Just finished Bait, the 6-episode Riz Ahmed series on Prime Video. He created, wrote, and stars as Shah Latif, a broke British-Pakistani actor who botches a James Bond audition, then convinces the internet he's actually in the running. What follows is four days of increasingly desperate self-destruction.
A few things that stuck with me:
Shah is genuinely not a likeable person for most of the show. He's selfish, he lies to everyone around him, and his problems are almost entirely self-inflicted. But somewhere around episode three the show earns something rare: you stop judging him and start understanding him. His self-acceptance before the second audition felt earned in a way most redemption arcs don't.
Patrick Stewart voices a frozen pig's head that Shah keeps in the basement freezer and has regular conversations with, podcast-style. It sounds absurd (it is), but it works as both comedy and as a metaphor for the critical voice in your head. The show never quite resolves whether Shah is having a genuine psychological break or not, and I think that ambiguity is intentional.
Bassam Tariq's direction in the first three episodes is phenomenal. The show shifts between kitchen-sink family drama, surreal fantasy, and genuine thriller tension sometimes within the same scene.
97% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I've barely seen anyone discuss it online. If you liked Fleabag, Atlanta, or Beef, this belongs in that conversation. Three hours total, easy single-sitting binge.
Wrote up my full take here if anyone's interested: https://www.vinitnair.com/post/bait-made-me-uncomfortable-that-s-why-it-s-brilliant
by Vinitneo
8 Comments
Been putting this on my watchlist for months but keep forgetting Prime Video exists beyond shipping notifications lmao. The Patrick Stewart pig head thing sounds absolutely unhinged in the best way possible
Really glad you mentioned the unlikeable protagonist thing because that’s what usually makes or breaks these shows for me. Sometimes writers think making someone an asshole automatically makes them interesting but there’s real skill in making you care about someone you’d probably avoid at parties. Riz Ahmed usually nails that balance so not surprised he pulled it off here
Gonna bump this up the queue, especially since it’s only 3 hours total
Prime includes ads now so it’s the last service I check to watch stuff
Great show, and the Patrick Stewart pig head narration is hilarious
I am bombarded by people talking about this.
Thanks for sharing this, had no idea of its existence, now want to watch
Good not great
Uh, [there’s a post with several hundred upvotes in this same sub from less than a day ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/1sagxrn/the_subversive_brilliance_of_riz_ahmeds_bait/). Literally one of the top posts for the last day if you searched this sub.
Not my kind of entertainment, but it’s very British, very social commentary/dramatic/sorta-comedy. It hits for some people though.
We really need to purge “and nobody is talking about it” from our collective vocabulary. It’s been met with rave reviews, has been on Amazon’s homepage since its release and Riz Ahmed hosted SNL UK to promote it.
Pretending you’re the first person to discover this show so you can promote your blog is wildly disingenuous