Asfour: Difference between revisions

[[File:Asfour_3413.jpg|frame|From left to right: Newton, Katsar, Itzik, and Moti, sitting at the Bus Farm.]]

 

 

''But why should you? Just live.''|'''The show’s promo'''}}

 

* [[Cassandra Truth]]: {{spoiler|Itai won’t listen to Shir when she tells him Saragousti is gone.}}

* [[Catch Phrase]]: ‘What, ain’t that right?’

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Moti’s work at the morgue, as well as {{spoiler|their charity acts close to the beginning}}.

* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Averted. Skin tone and [[All Jews Are Ashkenazi|non-Ashkenazi]] heritage do not prevent anyone from fitting into high society. Invoked only once when Sivan accused her friend Mor of bigotry when she expressed suspicion at Tavor.

* [[Complete Monster]]: Kobi, Itzik’s rather shady friend. It’s implied his boss Saragousti {{spoiler|used to be}} an even bigger one, nearly killing him {{spoiler|when he caught him having sex with another man. He would’ve done it, had Victor not been there to whack him silly. Literally}}.

* [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch]]: People frequently call it a show for ''arsim''<ref>עַרְסִים, sing. ''ars'' עַרְס; the rough Israeli equivalent of guidos</ref>, mention frequent use of bad language, and generally don’t think much of it. Those people rarely actually watch that show, or watch it from a biased point of view (the characters rarely curse, just use rugged slang).

* [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]: Katsar and Newton bet 18,000 NIS on Hapo‘el Umm al-Fahm (hopeless team) against Beitar (major team, which they support), having misinterpreted an earlier scene as a bribe given to the ref. A cop asks them why they did it. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: {{spoiler|By the end of season 1, Moti gets to keep his land and ‘Amit gets Shir, meaning they both got something they fought the other for. In the end of the second last episode, Moti shares a peaceful drink with ‘Amit on the Farm.}}

* [[Delusions of Grandeur]]: Averted. Newton uses a lot of Shlubb and Klump Hebrew, producing gems like ‘Tiberian horse’ and ‘don’t add oil to the ''kummsitz''’<ref>‘don’t add oil to the bonfire’ (אַל תּוֹסִיף שֶׁמֶן לַמְּדוּרָה ''al tosif shemen lam'dura'') is an Israeli expression meaning ‘don’t make matters worse’; a ''kummsitz'' (lit. ‘come-sit’ in Yiddish, קומזיץ in Hebrew characters) is a small scale social gathering around a bonfire</ref>, and he goes by the nickname ‘Newton’, but no-one thinks he’s particularily sophisticated, including himself (as he explained in a [[Self-Deprecation|self-deprecating]] little rant to Orli), though he is mostly just [[Book Dumb]].

* [[Did They or Didn't They?]]: After a night of heavy drinking, Katsar wakes up next to {{spoiler|Newton’s now ex-girlfriend Orli}}. He panics. {{spoiler|He later finds out he just got drunk, vomited all over himself, and crashed in Orli’s hotel room. She cleaned his clothes and let them dry in the bathroom to hang.}}

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Jackito gives Itzik, Newton, and Katsar a rather poor sum for their stolen jewelry. Later, Itzik {{spoiler|turns him in to the police}}. Justified, as this is {{spoiler|part of his deal with the police, in exchange for a clean record}}.

* [[Domestic Abuser]]: Kobi is this to his wife when she {{spoiler|wants them to discuss their relationship, implying they’re miserable}}.

* [[Double Standard]]: Kobi constantly cheats on his wife and barely even bothers to see her. He just supports her financially and goes on with his daily business. When his wife has an affair {{spoiler|with Itzik}}, Kobi becomes [[Determinator|determined]] to kill him, even before he knew who it was.

* [[How We Got Here]]: The first episode shows Moti, Newton, and Katsar, standing next to a fresh grave, and putting a funeral wreath with a ribbon saying, ‘Farwell, say hi to Zohar’. The show backs up two months, showing only one more scene from the end of the plot at the end of the episode (Shir coming by car in her wedding dress with teary eyes, taking the veil off her head). What exactly happened is revealed entirely only on the last episode.

* [[Ill Girl]]: Subverted, as this case has a young gay man named Tsuf Nakdimon instead. Avigail also counts, as she once has cancer before the show began. {{spoiler|She gets it again in the end.}}

* [[In Name Only]]: Katsar wears a yarmukle, but barely shows any signs of actually being religious. At one point Moti brings to the Bus Farm a girl he had a relationship with long ago, and asks where his yarmukle is, and he says, ‘In my pocket.’ She is amused and says, ‘Same old Katsar!’

* [[It Will Never Catch On]]: The creators tried suggesting their idea as a ‘daily drama’ (basically a euphemism for ‘telenovela aimed at bored housewives’), in the ‘daily drama’ time slot. They were told it won’t work, as a daily drama ‘has a very specific part’. Heh...

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: A rather moderate example. The opening credits show all main characters with their names to alleviate this.

* [[Local Hangout]]: For the gang, it’s the ‘Diwan’, a local simple pub run by the Christian Arab Amir; for Shir, ‘Amit, Itai, and Yuli, it’s ‘Eldad’, a fancy restaurant.

* [[Make It Look Like an Accident]]: {{spoiler|Shir’s father turns out to have been Moti’s grandfather’s lawyer, killed in a mock-car crash by Saragousti as a warning to Victor to keep letting them dump bodies on his lot.}}

* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: ‘Amit. Kobi is even worse.

* [[Neck Lift]]: Subverted. {{spoiler|After Itzik tells Moti about the cable scheme, the ring, and how they lost all their money in the Poker scheme, Moti furiously jumps on Itzik, knocking him down, and nearly strangles him to death (Newton and Katsar can be heard shouting, ‘He’s going purple!’). He doesn’t lift him up and does this out of sheer fury, but considering how Itzik tried getting the money behind his back and turning Katsar and Newton against him, this can be an assertion of dominance.}}

* [[Noodle Incident]]: We might have a clue, based on Itzik’s most obvious defining trait, but what exactly happened between him and Mazal is never brought up in full. All we know is that Mazal hates Itzik’s guts.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Itzik finds out {{spoiler|he’s been having an affair with Kobi’s wife}}.

* [[One-Hour Work Week]]: Itai. {{spoiler|Then it turns out to be a cover up; he is actually an undercover cop.}}

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: The basis of practically all interactions between characters.

* [[Pride]]: {{spoiler|Itzik never should have continued the Poker and cable schemes behind Moti’s back.}}

** A less dramatic one: {{spoiler|Juliette is Kobi’s wife}}.

* [[Right Through the Wall]]: Newton and Orli. As it turns out, Newton is an outstanding lover.

* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Itzik argues with Shir about the efficiency of getting money through hard work. Also, Moti’s views on social classes and fate along the course of the series.

* [[Small Reference Pools]]: Averted. The setting is in Jerusalem, where, frankly, little contemporary fiction seems to take place. The characters, especially the gang, use loads of Jerusalem slang most Israelis have to interpret from context. Two words had to be given a translation in parentheses in the closed captions.

* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]: Newton explains his plan (with a drawing board and a silly attempt at looking organised and formal and all that jazz) to get Zuta’s winning lottery ticket for their money laundering scheme. His explanation begins thus:

* [[Tagline]]: ‘Working black<ref>that is, without reporting to the IRS</ref>, smoking green<ref>[[Don't Explain the Joke|that is, smoking pot]]</ref>, and seeing pink<ref>that is, [[I Thought It Meant|looking at the world with an optimistic view]]</ref>.’ There is also Itzik’s famous quote: ‘You can only see a pink world<ref>that is, [[Sugar Bowl|a happy and optimistic world]]</ref> through red eyes.’

* [[Tear Jerker]]: The show has a few, with the last four episodes have those concentrated: {{spoiler|Moti’s teenage friend Hilel dying prematurely (this one happened earlier, though), with Moti having to prepare him for burial; conversation with his father about the whole ‘rat-race’ he hates; Tsuf’s death, even though it was from an illness and was long foreseen; Itzik’s death, even if it’s a fake; Itzik’s funeral, [[Faking the Dead|even if it turns out to be a fake]]; Avigail gets cancer back; ‘Amit telling his father, ‘I did not take mum away from you,’ and his reaction; Shir confesses to Moti that she still loves him, despite marrying ‘Amit to make her mother happy before her death from cancer.}}

* [[Title Drop]]: The first episode has Victor calling Moti ‘Asfour’ (from Arabic عصفور ''ʿaṣfūr'', ‘a swallow’), saying it’s some sort of a bird that brings good fortune. Later on it’s used in its other meaning: Israeli law-enforcing jargon for ‘police informant’.

* [[Undercover Cop Reveal]]: {{spoiler|Obviously Itai. He gives Shir bold hints about it to Shir because of her snooping around.}}

* [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]: Based on Itzik Savyon, Khanan’s brother, and Moti Levi, who used to live in an abandoned bus on the mountains of Jerusalem. The other two friends are also based on real people. Moti Levi is really a good person: he founded a charity organisation called ‘Youth of Light’, dedicated to helping teenagers at risk.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Subverted twice. ‘Amit tries to get his father’s approval due to a great part to the promotion his father put up for him. He also doesn’t seem to obsess to much about it, even threatening to leave his father’s company. It turns out {{spoiler|Yaïr resents his son because he felt ‘Amit ‘stole’ his wife from him, tearing their marriage apart before her untimely death}}. Moti also has issues with his father, Reuven, who strongly disapproves of his son’s lifestyle, to the point Moti generally avoids his father when he comes to visit and his father doesn’t hesitate to call him a thief at one crucial point. Moti doesn’t want to live up to his father’s expectations, but rather to accept his way of life.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Asfour]]