Tahir’s House Review: Written by Yasser Hammad, who also co-directed the Saudi show with Sultan Abdulmohsen, the newest title (Bait Tahir), which also happens to be Netflix’s first original Saudi series, premiered on September 6, 2023. It stars Joud Alsufyani as Aziza aka the intelligent daughter who has a way with financial numbers, Alhashmi Alfaisal as Yousef aka the fiery son with bad luck, Mohammed Bakahsh as Jumaa aka the head of the house, Naimah Ahmed as Lutfia aka the grandmother with the “green thumb”, Mohammed Alfarra as Kareem, Rand Alqusaibi as Leen, Khalid Abdoun as Faisal and others in important roles.
Comprising of 6 episodes with a runtime of 30 minutes each, the Arabic-language series is now streaming on Netflix with English subtitles as well as dubbed audio for international viewers. The quirky comedy series is centred around a family that is compelled to convert its bankrupt fish shop to an apothecary unlike any other.
Tahir’s House Netflix Series Review Contains No Spoilers
Tahir’s House Review
The series begins with the crumbling image of Taher’s Fish shop as Youssef’s family descends into bankruptcy. As expected it brings about the further falling apart picture of their family with the members leading with their irritable and grumpy attitudes as a coping mechanism. Adding the generational miscommunication between the father and his mother, and his children, on top of the financial chaos, the three generations worth of a close-knit small family always seem to be at odds with each other.
With the younger generation attempting to take control of the situation with more modern solutions and perspectives, the father feels left out, so he deals with the changes around him with his incessant cribbing remarks while simultaneously not backing out of the discussion. In this way, each of the three generations, though always clashing with each other, stay active in their respective adult roles, which when put together, comes up as a universal picture of families in general – always at each other’s throats, but never willing to renounce the bond either.
This bittersweet and familiar vision of a relatable dysfunctional family stays at the core of the Netflix show, and ultimately all following actions and sub-plots also tie into the same bigger thread. All throughout the series, while one party plans one thing, the other commits to something else, all of which eventually makes for a light ‘comedy of errors’ scenario.
One would wonder as to what all could go wrong with opening a new apothecary business. In this family’s case, a lot, especially considering the nature of the strong herb in their possession. To understand what I truly mean, you’ll have to check out the series as I don’t want to give away any spoilers.
The new project in question promises them a thriving business worth millions, but to build it from the ground up they require investments and funding which further introduces us to their extended family members as well, thereby spicing up the mixture of confusion and bringing in more entertainment for us. Unlike quite a few other serious-toned series on the streamer, Tahir’s House taps into the country’s entrepreneurial zest, but with a lighthearted interest so as to stay loyal to its colours of comedy.
Staying close to the ground, the series makes way for some authentic exchanges between the immediate family of four, while entwining their personal issues which further feed into the bigger picture of the family wanting to establish their steady and wealthy source of income. Although the conversations between these characters mostly stay on the surface, the show also doesn’t intend to go too deep with its subject matter in light of keeping its overall tone chill and loaded with offbeat shenanigans.
The banters between the brother-sister sibling duo (Alhashmi Alfaisal and Joud Alsufyani) come up as genuine exchanges. On the other hand, their relationship with their father always seems to be on the rocks due to the lack of profound communication between them, whereas their dynamic with the grandmother is that of reliance on her, with Youssef mostly trying to butter her up to convince her of his terms and desires – an all too familiar picture of a household that hits home.
Tahir’s House: Final Thoughts
As mentioned before, this series is a light-watch that you can breeze through quickly especially with its 6 short episodes. It may not be as per everyone’s taste and preferences, and I agree that the characters could’ve done wonders with a more in-depth writing adding layers to their personalities, but then again, the series doesn’t hope to achieve anything consequential.
It simply hopes to impart a comical representation of familial chaos at best while also normalising the existence of OTT Saudi shows incorporating the wide spectrum of genres at the writers’ disposal to experiment with. Keeping that in mind, it offers a great change of pace and theme in the pre-existing catalogue of Saudi shows already streaming on the streamer, and that in itself adds to its value and charm.
All 6 episodes of Tahir’s House are now streaming on Netflix.