This episode of "Sinbad" takes a dip into surreal, plot-wise.
Start with the main message: friends stick together, through thick and thin. It goes like this: Rina robs the others and runs away into the desert, leaving Anwar to gamble with their ship. The ship is lost, Sinbad and the others have to go into the magical casino and win it back. They do it - Sinbad rescuing his crew in the process again - and everything is fine and jolly again. Oh, and the ship's cook may be something of a cannibal and feeding the others human meat, but more about that later.
I do not particularly enjoy picking plot holes, but here... they're unavoidable, as always. Starting with the ship race to the middle of nowhere, the episode plot just grew too twisted for my tolerance.
Let's go to the "middle of nowhere". Apparently, it's actually between Basra and Beirut; Beirut is the capital city of the modern Lebanon, and on the other side of Middle East (well, the portion that's located between the Mediterrean and the Caspian seas). How exactly did Sinbad's vessel get there? There's no Suez channel in the Middle Ages. Sure, it makes perfect sense for the modern TV series, since it's was made on the island of Malta that's not that far from Beirut on ship, but in the Ottoman epoch, getting from from Basrah to Beirut on ship was months, far too longer than on land! What is the time frame for "Sinbad", anyways?
That brings us to the subplot, of the team of the Amir+Lard Akbari+Taryn. In the previous episode, both the Amir and Taryn promised Akbari help, and... the Amir sent his soldiers to arrest Sinbad's remaining family; these stalwart men took their time long enough for Sinbad's friend to warn the family, and they went into hiding or fled - and the Amir, who rules Basra, has apparently been unable to locate a pair of women (one is old, the other appears to be slightly crazy and incapable of fending for herself) at all.
Taryn, meanwhile, had promised Akbari her help, and it consists of a potion. That's right; she had plenty of time, and all she created was a potion that allowed Akbari to see Sinbad...only the casino's magician prevented Akbari from doing so - twice - and now Taryn has to flee Basra instead. Hate to be captain Obvious, but now what? The show's premise made Taryn sound like one of the main villians, and right now... she's not. And if she's not, then what is her game in all of this? Well, the following episodes will explain it, hopefully.
Back to the main plot. Make no mistake, as far as the plot went, the casino was wonderful, but the setting was positively surreal - it was more like the modern version of Mammon's domain from "The Pilgrim's Process" rather than anything out of "Arabian Nights"; the costumes, starting with the Abdul Fahid the rich merchant, were more like those of NYC's high society than anything out of the Ottoman era. Why? What's the point? A social critique or something? I just don't get it... but the plot more than just made up for the setting's bizarreness.
Rina's role in the plot, however, was something else. She actually infiltrated the casino to rescue somebody's husband, just as Sinbad had rescued Anwar and the others. Somehow, this failed to happen on-screen (and how was Rina to tackle the casino's formidable mage, undoubtedly given to the twins as a part of their deal with Cthulhu and other Elder Gods?), and all we ended was the rest of the S-team badmouthing "lady Samar" to her face (fully deserved), and for Marama Corlett ("Rina") to wear make-up that is really unflattering to her complexion (sorry, Marama).
Finally, we have the cook. Just what did he do to Fahim's servant girl? The same thing he did to the two Water-thieves from the previous episodes - apparently made them disappear with a trace. I'm reasonably sure that he isn't converting them into meals for the rest of the crew, but after the latest plot twists - who knows?
So. Several plot twists and inconsistencies vs. brilliant acting of the main cast in the "casino". Way to go, main cast!
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