The Lord Is My Shepherd – Episode 2 opens with the Amin Family gathered around the breakfast table, where all attention is on Zein Amin’s (Amir El-Masry) latest conquest, Sally (Aisling Kearns). Despite Zein and Sam Amin’s (Baz Ashmawy) best efforts to explain Sally as a friend, Lina (Suzie Seweify) and Laya Amin (Noor Salem) don’t buy it. Things only get more awkward, the harder Sam attempts to ready the girls for school.
Later that day at Catalyst Coffee things only get worse for Sam when he learns that Nuala (Laura Hughes) is no longer interested in representing someone who doesn’t write. Despite his claims that he’s been writing, she practically tells him that he’s done and no one in the industry is eager to work with him.
Lina spends several seconds at school admiring Jake (James O’Donoghue) from afar before stopping to quickly insult Laya and her friend Mark (Senan Jennings).
Zein and Sally discuss the possibility of him becoming a big star in LA as he takes her to admire a 7,500 Euro watch that he’s apparently had his eye on for quite some time but can’t afford. Much to her surprise, he’s already had a lead role in a popular American production.
Sam is right in the middle of snooping through Lina’s room when he’s approached by an upset Mo Amin (Raad Rawi) who just discovered a pile of unpaid bills in the trash. Sam unsuccessfully attempts to divert focus on the Vaping paraphernalia he’s just discovered. That changes when Mo sits on a pillow and it starts vibrating. Although neither of them realizes it, Vaping isn’t the only extracurricular activity Lina has picked up recently. Before their conversation is interrupted by a call from the school, Sam not only swears Mo to secrecy about the snooping but lets him know he doesn’t want his help.
Sam meets with Mrs. Sink (Helen Norton), who encourages him to have a serious conversation with Nancy Amin (Carmen Rose Youssef) about religion. It’s not that Nancy has a problem ‘believing,’ it appears that she just doesn’t know how to properly express it. The Crayola portrait of things she likes to do with her family and her case of head lice makes the meeting even more uncomfortable.
Much to Sam’s surprise, it is Nancy who later brings up religion when she asks him why he doesn’t pray. He claims he does but privately. Although they speak a bit more about the different religions and the way people practice them, she ends up rushing off. This causes him to chase after her and leave the head lice medicine behind.
Even later that day, Sam questions Dympna (Eleanor Methven) about giving Nancy rosary beads and teaching her to pray. She doesn’t attempt to deny doing so and tells him that believing in something is much better than his believing in nothing.
Sam returns to the Catalyst Coffee Shop where his financial meeting with Cormac (Art Campion) quickly spirals into a debate about racism. Cormac appears to be stunned that someone is referring to him as a racist. Sam only makes matters worse when he says that Cormac is constantly saying racist things but he is never offended by them. After a bit more debating, Sam learns that the first $50,000 of his next project will be tax-free.
When Sam approaches Lina about the paraphernalia he found in her room, she brushes it off as belonging to Tara (Abby Fitz). It’s unclear whether or not he believes her, but it’s proven to be a lie the following day.
That same day, Sam walks in on Zein pleasuring himself in the living room and compares him to a dog that runs around humping things. Zein attempts to explain himself, but it’s apparent Sam isn’t interested in hearing it.
Despite Lina’s best efforts, she finds herself in an embarrassing situation at school when her teacher (Shaun Dunne) insists she perform her poem before her peers. The poem turns out to be emotionally powerful and geared towards her blaming Sam for her mother, Tracy Amin’s (Dawn Norton) death. Although the class gives her high praise, a bully (Shannon Myles) films it and tries to turn it into a joke.
Mo recruits Zein’s help to give Sam 10,000 Euros. Zein claims that Sam won’t accept his help either, but eventually agrees to try. He does manage to convince Sam later that day to take the money, but he only gives him 3,000 Euros. He also tells Mo not to mention the money because he owes him.
Sam forbids Laya to train MMA anymore when she comes home with a black eye. While she tries to play it down, he shares Nancy’s Crayola portrait with her. As it turns out, what looked like a hanging family was actually a family snorkeling.
The episode ends with the entire family treating themselves to a day of at-home pampering. While doing so Sam learns about a possible upcoming writing project and Lina discovers her poem performance video online.
Faithless Review
As much as I would like to, I can’t completely rag on this episode. It was much better than I would have imagined. At times, the comedy is a bit stale and there are plenty of ‘woke/political agenda’ moments but I felt many of them were done in much better taste as compared to many contemporary comedies. On top of that, there are a lot of real issues lingering below the surface here. In short, I’d be intrigued enough to watch another episode just to see where things go. For that, the episode deserves at least a 5.3 out of 10.
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