hole.

There’s something so wildly stupid and cathartic about it, and everyone involved knows it, too. The announcers, comedian Rob Riggle and actual play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore, deliver their commentary with their tongues so firmly in their cheeks that they would slice them off if they bit down. (Tessitore especially is super fun as the straight man.) Jon Lovitz showed up in a pirate costume to hit lob wedges over a pool and onto a green. Steve Guttenberg and Greg Louganis judged a diving contest. NBA All-Star Steph Curry appears as a cartoon after appearing in person in the first season. Everything is designed to be goofy and dumb and corny and just a bag of fun.

There’s one hole on course called Pole-cano. It starts with the contestants putting up a huge hill and over a ledge, at which point their ball rattles down through a series of fake rocks, kind of like golf Plinko, before spitting out on the other side of the hole near the green. To get to the green, the contestants have to grab hold of a zip line and attempt to h-…

Yes.

Yes.

YES.

This is exactly what I’m talking about. This is what Holey Moley is. I feel like I should point out that this guy was perfectly fine afterward, and that he’s a shark researcher who wanted to use the money he was trying to win to devote more research to shark research, the former because it allows you to laugh guilt-free and the latter because of course he is.

I could watch this GIF for hours. I probably have, to be honest. I might do it for another 45 minutes this afternoon. And it’s not even the dumbest or weirdest hole on the course. That honor goes to a hole called Number Two, which starts with the contestants putting their ball down a narrow strip of green with a water hazard on one side and a row of portable toilets on the other side. Then they have to run down that thin strip of green without falling into the water. This is tricky because, surprise, the portable toilets are all occupied by people in monster costumes.

Again, find me another television show where a bro in a backward visor gets launched into a swimming pool by some sort of cape-wearing monster hellbug who is emerging from a portable toilet. Take all the time you need. Rewatch Chernobyl if you think it’s in there. I have time and GIFs to watch. I can wait.

Do you see what I mean now? About how Holey Moley is the ideal television show for this exact moment? About how its commitment to lunatic shenanigans can be exactly the medicine your ravaged brain needs for an hour or so a week? About how freeing it is to watch adrenaline-junkie weirdos fling themselves — or get flung — into pools of water as part of what everyone involved claims is miniature golf competition? I don’t know if it’s just me, but Holey Moley has been a gift from the heavens for me in the last few weeks.

But then again, even in much calmer and simpler times, I do really enjoy watching people get absolutely walloped by huge padded windmills…

… so take some of this with a grain of salt. Or, now that I think about it, don’t. Thinking too hard about things and analyzing them for context and/or incongruities… that flies directly in the face of everything Holey Moley stands for. No, no grains of salt, no thinking, no learning. Just people in costumes performing acts of controlled physical violence against people who are usually not in costumes. And are sometimes on fire. Think of it like meditation with more splashing. Therapy with evil gophers. Whatever it takes right now, you know?

Let Holey Moley heal you.

Steve Carell is a rare actor who has a reputation around Hollywood for being an incredible nice guy, an all-around good person. He’s basically the Tom Hanks of TV (although, he has his fair share of movies, too, including an Oscar nomination for Foxcatcher). In fact, the Space Force star was so beloved on The Office — where he was number one on the call sheet — that when he left the series after seven seasons, the cast retired his number on that call sheet. In the eighth season, Rainn Wilson was number two on the Call Sheet. There was no number one.

Andy Greene, who wrote The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, was hard pressed to find anything negative said about Steve Carell on The Office. He has an entire chapter in the book basically devoted to how wonderful a person he is. “There was never a false note with Steve because you believe he is true in everything he does,” on crew member said. “He was just the greatest,” said another. “He is truly the loveliest man in Hollywood.”

Three people in the book, in fact, offered the same example of what a spectacular human being Carell was. On location, they said, when everyone was jammed into a van, Carell would be the first to hop out, open the door, and “help everyone out of the van. He’d help the crew out of the van. I have never seen that in anyone before or since … he would stand there, and he would help every single person out of the van. And if you had a chair, he’d grab your chair and walk it over to the trailer. He was always such a gentlemen. And so kind.”

“I don’t remember in the nearly ten years of that show that Steve Carell ever said a bad word about anybody,” another co-worker on the sitcom noted. “He was so gracious and so kind. He’s just a class act.”

“He became a sort of big movie star during the course of The Office, but nothing ever changed. He was still the same Steve,” said another.

Producer Randy Cordray, who has been working in television since the 1970s, said of Carell, “To this day, in my long and varied careers, Steve Carell is the most wonderful and most professional actor and the best human of anyone I have ever worked with.”

It is nothing but high praise. However, Kim M. Ferry — the hair department head for eight seasons of The Office — did have one story to share about Steve Carell, where he actually expressed anger, although (again) even this story reflects well on the actor.

“There was only one time when he told me about being upset,” Ferry said:

One weekend, he was trying to teach his daughter Annie how to ride a bike and he had a lot of paparazzi that started showing up outside of his house and started taking pictures of her. They were saying, ‘Hey, over here!’ They were kind of heckling, and at one point, [Steve’s daughter] was trying to ride the bike, and she stopped, started crying, got off the bike, and she ran into the house.

He was livid. At that point, he walked across the street, and he said, ‘Look! I’m right here. If you want to take pictures of me, take pictures of me. You want to take pictures right now, I’ll stand here for an hour. But do not ever hurt my daughter like that. She didn’t sign up for this. She just got born into my family and I am famous. Why can’t I have an experience with my daughter private?”

One paparazzi literally stood in front of the other guys and said, ‘You know what guys? He’s right. We should go. We’ll all go.

That story may say more about Steve Carell than any other, because it may represent the first time that the paparazzi actually listened to an actor and moved along. Then again, Carell’s most generous act on The Office may have been the time he talked Greg Daniels out of ruining Jim and Pam’s wedding by featuring a horse going over Niagara Falls.

Source: The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History

July. November. November. November. November. Those are when the films starring last year’s Best Supporting Actor nominees were released. The year before: November. August. October. October. December. Point is, it’s hard to get nominated for an Oscar; it’s harder to get nominated in an acting category if your film comes out before the fall; and it’s hardest to get nominated in an acting category if your film comes out before the fall, and the world is in chaos. Delroy Lindo has a lot working against him (including the Academy’s history of failing to recognize incredible performances from Black actors), but in Spike Lee’s Netflix movie Da 5 Bloods, he gives the first Oscar-lock performance of the year. He may not win, but he’s damn sure going to get nominated.

It’s not that there haven’t been Oscar-worthy performance this year. There have been plenty. But I have a hard time imagining the Academy acknowledging Sidney Flanigan’s powerfully internalized work in Never Rarely Sometimes Always, or Margot Robbie as chaos personified in Birds of Prey (if Suicide Squad can win an Oscar…), or Elisabeth Moss in Shirley, or Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man, or Elisabeth Moss in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, which isn’t out yet, but come on. It’s Elisabeth Moss.

I hope I’m wrong, and they’re all nominated, but I know that I’m right about Lindo.

Da 5 Bloods is about four Vietnam War veterans — Paul (Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), and Eddie (Norm Lewis), as well as Paul’s son David (Jonathan Majors) — who return to the Southeast Asian country for the remains of their long-deceased squad leader Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman) and buried gold. Few directors make educational films as entertaining as Lee, and this is one of his best: it’s funny, violent, anguished, insightful, and a little long, but every time the action begins to drift, something comes along to reignite your interest and Lee’s fury; he successfully taps into the centuries-old trauma that fuels the Black Lives Matter movement.

Also, there’s a great soundtrack. More movies should use multiple Marvin Gaye songs.

The “bloods,” as they call themselves, have lived very different lives since the fall of Saigon in 1975, but as former-soldiers, they all share the same trauma; especially as Black soldiers, who fight and disproportionately die for a country that doesn’t grant them the same opportunities as white Americans. Paul, who proudly wears a Make America Great Again hat and has a contemptuous relationship with his actual flesh-and-blood, has internalized his anger and sadness (and PTSD) the most. But his guilt and paranoia begin to leak, like toxic ooze, the longer he stays in a place he’d rather forget.

Lindo has worked with Lee before, including Malcolm X and Crooklyn, but he gives a career-defining performance in Da 5 Bloods. You feel and sympathize with his pain, even when he’s at his worst; while his comrades dance and pal around like they’re attending a high school reunion (Whitlock, Jr. treats the trip as such, often holding a tropical drink), Paul seethes. “We won’t let nobody use our rage against us. We control our rage,” Stormin’ Norman advises to his fellow soldiers in a non-digital de-aged flashback (it’s not as distracting as you might think). Paul can’t control his rage any longer. It’s stunning.

Lindo was initially hesitant to put on the MAGA cap, and doesn’t personally know any black Trump supporters, but as he told the Guardian, “I have a cousin who was in ’Nam and it still rankles him that he was reviled as a ‘baby-killer.’ So if one extrapolates that kind of rejection, one can end up at a place where you say, OK, here’s a man, Trump, who’s saying I’m going to make things right for Americans. I like what he’s saying.” Paul likes what Trump’s saying, but Lindo plays him with a complexity that transcends politics.

Late in the film, Paul begins to speak directly to the camera while hacking his way through the jungle with a machete, his sanity slipping with every step. It’s the Colonel Kurtz scenes we don’t see in Apocalypse Now (which is referenced multiple times in the movie). Lindo’s monologue is raw and powerful, and sweaty. So sweaty! I’ve always thought the key to a great live album is when you can hear the sweat pouring from the singer on stage. Next February, Lindo better be on stage, too, holding an Oscar.

‘Da 5 Bloods’ is available to stream now via Netflix.

During his career that launched in the early ’70s, John Prine released a lot of music before his death earlier this year due to coronavirus complications. His latest release was his well-received 2018 album, The Tree Of Forgiveness. Prine recorded some music since then, though, and now, his estate has shared “I Remember Everything,” Prine’s final recording.

The song also comes with a simple video, a single shot showing Prine recording the song in his living room, playing acoustic guitar and singing. Unsurprisingly given the title, the tune is a reflective one. Prine looks back at intimate moments in his career and personal life, singing, “And I remember every town and every hotel room / And every song I ever sang with a guitar out of tune / I remember everything, things I can’t forget / The way you turned and smiled on me, on the night that we first met.” The track was produced by Dave Cobb and co-written by Prine and longtime collaborator Pat McLaughlin.

This video comes right after Picture Show: A Tribute Celebrating John Prine, a livestream tribute show in Prine’s honor. That took place last night, and it featured Bill Murray, Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson, Kurt Vile, Jason Isbell, and Kevin Bacon.

Watch the “I Remember Everything” video above, and revisit Picture Show below.

The second season of Hulu’s Ramy, the critically acclaimed Muslim-American comedy series from Hulu (produced by A24) with a title character who’s loosely fashioned upon creator Ramy Youssef, recently released its second season. This remains a poignant series, although less sweet this time around, and it arrived during what can only be described as a fraught time for marginalized U.S. communities. The timing is purely coincidental, of course, but the show does provide an opportunity to watch one young adult’s attempts to truly grasp his own culture as he fruitlessly works toward enlightenment. And Ramy (this part is fascinating), like those who hashtag their way into feeling like they’re making a difference without action, often ends up inadvertently doing more harm than good, despite his professed desire to be a decent person.

Actually, Ramy (the character, not the series, which is still great) becomes pretty insufferable by the end of this season. I trust that the show’s writers have a plan for him, and that he might eventually experience true growth, rather than always trying to maximize his personal gains without any effort to earn what he’s already got in hand. He’s a guy who coasts on his apparent earnestness and but ends up f*cking over those who trust in him. By the end of the season, he’s lost almost all his allies, and it will be interesting to see how he can truly claw his way to redemption.

In the meantime, I’m going to attempt to spoil as little as possible while providing some reasons why you should watch Ramy — after all, Youssef joked during his Golden Globe win that “you guys haven’t seen my show” — and appreciate that life might feel tough right now, but at least you didn’t make half the mistakes he’s made lately.

1. So Much Comeuppance For A Lead Character:

Yes, Ramy’s the protagonist, but damn, he’s one hell of a hot mess, and I appreciate that the show doesn’t indulge him without consequence. During the first season, I simply appreciated watching a young adult male looking for love in all the worst places while feeling pressured by his family (and culture) to tie the knot with a nice young lady. That’s something that women feel all the time, regardless of social or religious affiliation, and it’s still reflected throughout popular culture even though romcoms at the movies haven’t been a real thing for years. This year, though, it was time for Ramy to make good on his promises, and boy did he screw them up. And the show was prepared, especially in this second season, to not let him escape unscathed.

Look, Ramy isn’t a terrible person at heart, but he does a lot of indefensible things. He’s also guilty of believing that wanting to be a good guy gives him endless chances to f*ck up and hurt people while pleading for forgiveness that he hasn’t earned. He has terrible judgment, and a lot of times, people get hurt as a result. Sometimes, they get hurt physically (and brutally), but many other times, he hurts people emotionally and spiritually. This doesn’t always involve his love life — he befriends and thoughtlessly vouches for a PTSD-afflicted Iraqi vet (despite the guy really loathing Muslims), and this turned out disastrously. Ramy simply doesn’t think beyond himself because “helping” the vet was a way for him to try and pump up his own reputation with Sheikh Malik.

That brings me to my next point…

2. Mahershala Ali, That’s The Whole Point:

The Oscar winner does not disappoint while joining the show’s sophomore run. Yes, he’s being referred to as the “Hot Sheikh” (a play on the fox-fearing Hot Priest from Fleabag), but Mahershala drives his role home with the utmost seriousness. The truly telling development is that while he’s Ramy’s new spiritual advisor, he also ends up learning a lot along the way as well. This Sheikh’s governed by peace and coolness, and while he’s rarely ruffled, he finds himself tested by his charge. He even alludes to his “old ways” at one point, and we don’t learn what he’s talking about, but it sure sounds ominous.

If Mahershala Ali ever said this ^^^ to me, I’d be terrified into changing my ways forever. Will Ramy adapt, though? This show leaves him in a precarious position after an impeccably plotted lead-up. And it’s a wise (and bold) move for the show to not only roast its protagonist but use such a charismatic and in-demand actor to do so. Ramy also builds up its “sidelined” characters along the way, as I’ll touch on below. That way, other players can shine, and we’re not simply hate-watching the leading dude.

3. Some Engrossing Character Studies:

The second season keeps itself poppin’ by knocking out some capsule episodes to flesh out Ramy’s family, including some arguably overdue focus for his sister, Dena, portrayed by May Calamawy. She plays a “normal” Muslim women, meaning that she’s not simply written under the male gaze, and it’s a refreshing approach. Dena gets her own capsule episode, along with much more face time during the second season, while all hell crashes down around her brother. The character’s up for the challenge, deftly illustrating the difference between generations while dancing between tradition and modernity as she navigates being treated differently as a practicing Muslim than her brother.

Another valuable show inclusion occurs near the end of Season 2 with Dena and Ramy’s uncle, Naseem (Laith Nakli). This guy is everyone’s racist uncle. He’s truly abhorrent (and homophobic) and can often be found swinging his d*ck around in the gym’s weight section. He’s a womanizer who degrades and sexualizes every female, including his own niece, and he’s filled with frustration because he’s probably the most inauthentic person on the series. We learn a lot about Naseem (and his ilk) during his capsule episode, including how he became this way and why he’s such a danger to not only the Muslim community but the world at large. It’s a powerful display from the show on how it’s not only willing to highlight the positive examples within the community but the bad-PR bunch as well. And hopefully, we won’t see Ramy turn into this guy.

4. A Rare Deep Dive For The Muslim-American Experience:

The subject of a practicing Muslim family attempting to feel out life in New Jersey isn’t exactly something that’s been explored in popular culture (especially at this level of depth) until now. Despite all of Ramy’s departures from intent, the Muslim faith receives the utmost respect in this series while also showing its struggles. Take Ramy’s trip to Egypt, for example, when he was left aghast to be told that he was joyriding through other people’s trauma. And look at how he attempted to only seize upon practices (like rationalizing that he should have more than one wife) that are convenient to him. The show doesn’t shy away from illustrating exactly why American (and in Ramy’s case, Muslim-American) stereotypes of the community can hurt (a lot).

More than that, the experiences of the women in Ramy’s family aren’t shoved to the backburner. His mother, Maysa (Hiam Abbass), takes on a telling journey during her Lyft gig, which she insists upon doing to overcome her loneliness. She is, of course, hapless while attempting social skills on her rides, but she’s trying, which is more than what one can say for her son. And when she becomes a U.S. citizen, she tells a portrait of President Trump exactly what she thinks. Granted, I’m not sure that most people would want to be in the United States in 2020, if given the chance to be in, say, New Zealand or even Antarctica. Yet under ideal U.S. circumstances, it’s a fine place to be, and Ramy’s mom has made it known that she ain’t leaving.

5. Ramy Encourages Our Own Self-Examination:

As discussed above, Ramy presents us with an exceedingly flawed protagonist. The show doesn’t want to make him an example, and we not only see the beautiful aspects of his experiences but also the ridiculous ones. We watch him struggle to observe Ramadan, and we’ve seen him attempt to justify a porn addiction because it keeps him from having premarital sex (that doesn’t last long). And he’s exceedingly greedy (details would be a spoiler) this season in his love life. Yet Ramy is a mirror for the audience to gaze upon itself and consider the ways that we can become better. Maybe we don’t need to be perfect, but we all must learn how to coexist without hurting others.

That’s what it all comes down too, that Golden Rule. And as much as we’d like to admit, Ramy’s actions are rarely as far-fetched as viewers would like to imagine. He makes the wrong decisions, time and time again, not unlike characters from Always Sunny or Seinfeld, and with often more permanent and damaging consequences, but he is relatable. I want to believe that Ramy’s capable of living without causing collateral damage, which is something that should be a universal aspiration. And I’m looking forward to seeing if he improves (after all that naval-gazing) in a third season.

The second season of Hulu’s ‘Ramy’ is currently streaming.

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