AlRawabi School for Girls (2021–2024) User Reviews

Ignore the low ratings

[missdelicious · 8/10 · 12 August 2021]

This is a well acted and well paced series that makes us take a deeper look at what it means to be a woman in any society. Yes, we have seen the premise before, but we also all seen romance movies and will still watch them.

I noticed a lot of low rating stating that the plot of is series is American and never happens to Arabic girls, but I find it hard to believe that young Arabic girls are never mean to other girls. Sounds like people being overly defensive instead of wanting to acknowledge a potential problem.

These types of stories need to be told and this series does a great job of bringing something serious to light.

AMAZING

[mahmoodhmidan-45593 · 8/10 · 12 August 2021]

It's like 13 reason why but Arabic story and honestly it was very interesting how the actress especially "Layan" play they role like they born with it !

The last episode was shocking and absolutely fantastic, maybe we can have another Jordanian work like this show.

Being a western person

[djkaine · 8/10 · 17 August 2021]

Not really sure how Jordan lifestyle is, but that wasn't western like everyone is saying. Maybe some of the music, but that's about it. Lol or are westerners the only ones that have teenagers that bully others? If they threw a McDonald's in there I would have agreed, but other than that, very different. Honestly I like seeing a different aspect to a typical teen show and found it entertaining. Hope there is a season 2 because of that ending.

Just give those girls a chance! GOD!

[sososhokartz · 10/10 · 12 August 2021]

Ignore all the haters and prepare your self to watch something that could be considered a step forward for Jordanian tv. Criticise constructively, its how we can support them.

Jordanian Mean Girls

[chubbydave · 9/10 · 24 December 2021]

This story is like Mean Girls whereby a group of popular girls bully other girls but with a Jordanian flavor. After they beat a girl unconscious, she devises a plan for revenge. She gets a couple of friends to go help her with her plan.

One thing that is interesting is the attitudes towards women and girls. One girl is beaten up by her father, and no one raises any concern or objection. Oh, your dad punched you in the face. Teachers see a girl with obvious facial bruises and act as if nothing happened. Then one girl is harassed by an old man, and the teacher scolds the girl as if it's her fault for walking around showing all that skin.

The girls gossip and talk about Zac Efron. One girl has a bedroom that is like entirely pink. You start to feel like it's almost a western society, and then the crazy comes. The final revenge is unbelievably intense so shocking so insane.

Great Job

[saratotah · 10/10 · 12 August 2021]

I don't know how people can't see that we suffer from the problem the series talks about in our society

It reflected young women problems in an Arabic private school in a really good way , keep up the good work Tima!!

A Tale of Two Seasons: Brilliant Beginnings and Disappointing Sequel

[anontraveler · 7/10 · 16 February 2024]

Season 1 was brilliant, well thought out and engaging. *But* it set the bar for season 2 impossibly high.

Here are the main issues I had with season 2:

• Tima Shomali, the producer, didn't disprove the rumors about the release date until many fake release dates circled around the internet in the 2.5 years we waited. She disproved them on 10 August 2023 and didn't even give us a rough timeframe. I get that she wanted to use the hype to her advantage but it has worked against her, as fans were infuriated by this whole situation
• The show wasn't originally planned to have more seasons. The producer had clearly given in to the pressure from fans and/or the appeal of repeating season 1's success. She was out of ideas and it shows. I didn't appreciate that she changed the makeup of the series but recycled major plot points and gave us a similar ending to season 1
• Season 2 killed the rewatch value of season 1, as it doesn't do it justice. As much as I loved season 1, I'm afraid I'll never go back to this show again.

• Maybe we could've enjoyed season 2 as its own story, had our expectations been properly managed by giving us a hint that we won't get a sequel but more of an anthology continuation. They kept hyping the new season up so much for 2.5 years but what we got was underwhelming the least to say and many people are rightfully disappointed and frustrated.

• I'd like to pay special attention to the time they took to make this season. 1 year of writing and 8 months of editing and *this* is the result? People in the producer's team clearly decided to spare her feelings on more than one occasion, judging by the result. Also how on earth does it take 8 months for a team of professional video editors to put together *6* episodes?

The bottom line is that it's hard to repeat the success of something undeniably remarkable and it's even harder to admit that you tried and failed.

I can't in good conscience give the show less than 7/10 and I only take away 3 stars because of season 2.

Different aspect of Jordan experienced

[Faristuta · 9/10 · 13 August 2021]

This 6-episode series is a solid production from Jordan. I like to point my opinion in specific points if you bear with me 1- Its main case (and almost all cast) are females, which is something new to Jordan and even Arabic drama.

2- The music/songs in the series are pretty solid, seem to come from different accents. I didn't like it though when Liann was lip-singing to a well-known Arabic song for 3 minutes in Ep 3 or 4. Just felt very unauthentic. Otherwise music was superior.

3- The acting was mostly well-done, you could feel the expressions of pain/anger/joy on their faces are mostly real. Occasionally though you could feel it was amateurish.

4- The accent used was the "modern" Arabic spoken in Jordan, claimed to be one spoken by the wealthy even though I don't think that's true. However it's a dialect that the cast and producer probably felt more comfortable using but it's why other reviewers were disappointed calling this series a poor representative of the authentic traditional Jordanian accent.

5- the series focus on toxic relationships between students and bullying. I don't remember this being portrayed in Arab series before despite it happening in all Jordanian schools I know of (happened in my school and every Jordanian friend of mine in other schools).

6- There are some subtle feminist messages - it's not shameful to talk about your period, how women get degraded for being in love, "the honor" of a girl being permanently lost for sending a slightly inappropriate picture. I like how subtle but important these messages were.

I understand if others didn't like the series as much as I did. Possibly other men won't relate to it as much. But the ones who gave it a "1" are Jordanians triggered by a strong female cast, the discussion of tabooed topics, girls not being dressed very conservatively, the modern Jordanian accent....etc. The themes that this series focuses on are very widespread in Jordanian schools and in the society. Tina Shomali tried to avoid controversial scenes (no kissing) or language (no heavy swearing) in order to not distract from the main focus of the series.

Overall I think she and the crew did a great job.

Control Z/Elite hybrid from Jordan

[laduqesa · 6/10 · 4 October 2021]

The themes from both Spanish language series are here - unbridled wealth and the entitlement of the children of the rich from Elite and the possibility of hacking into accounts on computers and phones from Control Z. However, the issues dealt with in Al Rawabi are weightier and more pressing than those of the other two series.

Unfortunately neither the writing, direction or acting is up to the pressures of the urgencies of the plot. These are important social mores and changes that were presented. We see rich, mostly Westernised families nonetheless oppressing their daughters and not their sons while sending them to a school that allows short skirts and sports in shorts. And it's always the brothers. When I worked in Social Services many years ago, the problems we had in child protection were often with the brothers of Arab teenage girls who took a harder line than the parents.

The worst failure of this series was that the characters were not finely enough drawn. Rania, Roqayya and Layan were so utterly unsympathetic, despite efforts in the penultimate episode to humanise them a little, that one actually couldn't care less that they were heading for a terrible fall. Not even the revenge on Layan and its effects particularly moved me despite my knowing of the prevalence of episodes of her fate in Jordan and the Arab world. I live in an Arab country and am glad to say that this is not an issue here in my adopted land.

On the other hand, the episodes of bullying were so over the top and crudely drawn that no school could possibly have tolerated them especially as they were so blatant. This, in turn, made the reactions of the victims understandable but exaggerated.

This was a missed opportunity. That a production from a conservative Arab country touched on themes of lesbianism; patriarchy and its oppression of women; illicit relationships; religious suppression of women's freedom; extreme violence against women who "rebel" was a refreshing, adventurous and edgy innovation. It's just that it could have been done so much better.

Very weak series

[coursesallworld · 4/10 · 17 August 2021]

It isn't perfect like I thought I think the actors need to be more trained I hope if there is another season focus more on how develop the performance for actors.

An Absolute Masterpiece - Award Worthy

[raniaan-a · 10/10 · 12 August 2021]

An absolute masterpiece. This mini-series explores the harsh reality of bullying, incompetent and abusive authority figures (including teachers, parents, and older siblings,) and the impact it all has on school-aged girls in Jordan. The harsh realities painted are relatable to any girl who has been to school in Jordan. The show highlights the experiences of girls growing up in an extremely sexist and misogynistic society, where living in constant fear of violence or being killed by their own families is the norm. From being objectified and likened to a glass panel to being blamed for becoming the victim of sexual assault. A girl is called cheap for taking a selfie without a scarf. The label cheap is used frequently to belittle, dehumanize and objectify girls from a young age measuring them only by their willingness to explore their natural feminine and heterosexual feelings. This show does a brilliant job of showcasing the twisted priorities of Jordanian and Middle Eastern society when it comes to women's rights. The girls are broken at home and find themselves breaking each other in school before they even have a chance to grow up. It's also interesting to note that 'the broken glass panel analogy' is never used to warn against abusing those girls to the point of breaking them.

The Untold Stories of Jordan's Schoolgirls

[sanadalsalt · 10/10 · 25 February 2024]

An exceptional piece of storytelling, this mini-series delves into the grim realities of bullying and the pervasive influence of abusive authority figures on school-aged girls in Jordan. It sheds light on the experiences of girls navigating a deeply sexist and misogynistic society, where fear of violence and familial retribution is commonplace. From objectification to victim-blaming, the show starkly illustrates the myriad challenges faced by young girls. It skillfully unveils the distorted priorities of Jordanian and Middle Eastern societies regarding women's rights, depicting how girls are often broken at home and further fractured in school. Notably, it refrains from using the 'broken glass panel analogy' to caution against mistreating these girls to the point of shattering their spirits.

The 1th series was better... than 2nd series....

[kosaildiko-70264 · 6/10 · 18 February 2024]

A very interesting TV series. The first year was very good, I watched it several times. It's interesting to see this cultural difference from here in Europe...how many things are the same, but many things are very different for young women in Jordan.

The situation of women in the Middle East is going through a big change and it is an interesting topic.

Your first year was strong and dynamic. Your second year was mediocre and the story was often excessively slowed down, and it contained quite a few story elements that were completely unreliable, unbelievable... not real.

I think, the 1st series was better, than 2nd... But, I wait the newer series.

Thank you.

A huge step for Jordanian TV

[karam_judeh · 10/10 · 12 August 2021]

I have binge-watched the series on one sit.

And honestly, I was blown away! However not at first.

I started the series with zero expectations, and through the first episode I thought the lingo and the acting was a little bit cringy (for me as a native Arabic speaker). But later this was all thrown away with their amazing acting and direction!

Do not compare this work with international titles, however on some level it competes with Netflix's successful originals.

What is awesome about this series is that it chooses a specific community in Jordan and discuss the lifestyle of this community, with talking about major problems nationally such as honor-killings and bullying, which both are critical issues in Jordan that people are afraid to talk about!

This series comes through to show that the Jordanian community is diverse but still suffers from nation-wide problems, and these families are not exempted from being affected by all of this.

Great work and hope for another season with focusing more on a more-accurate lingo and train some of the new actors harder.

Meh 😕

[aboalhyjaa · 6/10 · 12 August 2021]

Its not that bad but its not good too. I wont lie im a bit district because I expected more that than especially after (jinn) the first jordanian Netflix production.

Poor acting by some actresses bin some episodes, but a very decent cinematography.

The biggest flaw of the show in my opinion is about the script itself, when i was watching it felt like a westernized show to me, but in arabic. Maybe thats how west ammanies talk but jordan is more than that.

To be honest, the story and the show itself had a lot of potentials but they mistreated it in some episodes.

In conclusion: it not GOT. But its a good tv series if you wanna stay up late with your friends and watch together, nothing more.

Lacks originality

[galayetbandora · 2/10 · 15 August 2021]

The two stars are for the cinematography and production. It's a good start for Jordanian drama but it's a copy of many teenager's series on Netflix, nothing original about it. Many people claim that this series sheds light on what's happening in Jordan but it's way too exaggerating & dialgue can be a meh at times.

Great job

[mohamed_elshenaty · 8/10 · 16 August 2021]

Finally an Arabic series with Hollywood standards,..more pls.

This review is as unbiased as it can get

[mwhassan · 7/10 · 25 August 2021]

I'll ignore the Jordanian culture controversy and rate it as a normal show. The acting is almost good, but sometimes cringy. The story/idea is brilliant but the plot is 6/10, it had many plot holes. Cinematography and production are amazing as usual since it's Netflix. This show was well directed but the writing could've been better, it wasn't bad, but could've been better. The script was sometimes cringy as well, but mostly good. Music was great. Overall 6 or 7 out of 10.

Now when it comes to realism, i just hope that someday they'll make a Jordanian show where the vibe actually feels like real life. No doubt, everything that happened in this show does happen in real life, regardless of why many people say otherwise. But the vibe just isn't Jordanian. It would be awesome if the way they live, talk or look at each other, even their facial expressions, convey our behavior in real life. This makes it 10x more realistic. It wasn't the events that made this show unrealistic, it was the mannerism of a Jordanian person that they didn't perfect.

wtf!

[nuhasharbel · 1/10 · 20 September 2021]

Not sure where to start.. after many people telling me to watch it I finally gave in and wasted 5 something hours of my time! Weak story, awful acting.. they tried to cover it all up with beauty shots and big budget. But the result is not at all interesting. No logic in many parts of the story with way too many one dimensional characters. Just awful.

QUITE SURPRISED AT HOW GOOD THIS WAS!

[jkore-84432 · 9/10 · 16 August 2021]

Firstly, I was surprised to learn this was a Jordanian Series. I'm not very educated on Jordanian life, but it was good to see a majority cast of women actors. It was portrayed very well, unfortunately it showed the ever present misogynistic attitudes toward women, that are obviously still present, along with the honour violence towards women who chose to try and live their lives as they wish.

Some reviews have mentioned the poor acting, but I felt that considering there is not much of an industry in Jordan, that the acting was good, particularly from the younger actors - who show great potential for the future!

I'd definitely like to see more from them.

It is well worth a watch, especially for teenagers.

I feel it is a copy of 13 Reasons Why Unfortunately, it is a weak version

[abdallahmohammad-42295 · 7/10 · 12 August 2021]

But frankly, I attended the first episode and felt the customs and most of the behaviors are Western, not from our traditions, but the effort is respected and the acting is good, but there was a weakness in the facial expressions of the actresses. The production is beautiful, but it lacks deep and strong dialogues.

Amazing

[salamanton-30756 · 10/10 · 12 August 2021]

Way to go 👌🏻 Young Jordanian actresses with high potentials and great production.

Don't let the overall low ratings stop you from watching this series!

[ardilazufir · 10/10 · 12 August 2021]

This is truly a great series that opens our eyes to everyday problems that girls and women face in a society where they are second to men. From bullying issues to family issues to societal issues. Great character developments for the lead characters and you'll find yourself rooting for them no matter the situation. Great cinematography too.

Great story, some cringe acting

[kevinlindlago · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

Worth a watch! The story is very interesting and thrilling to watch. Is is a dramatic story and important representation from middle east. You wont get bored of watching this at all. One thing that bothered me the most is the acting which made me realise I was watching a TV-show. I wish that great story made me forget that feeling The acting is not realistic and too kliché. It reminds me of actors acting on disney channel which is just too exaggerated and cringe. It was sometimes so exaggerated that it sometimes felt like a kids show with a grown up plot.

Pros: Great story, you wont get bored Cons: Non-realistic and exaggerated acting.

Stop copying other people's work

[moddawinthaqafy · 1/10 · 20 September 2021]

I don't understand how some people are cheering for this show and they can't see that it's just a copy of other shows.. I didn't not enjoy any second of it.. had to watch it till the end with my family but we kept laughing at the bad acting and the so predictable story.. really bad. Not recommended.