In this exciting episode, Sinbad and his team have to deal with a siren called Roisin, but first about Taryn. No, she didn't sweep on her magical flying carpet (she's probably more of a broomstick-type anyways) to offer Roisin a place as her sidekick; instead, she finally finds Sinbad's grandmother and captures her in order to lure Sinbad.
...The only mistake that Taryn has made is that she didn't try to befriend Sinbad's granny; as Sinbad's curse can testify, ol' Sophia knows few magical tricks of her own! If they teamed up, they would solve everyone's problem twice as fast, i.e. teach Sinbad a lesson and give Akbari some much-needed therapy. Oh, and Roisin could be their sushi-girl slash sidekick too!
No, wait. Let's get back to Roisin a bit later, and talk about the Amir instead. In this episode, Akbari kills him because his brother exiled him for "keeping" Taryn (let's be honest who's "keeping" whom in this relationship, shall we?) alongside the groovy sorceress because she has kidnapped Sinbad's granny. The granny of the same man who has killed Amir's own nephew and for whom the Amir was supposed to have affection... as the Amir's actions show, apparently not.
Let's review. Ever since the end of the ep. 1, when the Amir promised his brother help, but failed to deliver it, Taryn has been helping Akbari; in her own way, but still, while the Amir didn't do anything, until now. What did he expect? That Akbari will just forget about his son's death and move on? Seriously? Admittedly, some people can, (usually with help), but Akbari cannot. In any case, the Amir, by doing nothing and ignoring his brother's affliction until it was too late was guilty of the sin of indifference, and in this episode, he paid the ultimate price: Akbari killed him. The only thing that he should've done instead was to stab Amir face to face and say something along the lines of: "You fat slob, you claimed to be my brother, and said that you help me, but you didn't; and now, that Taryn and I finally have a chance of success, you exile us? Take this!" - and then he would stab the Amir. Only... that would create sympathy for Akbari, and that is something the show is trying to avoid, making Akbari and Taryn into villians instead. Well, why cannot be sympathetic villians instead?
Speaking of villians, let's talk of Roisin and her run-in with Sinbad and his crew. Roisin is a siren... in this version, an evil mermaid, rather than a bird-woman as in the Odyssey, who charms people (primarily men), steals their memories and eats them. Only, in this case, Sinbad has very few good memories, but plenty of bad ones, and one of which is tied to his curse. I have talked that all Sinbad needs is a competent magician to get him rid of his curse, and this time it came true. Roisin did nullify Sinbad's curse...at the price of his memories...and eventually his life. But then Rina comes along and saves him! Hooray!
Several more general notes on the episode. First of all, Roisin must be a very physically emposing siren, if she's able to break through a ship's hull. However, her health must be really bad, since she broke a talon, and it hadn't regrown yet.
Secondly, what is the name of Rina's soup? I think it was goulash-something, making me wonder if Rina isn't party Gypsy/Romany/whatever. Well, if she is, why not? After all, Sinbad already got a (maybe Christian) Viking, a native African, a Chinese and a Greek. As a Gypsy, Rina has fit right in.
Thirdly, Nala got to feel annoyed, when Sinbad didn't pick her over Roisin. Well, that's normal - it is annoying when a man who has saved you from Death itself chooses a perky blonde over you as soon as the crisis is over.
Finally, the bones that Rina and Anwar found (Roisin's leftovers, no doubt). Yes, they're straight from the Odyssey too, where the Sirens sat in a green meadow, which was full of human bones and corpses. Roisin, with her island (and temple) fits right into this motive, though she's got a bit of Calypso (one of Odysseus' immortal girlfriends) in her as well. Of course, thanks to Sinbad's bad memories, her island also got (temporarily) a number of nasty ghosts, so frankly I cannot help but wonder if Roisin didn't come out the true loser in her and Sinbad's encounter overall.
So, in conclusion, this episode had a very good, very Homeric siren, a great opponent to Sinbad and his crew (Rina got to save the day for a change), and in Basra the Amir got what he deserved. That was a great episode, in other words.
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