Mo Season 2 takes us to Palestine in tears, laughter and everything in between

When Mo first hit Netflix in 2022, it felt like a game-changer. Here was a show unlike anything we’d seen before—raw, hilarious, deeply personal and unapologetically Palestinian. Now, with season 2, the series doubles down on everything that made it so powerful, taking us on a journey that is both gut-wrenching and heartwarming, packed with moments of humour, heartbreak and a longing for home.

However, season 2 also arrives in a world that has changed dramatically. Since 7 October, 2023, Israel’s military onslaught against Palestine has escalated to an unimaginable level, and Palestinian voices—especially in Western media—have been systematically silenced.

“We spent a lot of time talking about whether or not we would want to change the story to cover what was happening, and it almost felt like, how could we not?” said Mo executive producer Harris Danow in an interview with the LA Times last spring.

“But we had already built out our story beforehand. We were pretty far down the line, so there was no way to adequately address it without upending everything we’d already done, which gave me a panic attack. Obviously things after 7 October changed dramatically. But the larger point that we were trying to make, the issues that the show was dealing with, didn’t really change. It’s just the scale of it escalated to a horrific level.”

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Rather than rewriting the season to explicitly reference the events of 7 October and their aftermath, Amer took a different approach. “Rather than going on a hyper-political rant, we had the ability to just let the show speak for itself and let the art do the work, so that’s what we did,” he explained.

And that’s precisely why Mo Season 2 is so powerful. It doesn’t just comment on political realities; it immerses viewers in them through the eyes of a Palestinian refugee searching for belonging.

For those who haven’t yet met Mo Najjar, played by Mohammed Amer, he’s a quick-witted, hustling and undocumented Palestinian refugee trying to find his place in Houston, Texas. The first season left us on a cliffhanger—with Mo stranded in Mexico after being detained while attempting to return home. In season 2, we pick up right where we left off, but this time, Mo’s story takes us somewhere new: back to Palestine.

In season 2, his journey takes him back to Palestine, a deeply personal homecoming that lays bare the pain of exile. For Mo, visiting his homeland is a mix of joy, heartbreak and alienation. He is Palestinian by blood, but years of displacement have made him a stranger in his own land.

One of the most emotional storylines centres on Mo’s mother, Yusra, played by Farah Bsieso, who remains in Houston while watching news of escalating Israeli attacks on Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank. The helplessness of being away while her people suffer is palpable, a feeling that resonates deeply with Palestinians in exile worldwide. Her anxiety and her desperate doom-scrolling all reflect the deep, unbreakable bond between Palestinians and their homeland, even when they are separated by oceans and borders.

In one particularly raw moment, Yusra becomes consumed by the constant news cycle, doom-scrolling through the devastating updates on Palestine. Frustrated and burdened, she says: “We owe it to them,” as if staying connected to the tragedy is her only way of honouring the suffering of her people. Her daughter, visibly frustrated with the toll this is taking on her mother, responds sharply: “We have to live. We are more than our pain and suffering.” She continues, her voice firm: “Palestine lives through our happiness, too.”

Mo is unique in its ability to fit humour into even the heaviest topics. Amer doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff—his character is tested by statelessness, bureaucracy and the constant fear of deportation. But even in its most gut-wrenching moments, the show never loses its sense of humour.

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Another particularly striking moment in the season comes when Mo, an undocumented man in America, finds himself being lectured by a Mexican coyote about US immigration policies. In Mexico, he’s seen as American. In America, he’s a foreigner. And in Palestine, he’s still an outsider. The scene captures the frustration of statelessness—a feeling that many Palestinians and refugees everywhere know all too well.

Beyond immigration struggles, Mo also hilariously tackles cultural appropriation. One standout moment sees Mo infuriated when Maria’s new boyfriend blatantly steals his falafel taco recipe—an idea that Mo himself acknowledges borrows from Mexican culture. The absurdity of it all perfectly mirrors the real-world frustration of seeing Palestinian identity constantly erased or co-opted.

Amer made history with Mo, becoming the first Palestinian-American to create and star in a show centred on a Palestinian family. Co-created by fellow Arab-American comedian Ramy Youssef, the series is a breakthrough in representation, arriving at a time when Hollywood has traditionally been reluctant—if not outright resistant—to telling Palestinian stories.

For decades, Palestinians in Western media were either non-existent or reduced to harmful stereotypes. Mo challenges that by presenting a fully realised Palestinian-American family—funny, flawed and deeply human.

And while Palestinian stories have long been sidelined, the rising influence of global streaming platforms has made room for narratives like Mo. In doing so, Mo invites the world to listen, to laugh, and, most importantly, to understand.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.