BW Media Spotlight

Before I begin I feel compelled to put this warning up again:

BW Media Spotlight is a storytelling discussion blog, not a political blog. While by necessity we will be discussing real world events, many of whom are the source of heated debates (and that’s being generous with my description), those debates have nothing to do with this topic and are not welcomed no matter who you’re supporting or bashing! I will delete stuff or straight up turn off comments if I have to. This is your only warning!

Last month I wrote about how real world events can have an impact on our stories. Something that seemed like a great idea can be altered when it would be seen as tasteless or triggering based not on what a certain group may think but due to a real life disaster or incident that makes what was fiction seem tame in the face of real life.

The United States Of Al probably wasn’t prepared to face the harshest example of that since the US first went into Afghanistan because the Taliban ruling government was protecting Al Queda, the group responsible for the 9-11 attacks that serves as the first example. If you haven’t seen the show or my review of the pilot, the sitcom follows the life of Awalmir, an interpreter for the US during the war. Though the Taliban were forced from power, they continued to be threat enough that his life and that of his family was in danger. Awalmir, aka “Al”, was helped to escape by his soldier friend Reilly, and he works to help Al get his family to safety while Al tries to help him with PTSD and the resulting end of his marriage. The show also includes Reilly’s sister Lizzie, whose fiancé was killed during the war. The show highlighted the real life situation in Afghanistan for locals who helped the US forces and the actors even promoted a charity group working to get US allies out of the country safely.

Two days before filming on the next season was to begin, things changed. I won’t get into the politics or who to blame for what because this isn’t a political blog, and while biases are unavoidable I want to review the story, not the events that inspired it. Those events are a deadline set by President Joe Biden, and as the deadline neared the Taliban took the opportunity to retake the country. US forces scrambled to escape, and ended up leaving behind modern weapons and information. People were killed or injured as the Taliban waved good-bye with their guns, and as of this writing they have retaken control of the country, making the whole war not only pointless but giving them new toys to play with. Granted, your assessment may differ but that’s full disclosure of where I’m coming from in the whole deal. Placing blame is nice in hindsight but for the purposes of this review it’s how the events affected the show, and how the show itself dealt with a huge change in the issue at the heart of the show’s premise that I’m here to discuss.

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