A little bit older but not the least bit wiser, young Pax Assadi and his family are back for another season of Raised by Refugees – streaming on Neon. Season two will delve into other facets of Pax’s adolescent life and the struggles of straddling two worlds, his own and his parents’, writes Laumata Lauano Volavola.
Pax is now a 4th former in college—ooosh, say that to anyone born in the noughties and they’ll look at you like you’re speaking a foreign language, or worse, an ancient dialect. So it’s nice to see it referenced on Raised by Refugees. It really takes me back to the days of free weekend texts, Snake on Nokia brick phones and Double Happys.
In the first season of the show, Assadi was doing a lot of setup—the who, where, when from, where at, and what the heck—but the show’s in a new season. We’re going to need something fresher than his immigrant parents (fresh to us, anyway—because they’re all moments from his past they’re so not so fresh to him).
In any case, season two is giving us just that.
Before I move on I think it’s pertinent to advise that to avoid confusion, when I refer to Pax I’m talking about the character played by Keanu Binu whereas Assadi refers to the writer, director and comedian Pax Assadi beyond the fourth wall.
Season one saw an Intermediate-aged Pax, navigating a new school, making new friends and trying to woo a palagi girl—breaking bro code for her, even. Now, 14-year-old Pax is presented with the alcohol-fuelled adventures college has to offer, and he is confronted with a choice; dive into the adventure, or stay firm in his Bahá’í beliefs.
I don’t feel like there was too much (or any) emphasis on religion in season one, so it was slightly strange for me just how much is emphasised in season two. However, much as in the first season Assadi deftly mixes comedy in with some heavy topics like identity, being caught between the Pakistani and Iranian cultures and faiths (mainly Bahá’í) of his parents and the Kiwi/western cultures he’s presented with in the New Zealand of the time. Even finding the humour in pressures of being his particular ethnicity at a time charged by the global impact of 9/11. I still can’t get over him pretending to be half-Tongan.
In season two, Assadi once again stars as his own father Afnan while Kalyani Nagarajan plays his mum Safia. Reza Matez and Adam Lobo also return to round out the Assadi family as Pax’s unpredictable grandfather Masood and unique younger brother Mahan, who still says some out-of-it stuff for a kid his age. Of course, the cast wouldn’t be at all complete without his mates from school, the understated, mature and cool Kiki played by Mihi Te Rauhi Daniels, the in-your-face ginger Chris (Rufus Adam), and the now estranged Kevin (Jeremiah Barwig-Uini). I hope to see a reconciliation, but we all know not all friendships in high school make it out of high school. So will just have to wait and see whether Pax actually mends things with Kevin.
I also wonder, if like his family, these friends were based on actual real-life people. And if so, I wonder where they are now or whether they know someone’s playing the intermediate and college-aged versions of them. I would find that so buzzy, if that was me. If I’m going to wonder about the probability of these characters’ being based on actual people, let’s not forget characters in Assadi’s parents’ orbit- obnoxious boss Bruce (Jono Pryor) and sweet unassuming neighbour Linda (Kim Crossman). These characters seem much less likely to be real, rather than conjured up for comedic effect.
We also have some new characters, who seem quite promising. Roxy, played by Hanah Tayeb, is a Muslim girl who is very obviously Pax’s romantic interest, while Fatima, played by Maza White, who Safia encounters—is a mystery so far but seems very chic.
As far as love interests go, the character of Roxy is great. Off the bat she is very much someone who just goes for what she wants, outspoken and genuine. I like her character already.
So it will be so interesting to see how Pax navigates this space with his mum breathing down his neck and secretly rummaging through his room to find evidence of misbehaving. Which of course she does sniff out, quite literally. And it makes for a stomach-churning but hilarious scene between Safia and Pax that is just so deftly acted, kudos to both the seasoned Nagarajan and rookie Binu for really playing off each other well. The comedic timing is still one of the show’s strongest points, most of the jokes hit rather than miss but sometimes it can feel a bit like you’re watching a comedy set with Assadi front and centre with his narration. I still don’t mind it though, so Assadi can continue to set up scenes for us as Pax’s unconnected conscience, making voiceover jokes like he’s observing himself for the first time too.
It’ll be a season of growth, definitely, and perhaps of peeling back the layers of characters and their backstories and motivations. Seems to me like there’s a bit of foreshadowing happening with Pax’s parents—Afnan seems to need to find things to occupy his time early on in the season, as Safia seems to find herself doing purely by accident.
But whether her newfound role drags her closer to Pax’s world, giving her the vantage point she’s trying so very hard to reach as a helicopter parent, remains to be seen. I’m excited to discover where the rest of the season will take us. Pax is already finding it difficult to care about his father’s religion, let alone the strict rules he must adhere to under his parents’ roof. But who did at 14? (Well, me, I did—but my Samoan mum wasn’t one to be disobeyed. Even if she didn’t know—she’d know.) Ah, to be young again.
