MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Some knowledge of the show is probably going to be required to understand this review because it’s too complicated to explain all at once and I’m lazy so. I also just want to be clear that this review is entirely about Cassandra (as most of the episode was) and will have literally nothing to do with the main plot.

One of the first scenes, after the Librarians get their assignment as per usual every episode, Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth) visits a neurologist and thus starts the culmination of an issue that has been coming since the series premiere. She is told that her brain tumor has grown and she must get it removed, though she refuses surgery. This starts a major theme in this episode, just wait for it.

When Cassandra returns to the Annex, she seems like she has had too much caffeine, but we (the audience) know that she is doing her best to cope with, essentially, the death sentence she just received. And then, in a really kinda of weird twist, she asks Jenkins (John Larroquette) out on a date.

It made me uncomfortable, but this is where the major theme of this episode takes formation: mortality vs. immortality. Later in the episode, Cassandra is angry that Jenkins rejected her because she feels like he is gifted with immortality, all this life in him that she wishes she could have, and he doesn’t do anything with it. It’s such an amazing and long-awaited emotional point for Cassandra. She’s had many deep emotional moments on the show (more out of anyone, I think), but this is her best. We have known since season one that the character of Cassandra may have an expiration date on the show, and now we have reached what may be the end for her. Lindy Booth’s acting is really amazing here and I just loved Cassandra’s emotional depth.

Back to the plot storyline, though. Cassandra, along with other Librarians Jacob Stone (Christian Kane) and Ezekiel Jones (John Harlan Kim), go to investigate a holistic center from which two previous patients had recently literally burned up when exposed to sunlight. Can you see where this is going? (Oh btw Eve and Flynn are off on a romantic date that I don’t really care about. Love them! Just don’t care this ep lmao)

I like this screencap of them because it’s literally all of their personalities in one picture.

So, we are introduced to the owner of the holistic center, Sofia, and her two children. One of her children, Estrella (Clara Lago) forms a connection to Cassandra, right away. She is both smart and beautiful like every woman on this show I love them all they’re all my gfs. This connection is noticed immediately by Jake, who stops Ezekiel from following Cassandra and Estrella as they go off into the gardens so that they can be alone. It’s literally so fucking cute.

I’M SCREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe how gay Cassandra is even while facing imminent death. BUT HONESTLY I FUCKING CALLED IT!!! Let’s review Cassandra’s gay history, shall we?

01x05 “And the Apple of Discord” This was gay but like.....kinky gay (:

01x06 “And the Fables of Doom”

02x01 “And the Drowned Book”

The only thing I love more than this scene is Stone and Jone’s reactions.

I’M CRYING!!!! But I’m not done yet

02x04 “And the Cost of Education”

02x07 “And the Image of an Image”

And I think that’s it but even if it’s not oh my god she is so gay. There was really no point to this other than to exemplify how gay she is lmao. Just wanted to put this out there for anyone who wants to contest her bisexuality/maybe lesbianism? (her asking Jenkins out seems more like a cry for more life than anything but I’m not rejecting the term bisexual yet).

And now back to the actual review of the episode. So, the entire episode, Cassandra just basically flirts with Estrella. They are so fucking cute. Here they are flirting in the garden:

And on a bench:

In this scene, they also talk about the major theme of mortality vs. immortality. Knowing of Cassandra’s illness, Estrella, being a vampire, (we all saw this coming let’s be real) offers to make Cassandra a vampire. This way, she could become immortal and not be sick anymore. This is tempting to Cassandra, especially when Estrella says that she could live on the grounds with her. Though Cassandra turns her down, it’s clear that their connection is very strong.

At the climax of the episode, Cassandra faints and is rushed to the hospital.. She is taken into immediate surgery to remove her brain tumor. She is faced with her own mortality and, if she survives, the possibility of losing her gift.

However, when she wakes up, she finds that her gift is intensified. Her whole world is numbers and ratios and formulas. And also she’s fucking telepathic!!! God I love this bitch. It’s very exciting that her gift is so much stronger now. I have always felt like, throughout the entire series, Cassandra has been the most, I guess you could say, magically charged. She has always seemed so much more tied to the magic in the world than the others. I feel like she has to be the key to something. What that is, I don’t know just yet. But I know that Cassandra is important. I feel it.

After her surgery, she goes to visit Estrella and thank her for saving her life because she reminded her that it is not what she is born into that makes her who she is. Then this happens!!!!!

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, based on the book of the same name by Mohsin Hamid shares the story of a Pakistani man living in America post-9/11. It opens with the kidnapping of an American professor, Anse Rainer, in Lahore, Pakistan. American journalist/CIA informant, Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber), interviews Rainer’s colleague, Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed), who the CIA suspects is involved in the kidnapping.

Caption: Bobby Lincoln, left, (Liev Schreiber) and Changez Kahn, right, (Riz Ahmed) sit at a table in Lahore, Pakistan discussing Changez’s life.

Changez is a very intelligent and determined young man who moves to the United States to attend Princeton University on scholarship, and eventually, to New York City to work for a Wall Street valuation company, Underwood Samson. He works on a fairly diverse team and thrives very easily at the company, rising quickly to the level of Associate.

Caption: A conference/meeting room at Underwood Samson. Changez Kahn is pictured middle left

Changez also falls very deeply in love with a white American photographer, Erica (Kate Hudson) who he meets by chance one day by stumbling into her outdoor photoshoot of skateboarders.

Caption: Changez and Erica (Kate Hudson) kiss and embrace in Erica’s apartment.

After the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center by Al-Qaeda, Changez experiences many different forms of racism and Islamophobia. Immediately after the attacks, Changez and his co-workers are arriving back to New York from Manila, Philippines. There, he is subjected to a humiliating strip search by authorities which ends with the man inspecting his anus. The film portrays this in a way in which makes you focus entirely on how Changez feels humiliated and degraded.

Caption: Changez bends over naked in a private room in the airport as he is inspected by authorities.

The entire film does just such an amazing job of focusing on how deeply traumatic these experiences of racism and Islamophobia are for Muslims living in America. In addition to being strip-searched at the airport, Changez is also mistakenly arrested on the street after calls were made to the police about a different Pakistani man. He is interrogated intensely and not allowed to contact his lawyer. In another instance, his tires are slashed after a meeting and a white man pulls up next to him in the parking lot (assumingly the same man who slashed his tires), spits at him, and says “Fuck you, Osama!”

One scene that is particularly unnerving is when his girlfriend, Erica sets up an art show that is based on their relationship. It features several fetishistic elements and appropriates many aspects of Islamic culture. Changez is outraged when he sees it, feeling as if he was just a prop in her artistic endeavors. Riz Ahmed’s acting here is really amazing here too! (He is never one to shy away from political comments and recently released a song called “Englistan” about his experience as a British Pakistani man which you should listen to!) You can really feel Riz’s true emotion behind it. Here is the full reaction scene:

Full transcript Changez: You’re the one goddamn person I trusted in this city and now I get this shit. I get this fucking shit from you too, now? Hmm? Erica: I don’t...I thought...I thought...I thought you’d be proud of me. Changez: Why would I be proud? What? Proud of being your own little pet artistic project? Erica: Can we please take this outside? Changez: No, what? Was that the idea? Huh? How chic! How chic! “I’m gonna date a Pakistani after 9/11 and it’s gonna be great for my bohemian street cred!” Erica: That is completely unfair! Changez: “I fucked the 20th hijacker!” Huh? I’m like the ultimate downtown status symbol right now.

Another thing that The Reluctant Fundamentalist does that is interesting is display everyday microaggressions or ingrained Islamophobic ideals that we as Americans exhibit towards the Muslim community. Changez consistently has his name pronounced incorrectly and by people that he works with. These are people that he spends the majority of his day with and they can’t even learn how to pronounce his name - a name that is really not at all hard to pronounce even for the most redneck American. He gets called “Changes” or “Chain-jeez” multiple times.

By one coworker, he is even called Saddam on more than one occasion. Multiple coworkers comment on the fact that they dislike his beard and urge him to shave it, despite the fact that Changez says that it reminds him of where he comes from. These are things that Americans, particularly white Americans, do, sometimes without even realizing it. But still, The Reluctant Fundamentalist shows us that these things impact Muslims living in America negatively.

Furthermore, often while at work, after the attacks, Changez overhears his coworkers speaking ignorantly about Muslims. Here is how one conversation went down:

Wainwright: All I'm saying is, before I'd start a full F-16, tank-ass war against the entire Muslim world, I'd give the CIA, INTERPOL, whoever, a chance to track these motherfuckers down. Mike: We got hit first. It's Pearl Harbor all over again. It's common fucking sense. Wainwright: I'm not saying you're wrong, but what nation-state attacked us? Mike: Nation-state, my ass! You're splitting hairs. Wainright: Am I? Mike: Yeah. They believe God told them to blow us up. It's in their book. Wainright: It's in their book? Mike: Yeah. Whatever it's called.

The film does an incredible job of articulating how American patriotism can easily cross the line into xenophobia. I think that a major point to take away from this is that white fear and American nationalism breeds terrorism (though Changez is not a terrorist, that’s not what I’m implying). But, we as Americans ostracize Muslims to the point where we make them resent us. We tell them that America is the place where dreams come true and anyone can thrive, but then despise anyone who we don’t think fits our very Eurocentric standards. And when tragedy strikes or anything happens that makes us feel threatened, we blame anyone who looks like the people we are angry at. I think that Changez says it best himself:

Changez: You picked a side after 9/11: I didn’t have to. It was picked for me.

So, are there any negatives to the film? Only slightly. I found the present day plot with Anse Rainer a bit confusing to follow. I just think that it could have been simplified a bit for the film. And as for women in the film, of course, I wish there were more women because I literally always wish that there were more women. However, I was pleased with the way the women were represented. His sister Bina (Meesha Shafi) is a carefree and confident woman who dresses in her own unique style. It’s a contrast to the typical Muslim women that are typically displayed in Western media. We need more honest and real portrayals of Muslim women in popular media, which is why we really need more incredible filmmakers who are women of color like Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala, The Namesake).