The Canadian series
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has become a success inside and outside the country.
The CBC program (Canada's English-language public broadcaster) is a well-seasoned dish that doesn't overwhelm with pretensions.
John Doyle, a critic for
The Globe and Mail newspaper
, hit the nail on the head when stating that "the extraordinary thing" about this "deeply funny" series is that it is not a mere exercise in LGTBI + activism due to the condition of its protagonist.
In 20-minute episodes, the story revolves around Sabi Mehboob, a gender-fluid millennial of Pakistani origin living in Toronto.
She works at the counter of a bar in Church and Wellesley, the neighborhood frequented by the LGBTI + community of the city;
and also as a babysitter for the children of a wealthy family that she presumes to be modern.
In the first scenes of the series, Sabi is sitting in front of the parents of the children she cares for, hearing that her services will no longer be required.
Paul, her father who makes a living as a therapist, awkwardly tells her, “You're so real.
I'm glad our children have been exposed to you."
Sabi replies, "I'm glad I was exposed to them."
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The intermittent relationship with a cisgender boyfriend and the complex bond with a mother reluctant to change worry Sabi, while 7ven, her best friend, asks her to pack her bags so they can settle in Berlin, “the most
queer
city in the galaxy ”.
However, an accident will disrupt all her plans.
The series received three statuettes at the most recent Canadian Screen Awards (including Best Comedy Series) and won a prestigious Peabody Award in the United States.
The jury underscored "her startlingly original comedic sensibilities and tender portrayal of a
non-binary
queer person."
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premiered in October 2021 on Gem, the CBC payment platform and has gone through HBO Max in the United States, Sky Comedy in the United Kingdom, or M6 in France.
Last March it landed in Spain through Movistar Plus+.
Its producers already confirmed in February that there will be a second season, although the release date is still pending.
The series is the brainchild of Fab Filippo and Bilal Baig, who met on the Toronto theater scene.
Fab Filippo has worked as an actor in series such as the American version of
Queer as Folk
and
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
, and has signed scripts for theater and television.
Bilal Baig, author and performer of the play
Acha Bacha
(where he has already explored the conflicts of a non-binary Canadian-Pakistani person with her Muslim upbringing) is the protagonist Sabi Mehboob.
Both Filippo and Baig have stated that the story of this series has been nurtured by the experiences and imagination of a strong team they have formed with other writers.
An image of the Canadian comedy 'More or less (Sort of)', which is already preparing its second season.
Some voices have pointed out the strong autobiographical load of Bilal Baig on the character of Sabi.
The interpreter has admitted marked similarities such as being born in the Canadian metropolis, having Muslim parents from Pakistan, defining himself as trans... However, he has made it clear that it is not a photocopy.
In an interview with the
Complex portal
, Baig explained one of those divergences: Sabi, her character, has studied to be an electrician.
“It was a big key for me to start to see some differences between the two, because I went to art school and was able to be free and express myself and find my creative voice, while Sabi followed a different path, repressing herself, shrinking and hiding her feelings. things that make her who she is.
And that changed everything for me, in terms of her body language, her tone of voice, that delivery.”
Sabi Mehboob is the first non-binary lead character on Canadian television and Bilal Baig the first South Asian and Muslim person to play a leading role in a prime-time series in the country.
In this regard, Baig has commented that visibility on the screen is always good news, although he clarifies that he only watched Bollywood movies in his childhood and a good part of his adolescence, so he did not have a marked connection with Canadian television: "During For a long time, when I was younger, I believed that all actors were South Asian and brown-skinned.”
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