#thewickedgame

Daou and Offroad are back in a brand new series and it looks intense 👀

We didn’t have a release date… until NOW!

The Wicked Game will premiere on September 27 with 10 episodes — and the teaser already has me hooked.

Enemies? Lovers? Both? I’m ready for the chaos.

Than, a police officer, becomes the bodyguard of Pheem, the cold and distant heir to a powerful hospital empire.

After surviving an assassination attempt, Pheem hires Than to protect him — but as the danger grows, so does their connection.

Two opposites, one dangerous game.

✨ Watch the teaser here ⬇️

English subtitles available, only on YouTube

✨ The official soundtrack has just been released — check it out below! ⬇️

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✨ This post will be updated when more info (or extra teasers) drop!

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Where is the lie?

Let's talk about a deliberate character choice: the narrative systematically weakened Than from the very start to frame him as a perpetual victim, diluting his accountability.

We're told he was a captain in Narcotics. Yet, his foundational trauma—his framing—stems from a breathtaking lack of basic protocol:

The Incriminating Bag: A suspicious, unattended bag of money appears in his office. A competent captain, especially in narcotics, would:

NOT touch it.

Immediately call Internal Affairs or a trusted superior.

Secure the scene and review camera footage.

Than does the opposite. He picks it up. It's a rookie mistake that paints him as either naive, arrogantly careless, or emotionally compromised.

The Obvious Sting: The "corrupt cops" arrive instantly. The setup is blatant. Yet, the story presents this as him being an unlucky victim of a powerful conspiracy, not as a professional whose poor judgment made him an easy and credible target.

This initial failure establishes a pattern. His later incompetence isn't an outlier; it's a continuation:

He doesn't feel a bulletproof vest during a frantic hug.

He accepts a death with no body and staged evidence.

He misses every clue Pheem leaves for him.

The Narrative Why: This pattern exists to give him (and us) a perpetual excuse. If he were written as a sharp, by-the-book cop who was framed through an ingenious plot, his later cruel choices would be conscious decisions by a capable man. But by making him consistently careless and easily fooled, his actions are reframed:

"He's not abusive, he's just perpetually one step behind and hurt." "His cruelty is a reaction to being tricked, not a deliberate choice of power."

The focus stays on "Pheem the mastermind" and "Than the perpetual casualty," redirecting blame from Than's own agency. We're guided to pity the man who keeps failing rather than condemn the man who, even with compromised judgment, chooses to inflict pain.

A more challenging story would have shown a competent professional making ruthless choices—a version far harder to redeem. But by making him incompetent from the very first scene, the narrative prioritized preserving his victimhood and romantic appeal over his credibility. It was a choice to soften his edges, making his eventual "happy ending" more palatable at the cost of his complexity.

A question I keep turning over: “How can you feel more for Pheem than for Than in their lowest moments?”

The answer is in the foundation. It’s in what each of them carried into the fight, and what—or who—was there to catch them when they fell.

Let’s talk about Than’s foundation:

An ex-cop from a stable, loving, middle-class family.

Parents who supported his career choices unconditionally, stood by him after he was framed and fired, and never blamed him for his losses.

A protective circle of friends who confronted his enemies and consoled his grief.

When Pheem “died,” Than was held, heard, and healed by people who loved him.

His relationship with Pheem began with mutual utility (Pheem’s revenge, Than’s need for vindication).

When it shattered, he had a soft place to land. When Pheem returned, his “happy ending” was handed to him.

Now, let’s talk about Pheem’s foundation:

At 5 or 6, he witnessed his mother run over and killed by his father’s wife, while injured himself.

Taken into his father’s house only to be tortured and abused by his stepmother and half-siblings—until he was exiled abroad for his own safety.

15 years of isolation overseas, no family, his first “relationship” a transactional arrangement.

Returns for revenge, meets Than, and later discovers Than was his childhood savior. This sparks a real, desperate attachment—his first taste of unconditional care.

His unraveling is visceral: drugged, collapsing, sobbing “no one loves me, no one cares.”

Than becomes his first real love, then becomes his greatest source of abandonment.

Disowned by his last living relative (his aunt) and after accidentally shooting Than, he’s given an ultimatum by his abusive father: kill Than or be disowned.

He stages Than’s “death” to save him, only to be met with colder rejection.

Kidnapped, ready to die, saved, then abandoned with the words: “If I saw you dying, I wouldn’t save you.”*

Through the final confrontations, he is shattered—physically, emotionally, spiritually.

He enters the aftermath with no parents, no friends, no support system.

He gives Than his inheritance, the evidence, a marriage—everything.

And the most telling detail: Even his “return” and “happy ending” with Than weren’t accidents. Pheem planned his own faked death, disappeared, and spent months in total solitude physically and emotionally reconstructing himself—just so he could re-enter Than’s life. His happiness wasn’t a gift from the narrative; it was one more tactical objective in a lifetime of survival, achieved without a single soul to support him.

So why Pheem?

Because Than’s suffering happened within a safety net. Pheem’s suffering happened in freefall.