Amidst all the recent Egyptian originals that we witness on streaming platforms, we luckily came across this gem. Directed by the genius Youssry Nasrallah and written by the one and only Mohamed Amin Rady, we step into a deep dark world like no other where we get to explore new meanings of life, gain new perspectives and discover parts of ourselves that we didn’t know existed
It’s no secret that Mohamed Amin Rady can swiftly transport us into a world of dark secrets and unusual mysterious issues. As we caught before in his previous work, El Saba3 Wasaya, Niran Sadiqa, etc., the confusion keeps mounting with each passing episode and up until the finale. But as usual, we got you covered.
So here we are breaking down the knots of the plot and solving the mysteries of ‘Menawara be Ahlaha: 2asa2ees Sowar‘. Buckle up for a one-of-a-kind analytical journey!
What do they do with the newborn babies?
For so long, we’ve wondered what could be worse than selling children, what could they be doing? We put the pieces together, and here’s our take in chronological order.
Remember when Pakinam (Karima Mansour) mentioned to Adam (Ahmed Salah El Saadany) she’s going to change her spa’s activity in episode 1? Yes, it’s that spa. Remember when she was crying to Adam about her research thesis on how growth hormones extracted from newborn babies could grant people immortality?
After connecting the dots and taking in the surprise that Pakinam was involved with them, that’s what they do. They take the growth hormone from newborn babies and sell it to those obsessed with the concept of immortality.
السكومنس – El Skomonos
We saw Adel (Bassem Samra) tell Mohab (Mohamed Hatem) the secret behind the intriguing red drink known as El Skomonos. As per the told myth, El Skomonos was the devil’s sweat. But Adel also said that in reality, it’s just Roselle (Karkadeh).
The question here is: Do these characters really need a drink to be this evil or are they originally evil without it? We may never know, but we’d love to hear your input in the comments.
Soundtrack
What makes this series so special is the ideal use of the soundtrack. It was used as part of the surrealistic storytelling. The choice of the Sabah song when they threw the wrestler’s (Ahmed) body into the water and it didn’t drown symbolized that he was a good person that even the sky sang for him in a bright angelic-like scene.
Also, the choice of Farid El Atrash’s ‘Ya Zahra Fe Khayali‘ had a meaning. According to the writer, the song gave him the sense that it speaks of innocence and corruption It expresses the series and what happens to its main characters when they all leave their hometown to Cairo -the capital- as pure innocent people, and are then exposed to things that corrupt them.
The million dollar question: Who is Assem?
It wasn’t clear enough all along who was the actual Assem. A man who doesn’t ever take pictures. The mastermind behind it all. And after knowing that Ashraf was actually framed so Adam can believe that he’s Assem, we have come to a more logical conclusion.
So, Assem doesn’t like being photographed must be for a very good reason. He also has access to all the witnesses’ testimonials, since he called Salwa (Laila Eloui) and informed her that Ayman -her son- (Omar Rozik) hasn’t ratted her out on the spa and changed its name in his testimonial.
Assem is obviously a powerful man that can easily frame people just like he did with Adel (Bassem Samra) to force him to do his dirty work. Keep in mind the moment when Mohab conveyed that he was almost about to tell on Assem, Adel and Salwa to Adam. But once he got to the court of justice, he saw Assem along with Adam, Saeed, Ashraf, and most importantly Raafat, so he took a picture of the four of them and announced that he finally took a photograph of Assem.
Now focusing on the photograph of the four men, let’s start by eliminating those who are not suspects. Adam is automatically out of the picture and we learn that Ashraf was framed. That leaves us with Saeed, a prosecutor, and Raafat, the Chief Deputy.
Going back to the first episodes where we know that Saeed was not interested in the case, as he only wanted to get married and not cancel or postpone his wedding. And that leaves us with our only and last suspect, the Chief Deputy, Raafat. A powerful man who never gets photographed. He tried to push Adam away from handling the case knowing how smart he is. In conclusion, Raafat is Assem.
Honorable Mentions
The gang of three in the series were always seen getting rid of the bodies of their victims on board of a pharaonic boat. One of their dirty businesses is extracting and selling the growth hormone of newborn babies to seek immortality. Immortality almost goes hand in hand with pharaohs, it’s always been their topic of interest. See the connection? A pharaonic boat is certainly fit for what they do with immortality.
Lastly, we wanted to talk about the not-so-newly presented talent that we witnessed in the show, Omar Rozik. His performance was very promising; he embodied difficult emotions in even harder scenes like the one where he was forced by his own mother, Salwa -Laila Eloui-, to poison his father. He was a huge part of the plot and we expect to see a young talent like his on screen in more roles in the near future.
At the end, we enjoyed every twist in the plot of this series, and we loved putting the puzzle pieces together. We hope ‘Menawara Be Ahlaha‘ makes much more sense now.
How many twists did you figure out on your own? Tell us in the comments!
