What I liked
Shahin really does transport you to another time, place and culture. You can actually feel what it’s like to live in this village so different from modern life and any American life for that matter. The whole piece has a sensuality to it like a Rumi poem.
What I didn't like
The character transitions. Sometimes I wasn’t sure who was talking to whom. Some of that however, I am sure, has to do with my unfamiliarity with Persian names, places, etc. For me the main story was Farhad’s son standing up to him (or living his own life despite his traumatized father’s wishes). I lost some of the details in the side stories—like how Farhad’s son’s wife came to be pregnant and by whom, for example. But in general I got the gist of the story.
My overall impression
The sensuality and world-building is this show’s strength. The strongest moral takeaway for me was the idea of the divine child (sent by Mithra in this case) shunned by the village, who has to follow his own path to bring light into the dark while the village insists he is the dark one. The themes are universal and epic. I’d see this show again.
