Bait: Season 1 - Review

Rating: 4 out of 5

RIZ Ahmed has described Bait as a semi-autobiographical take on fame and celebrity as well as an industry satire. It’s certainly one of the most original series I have seen in a while.

It begins in supremely stylish fashion with a scene ripped straight out of a James Bond film. In fact, it’s an audition for 007, with Ahmed’s former rapper turned actor Shah Latif performing a screen test and looking every inch the part until he freezes up and ‘forgets’ his lines.

All isn’t as lost as it seems, however, as events conspire to provide Latif with another opportunity - if he can keep his shit together.

And that’s a big ask given how fractured his psychology is. Cue, a wild ride towards a follow-up audition as Latif attempts to juggle his preparation with a major identity crisis (both personal and cultural), with family stresses, social media obligations and tribulations and his feelings for a soon to be departing ex-girlfriend.

There’s a lot to admire in Bait given the number of big creative swings it takes - most of which land with considerable aplomb.

The opening episode sets a high standard with a very realistic Bond depiction as well as some very funny jokes: Latif being mistaken for Dev Patel being one.

And episode four features a night-time sequence involving Latif’s attempts to win back his girlfriend Yasmin (The Umbrella Academy’s Ritu Arya) that takes the form of a one-shot through a curry house and into a neon-lit nightclub as well as a Brick Lane rickshaw chase. It’s a hugely stylish, often comical and sometimes quite dramatically intense episode that shows both a good and bad side to Latif’s make-up.

The finale also brings things to a satisfying close… a feat made all the more impressive given how many strands it had to tie up.

Notable too is the endless creativity that Bait exhibits, with moments of intense family drama sitting alongside surreal moments such as a version of Latif as James Bond fighting a number of ghosts from his past (whether they be school bullies or an elderly rampaging woman).

It also takes delight in wrong-footing viewers, sometimes cleverly (as in the case of episode four and some of Latif’s more selfish decisions, as well as a neat subversion of the last act rom-com airport dash); sometimes frustratingly (as in Latif develop a relationship with a pig’s head voiced by Patrick Stewart). That creative choice, in particular, tests the patience, especially as it forms the crux of the penultimate episode.

I got that the episode in question featured Latif at his lowest ebb, mentally, and frequently blurred the lines between the real and the imagined - but it felt like a poor creative choice that threatened to seriously derail the show’s momentum.

Thankfully, by the time that episode lands you’ll be sufficiently emotionally invested in Bait to forgive it some of its wilder elements; primarily because Ahmed is both a clever enough actor to keep you rooting for Latif and a savvy enough writer to ensure that his ensemble cast also shine brightly enough to warrant spending more time with.

As mentioned, Arya is typically excellent as Latif’s ex, while Guz Khan also brings a lot of humour, bundles of energy and a surprising amount of warmth as cousin Zulfi, who is determined to set up his Muslim-only taxi firm while trying to support Latif in his endeavours.

Sheeba Chaddha also deserves praise as Latif’s mum, Tahira, for the nuances she injects into their mother-son relationship and how it feeds both her own and Latif’s insecurities. She’s by turns domineering and vulnerable - but her love for her son and her family is never in doubt.

Elsewhere, industry insights into the pressures of celebrity and the ego required to navigate it are both amusing and insightful, while conversations around the cultural significance of an Asian actor playing Bond (and how it might also be exploited by filmmakers and beyond) are also thought-provoking and intelligent, not least because they’re coming from an Asian perspective [as opposed to a white one].

Bait is therefore a show with plenty to say on a lot of levels. It is a personal triumph for Ahmed that deserves to find a wide and appreciative following.