Miskina season 2 on Prime Video: a real French nugget [critique]

The comic series created by Melha Bedia dusts off French comic fiction. And we ask for more.

After years of small roles, and a one Woman show (Fat & Furious), Melha Bedia saw his career take off in 2020 with Fortea comedy initially planned for the cinema but ultimately recovered by Prime Video in the midst of the Covid crisis. She played Nour, the main character, a plump and somewhat lost young woman who took up pole dancing under the patronage of Valérie Lemercier.

Credited to the screenplay of Forteshe has since developed her own show for the platform, Miskina, poor thing. Still in the register of dramatic comedy and auto-fiction, this time she plays Fara, but behind it is still Melha. Overweight, femininity, conflicts and contradictions linked to her dual culture: the author clearly has her favorite themes, which she already developed in her show. And she masters them perfectly.

The first season of Miskina was already a success. Funny and touching, the adventures of Fara, a 30-year-old single without housing and without a job, hit the mark. And Prime Video has given the green light for a season 2 released this Friday in streaming. We find her more in trouble than ever, caught in a love triangle, family lies and the debt of 100,000 euros left by her grandmother, who died at the end of season 1.

Creator, co-writer and co-director of Miskina, Melha Bedia gives everything she has in this refreshing series, which has no real equal in the PAF (its main inspiration is the American show Ramy). Thanks also to a gallery of characters as endearing as they are unbearable played by a great cast.

Her sister (Shirine Boutella), pregnant up to her eyes, has become addicted to gambling and doubts her relationship with her husband (Victor Belmondo), a convert to Islam and now a Muslim influencer on social networks. The irresistible Xavier Lacaille (also scriptwriter of the series) and Hakim Jemili continue to fight for Fara's heart. Not to mention the many well-defined small roles, like that of Alison Wheeler, who already played opposite Melha Bedia in Forteas an unbearable ex.

Miskinait is also above-average writing, moving easily from comic to dramatic situations while playing (often skillfully, sometimes clumsily) with the clichés associated with the Franco-Muslim community. And a surprisingly careful staging for this genre, with many exterior scenes and a trip to Alicante following in the footsteps of Fara's past and a mysterious family treasure, during the trip to Algeria in season 1.

We also love the special episode of 100% nostalgic cult TV shows, and the new cliffhanger which announces a season 3 that we are already eagerly awaiting (we won't tell you any more).

LikeIn placethe series by Jean-Pascal Zadi, who had also offered a small place to Melha in his Simply Black, Miskina testifies to the renewal in progress. Reaping the fruits of the work of Eric Judor and his series Plane treethis new generation happily mixes American and French codes to dust off French comic fiction, which really needed it. And we ask for more.

Season 2 of Miskina (6 episodes) is available since September 27 on Prime Video