Tyrant (2014) s01e03 Episode Script

Previously on Tyrant Jamal's accident wasn't an accident.
It was an attempt on his life.
A woman tried to inject him with poison.
Her loyalty was to Ihab Rashid.
He's a terrorist.
I thank him for sending us Samira.
You have filled your pockets collaborating with the Al-Fayeeds.
I'm an Al-Fayeed.
That means I'm a powerful man here.
Are you saying you want to stay? Without family, we have nothing.
Without family, we are nothing.
Jamal, it's, uh It's me, Bassam.
- What would you think if I hung around for a while? - - Good morning.
- Good morning.
Are you Hamid Mahfouz? Are you the husband of this woman? Mommy? Come here.
I believe that you are.
- I need you to come with us.
- What about my children? Who will take care of them? - You have neighbors.
- Baba? - Baba! - They will keep an eye out.
Come on! Good morning.
We have your first council meeting today.
How long have you been here in my bed? Most of the night.
Why? L I didn't want you to spend the first night out of the hospital alone.
It just seemed wrong.
I've been giving it a lot of thought, Jamal.
I think it's important that we behave like a couple again.
You've given it a lot of thought, huh? Now that I'm the president? What? Suddenly you are filled with feelings for me? Not suddenly, Jamal.
I always have.
You know that.
You want this, and I want this for you.
For me? Yes, for you.
What an amazing morning.
First, my wife decides to put aside all the hurt feelings and humiliation I have caused her and crawl back into my bed now when I'm useless as a man.
And suddenly my brother decides not to run back to California to treat measles and chicken pox and mumps but to stay here and help me hold the country together.
Bassam is staying? Why? Because he is my brother.
Because this is our home.
And because he offered and I said yes.
Okay, but we don't need the help of Bassam.
We have each other, Jamal.
We've lived here our whole lives.
We don't need the help of someone who ran away 20 years ago - and now needs a map to find his way - Stop it.
- Around the country.
- Stop it.
I don't know exactly what I'll be doing.
They sent over this briefing book, so I know today I'll be in a bunch of meetings.
But day in, day out I just think that, with everything that's going on around here your grandfather dying and Uncle Jamal recuperating, it's It's just not the right time for me to go.
Well, I think it's a great idea.
Um, do you want me to stay? - I mean, you know, keep you company? - You're truly an ass.
I mean, you know, I feel like we're walking away from an excellent college essay experience here.
Can I talk to you in the other room? Sure.
What if we stay too? Didn't we talk about this last night? - Your practice, the kids' schools - I know.
I know we did.
I just I can't decide which I find more frightening you being so far away or us being so far away from you.
I just l I don't think it makes any sense.
I'm gonna be gone three weeks, maybe a month.
You don't know that.
You have no idea how long you're gonna be here.
I'm just saying I love that you're finally making a connection with these people, this place.
You know? Filling in some blanks.
I guess I just thought it would be nice to be part of it with you.
It would.
It would be nice if we didn't have kids if we didn't both have medical practices if we didn't have a thousand obligations pulling us back home.
I just I don't see how it makes any sense.
Okay.
Do what you have to do.
Tomorrow night, the kids and I will fly home.
And while you're sleeping, we'll be going on with our lives.
And while we're sleeping, you'll be going on with yours.
And then in three weeks or three months or whenever we'll all be back in the same time zone again.
And you're right.
What's the big deal? Are you sure? Shouldn't Jamal hear from me personally? It's better if I go alone.
Oh, Bassam.
You remember Walid Rashid from the wedding? Of course.
- Yeah.
- Uh-uh-uh.
His His chair.
I would sit in his lap Here on the floor by his feet.
His wisdom, his patience, his nerve I tried to soak it all in.
I did soak it all in.
I am ready.
And now it's your turn, my son.
Sit, listen, learn so you can be ready.
As you can see, I have invited my brother, Bassam, to join us.
In addition to being an Al-Fayeed he is very wise, very loyal and that is why I would like to make him a permanent member of this body with the title Special Counsel to the President.
Uh, Mr.
President, I'm very honored, but, uh l-I'm not sure I'm gonna be here long enough to-to need or want a title.
That's okay, Bassam.
You can't use it up or wear it out.
But I will feel better knowing it's here for you in case you need it.
That's all.
Mr.
President I am sure you are aware that General Tariq in his effort to find the people responsible for the attempt on your life has put Abbudin under martial law.
Our old friend Walid Rashid is concerned that this will destroy the summer pilgrimages which begin next week.
After all why would the expected only to be frisked and searched and ordered off the streets by 6:30? He wanted me to give you this petition which is signed by over a thousand business owners all of whom will be impacted by these police actions if they drag into next week.
- Walid gave you this, Yussef? - Yes.
And is Walid not the uncle of Ihab Rashid the very man we are looking for? Yes.
Then tell Walid to hand over his cowardly nephew and General Tariq will suspend the curfew the roadblocks and everything else.
Simple.
If Walid knew where his nephew was, he'd tell us.
- Have you asked him? - Of course.
And General Tariq has questioned him as well.
He claims he does not know his nephew's whereabouts.
You know what? I don't believe him.
Do you believe him, General? I believe very little that's said to me unless I'm holding the person's life in my hands.
That having been said, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to suspend martial law.
And I'm still hopeful that we can do that very thing prior to the beginning of the pilgrimages.
But now would be a foolish time to loosen our grip since we finally know, with certainty that it was Walid's nephew Ihab Rashid who supplied the deadly syringe used in the attack against you.
"With certainty"? There's a witness.
Please, tell the council your name.
Ha-Hamid Mahfouz.
And your wife's name? Fatma Mahfouz.
And were you aware of the relationship between your wife and our president? Stop! Stop, stop.
Ahmed, I need you to leave.
- Father - Now.
Again.
Were you aware of the friendship between your wife and the president? She, uh She said she loved him.
But if she loved him, why then did she try to kill him? Ihab Rashid.
He knew about them, and he gave me the syringe.
He said if she doesn't do it, he would kill our children.
So I gave it to her, and I told her what to do.
Thank you for your testimony, Mr.
Mahfouz.
We can transport the witness back to the prison.
Mr.
President, please! Please, I had no choice.
I swear.
Have some mercy on me and my children, please! Lest anyone doubt the very real peril our president faced the laboratory reports have confirmed the syringe was filled with deadly ricin.
The good news is that we have captured 37 members of his Izz ad-Din Brigades all of whom we've jailed and all of whom are being interrogated as we speak.
It's only a matter of time before we capture Ihab himself.
Yussef, you tell Walid we are going to find his shit of a nephew one way or the other.
But if he makes me wait I'll hang them both.
Mr.
President, if I may turn your attention to docket item Welcome home.
And discuss the funding for the installation Going to work.
- So you're babysitting? - Mm-hmm.
- Samira, don't forget the curfew.
- Okay.
But if they need me to stay over, I'll call you.
Well my first day as the president is just about over and our nation is still here.
It's going to be fine, Baba.
Look at him.
Married man.
Beautiful wife.
Fresh.
Young.
You just can't let her think for a minute that you are satisfied.
Always make her wonder "Am I doing enough? Maybe something different tonight.
Maybe something crazier tonight.
" As your doctor I'm advising you to stop mixing brandy with your prescription opioids.
I believe it's time for dinner.
You know what your problem is, Bassam? You are no fun.
I'm starting to think all that Western education has taken the Al-Fayeed out of you.
You know they've shut off the Internet again.
- Mm-hmm.
- And they've added more checkpoints.
It seems like they're determined to find you and stop you.
Determined to make you pay for what happened to the president.
Even though I had nothing to do with it.
You scared? Hmm? No one knows that we are here except my uncle.
We are in the middle of nowhere.
So What are you doing? Open.
Samira, you are offending Allah.
- But am I offending you? - Yes.
Ahmed, stop.
Please.
But we are married.
We are supposed to be together.
And we will be.
I promise we will be.
Tomorrow.
He's my brother's son.
It's not as if you had a choice.
They're very good at this sort of thing, you know.
They'll be using stun grenades.
Lots of sound and light, but no blood.
Right.
They save that for the hangings.
Yussef, I've shown you where he is.
They're going to do what they have to do.
Must I sit here and watch it? Close your eyes if you want.
All done.
Cigarette? - Hey.
- Mmm.
I have asked our friend from the United States to join us as we have some news to share that will be of interest to him.
Approximately 45 minutes ago soldiers from the President's Office for Internal Security took Ihab Rashid and 10 of his followers and a substantial cache of illegal weaponry into custody.
Thank you, General.
You have your country's gratitude.
I am happy.
I hope the United States is happy too.
Anything that signals the end of the mass arrests and checkpoints and roadblocks and curfews absolutely pleases the United States, yes.
Very kind.
General? At 12:00 noon, day after tomorrow we will hang Ihab Rashid in the capital square.
And at that time, all the domestic protocols you mentioned will cease.
In plenty of time for the pilgrimages, I might add.
Wait, they're gonna publicly hang him? They still do that here? Practically the national pastime.
- Without a trial.
- Why delay the fun? Bassam.
Is there a problem? No, um I don't know.
L-It just seems, as an outsider, that death by hanging without even the benefit of a trial seems a kind of barbaric way to deal with your enemies.
It actually is quite effective.
The strategic goal is to strike fear into the hearts of anyone contemplating a challenge to this regime.
And in my experience the sight of a body swinging from a noose strikes abundant fear.
Thank you, everyone.
This meeting is adjourned.
- Hello? - Fauzi.
It's Bassam.
You called.
My old friend.
So, I'm hearing that you've joined the opposition.
Special counsel to the president.
Impressive.
Any way I can get a meeting? What are you talking about? Two days ago, you couldn't wait to get rid of me.
Okay, sure.
When do you want to meet? Now.
Fauzi, it's 10:00 at night.
I'm not gonna see Molly and the kids for a while.
Can't this hold? Well, I'm not sure if it matters to you but you're about to execute the wrong man.
Well, that That's the first I've heard of it, but Yeah, of course it matters, if it's true.
Yeah, I've been working on this story ever since Jamal was first ambushed.
Not that anybody's going to read it.
No one can.
There's no way to post it.
Someone did put that woman up to killing your brother but it wasn't Ihab Rashid.
Fauzi, if you really believe this, then I need a name and I need it now.
Yeah, well, uh I need a favor.
What favor? My daughter was arrested this evening with Ihab and his followers.
See, the past few months, she's become distant more and more religious, but I had no idea that she was involved with Ihab.
If you bring her home to me, Bassam, I'll give you the name.
Wait a second.
Wait a second.
You want me to free your daughter from jail and then bring her to you? How am I supposed to do that? Well, I'm sorry, my friend.
L I thought that you were the special counsel to the president.
So you Skype? Sure.
But you've never been on a plane? You've never never left Abbudin? What for? I don't know, uh To see things, learn things try things No.
I can do all that here.
As long as I'm careful.
Okay.
Then I guess when l when I go home tomorrow, we can, um, Skype.
Can I ask you something? You can ask me anything.
Do your parents know? Know what? You okay? So, your father told me, and I told the judge who freed you that your getting arrested was an accident that you have nothing to do with Ihab Rashid.
The problem is, they found your car at his safe house so they're gonna ask questions.
Now, the best I could come up with off the top of my head is that you were carjacked by some of his men and they took you back there to, uh to rob you and rape you.
It's not an ideal story, but but I need you to stick with it and not say anything different to your friends.
I don't want to give the government an excuse to put you back in jail.
Can I count on you to play along? Oh! I'm so happy to see you.
What the hell were you doing with those men? Ihab Rashid? I was trying to make a difference.
Something you wouldn't understand.
Samira, wait.
Did you thank the man at least? He's an Al-Fayeed.
I don't owe him anything.
He owes me.
She's young.
I keep telling myself it's going to pass.
I just want her to live through it.
I'm sorry about your father.
- No, you're not.
- I am.
I know his son.
He's a good friend of mine.
I asked him for a favor, and he did it.
I think he deserves better than to be insulted by a child.
The only thing I deserve is what you promised me the name of the man that tried to kill my brother.
Fair enough.
I was going to scan these documents and post them tonight.
Instead, I'm going to give them to you.
The man you're looking for is Hamid Mahfouz.
Fatma's husband? No, we've already talked to him.
He's the one who testified against Ihab at the council.
Yeah, well, you might also want to look at the analysis of what really was in that syringe.
Bassam, I have friends at the lab.
I trust you won't compromise their safety.
I don't understand.
We already know what was in the syringe.
It was ricin, just like it said in all the news reports.
Read the research.
Talk to Mahfouz and then decide what to do, Bassam.
- Hamid Mahfouz? - Yes.
I'm the president's brother.
I'm Bassam Al-Fayeed.
I'm also the president's special counsel.
I want you to tell me why you're in prison.
Because I gave my wife, Fatma, a needle full of ricin to kill President Jamal Al-Fayeed, at the behest of Ihab Rashid.
That is not why you're in prison.
Why are you in prison? It's 12:30 at night, and I'm asking you a question.
- But I just told you the answer.
- No.
You told me what you were told to tell me.
What did they promise you? Who was it? General Tariq? General Tariq promised me nothing.
That they'd execute Ihab Rashid and in a couple of months you'd be out of here? 'Cause you know that's never gonna happen.
Listen to me.
You are in prison because you know too much, my friend.
And I don't believe you're ever getting out of here.
What do I know? Well, at the very least I think you know there was no ricin in that syringe.
And I'm betting you've never even met Ihab Rashid.
- Yes, l - No.
See, I have a report right here that says the only thing in that syringe was bathroom cleanser.
Now, I have to believe if you really were working for Ihab Rashid he's not gonna risk his one shot at my brother on tub-and-tile cleaner.
How are your kids? Your two boys.
They told you anything about them? They told you where they are? Have they even shown you a picture? I'm the president's brother, Hamid.
And I pledge to you, even though we both know you tried to kill him tell me what's really going on here and I will make sure that no matter what happens to you, your children will be cared for.
That is my promise to you.
Your brother is the devil! Your brother destroyed my life.
Okay, listen, I know that your wife and my brother Your brother would come to my home whenever he felt like it take my wife, do whatever he wanted with her while me and my sons sit outside in the hall listening to him grunt and groan guns pointed to our heads.
When he leaves, she would cry until there were no more tears in her body.
Week in and week out, over and over again.
You said she loved him.
Loved him? We were at the market buying food when he saw her from his fancy car.
He picked her out like a piece of meat.
Loved him? Every time he leaves, she would bathe in scalding hot water just to burn his essence off her skin.
And finally, one day, she came to me and told me "If he comes here one more time, I will kill myself.
" And I told her no.
"This is backwards.
We will kill him.
We must kill him.
" What are you doing? I don't think I can do this without you.
And I don't think I can not do this.
Are you okay? You look like you've been through a war.
Is this you finally asking me to stay? This is me pleading with you.
I can't do it by myself.
It's so dark.
Every time l-I think I've hit the bottom there's a there's another subbasement.
And I just need I need one other sane person here that I can talk to.
- Just-Just one other sane person.
- Okay.
Okay, I'm here.
We're all here as long as you need us.
Okay? As long as it's safe.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
I'll be back.
Wait.
Where you going? It's the middle of the night.
To make it safe.
It's your brother.
What? You goddamn animal! What the hell is wrong with you? Bassam, you're choking me! It's okay.
He's my brother.
You could have anyone.
But it had to be her, didn't it? The weakest.
The meekest.
With her husband and her children within earshot.
Why is it only satisfying for you to pummel the other person, huh? That something you learned from Dad? Stop it.
Stop it! What are you both doing? You're insane.
Jamal, what is he talking about? - Nothing that concerns you.
- Oh, really? 'Cause I'd be interested to hear Leila's opinion on that.
Why don't we ask her? Yes, please.
I would love that.
No, it's between you and me.
Listen, I know you are upset.
If we could just talk, me and you.
Please.
Come.
Brother, I know I have done bad things.
But I am the president now.
My wife is back home with me.
You are back in Abbudin with me.
I want to be a new man.
And this will never happen again.
Why don't I believe that? You know that in less than 24 hours you're gonna hang an innocent man? No.
Ihab Rashid is not an innocent man.
He's innocent of this.
He had nothing to do with that woman.
- How do you know that? - Let's start with the fact that your witness was coerced and your evidence is completely fabricated.
That is General Tariq's doing.
I'm not necessarily aware of - Stop it.
- The evidence is beside the point.
Let's say there is no evidence.
What difference does it make? The man is plotting the overthrow of my government.
If he's not guilty of this, he's guilty of something else.
That's not how it works! This is the 21st century, okay? The whole world is watching, and you're gonna get caught.
And when people figure out that you knowingly killed this rock star of a rebel leader for a crime he didn't commit, you'll be staring at a full-blown revolution.
They'll hang you.
They'll hang your son.
They'll hang me, if I'm still here.
Not a country on the planet is gonna lift a finger to stop them.
What do you want me to do? Just tell me what to do, and I will do it.
They are building the gallows.
The capital is waiting for the pilgrims.
The whole world is watching, as you said.
What would you have me do open the jails and set everyone free? Yeah.
Yeah.
We could start with that, sure.
Apparently it's a new day in Abbudin.
President Jamal Al-Fayeed, in office less than a week since the death of his father freed 30-some political prisoners today and admitted that the manhunt used as a pretext to round them up was based on the mistaken assumption that their leader was involved in an assassination attempt on the president's life.
You have to apologize.
You have to say you're sorry.
Those two children already lost their mother.
Now I need to know they'll be cared for.
You have to guarantee they'll be cared for.
Money, schooling we're talking a million dollars.
In a trust fund.
Irrevocable.
This is some bargain you are brokering, brother.
And what do I get? You get me here, with you.
Helping to fix this place.
Oh, yeah.
And you get a body to hang.
Is everything okay? You worked out what you needed with Bassam? It was nothing.
A passing storm.
We are brothers.
Brothers fight.
It was nothing.