Spoilers Ahead: Please do not continue reading if you haven’t watched season 3 of “Ramy”.
“Ramy”, the semi-autobiographical dramedy from Ramy Youssef, just released its third season on Hulu Friday, and similarly to the last, it’s chock full of guests stars. In addition to the show’s series regulars, “Ramy” sees the likes of Majid Jordan, Sarita Choudhury and Bella Hadid joining the cast for the show’s long-awaited third season.
The supermodel makes her acting debut in episode 4, which is aptly titled, “that’s what she said.” Hadid, who has been outspoken about her Palestinian heritage, and her ties to Islamic culture, appears as Lena, the quirky, Muslim girlfriend of Steve (Steve Way), Ramy’s best friend.
As viewers remember from previous seasons, Steve suffers from muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair-bound. Ramy goes to dinner with Steve and Lena, not just because he’s their ride to a wrestling match later, but because this is his first time meeting Steve’s significant other after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to spend some time apart.
The match instantly perplexes Ramy. While her beauty is still very much present, Hadid is very much the anti-supermodel in this role — no perfectly coiffed hair or on-trend outfit, instead, she’s quite aloof, nervously tearing up small pieces of bread, and not for Steve, who struggles to eat on his own, but for herself, with Steve confirming that she too likes to take “small bites.”
The pair have their own rapport, cracking “that’s what she said” jokes — a nod to “The Office” — back and forth to Ramy’s disbelief. While Steve is infatuated with Lena, Ramy is having a hard time getting it.
“So, how’d you guys meet again?” Ramy asks. “Oh, dude. The best app!” Steve replies. “Muslim Match.”
“You don’t have to be Muslim to?” Ramy begins before Steve excitedly interjects. “Nah, they’ll let anybody on,” Steve affirms.
Playing off some of Ramy’s own “Muslim guilt,” Steve shares that his knowledge of her faith drew them together, in addition to their mutual love for “The Office”, which seems to be the glue that’s holding this couple together.
“I told Lena, ‘Muslim guilt has helped me a lot,’ you know about that,” he says to Ramy. “She laughed, and then she saw one of my favorite shows was ‘The Office’, so I sent her a GIF of Jim shrugging.”
“‘The Office’ is really relatable,” Lena adds turning to Ramy before delivering her next line. “I really like that show, a lot.”
To their surprise, Ramy has never seen the beloved workplace comedy, creating even more tension between him and the couple. After Lena leaves to use the bathroom, Ramy takes the time to get the real tea on Steve’s new lady love.
“Dude, isn’t she great?” Steve asks. “I’m thinking about proposing, so I might need you to hook up a ring.”
“Proposing? That seems a little bit soon, right?” a shocked Ramy shoots back. “Do you know everything about her?”
Still not convinced, Ramy presses Steve about just how well he knows Lena, attributing her quirkiness and her unwillingness to drive — the real reason Ramy has joined them that night — to something more, even suggesting that she may be on the autism spectrum.
“Fine, she’s a little different,” Steve admits. “But she’s kind. She’s a real Muslim.”
“This isn’t Muslim behaviour,” Ramy insists. “You asked me to drive to wrestling tonight because she can’t. Why? Why doesn’t she have a driver’s license? And I think maybe you guys have something special, but I think you should know everything about her before you get married.”
After Lena returns from the bathroom, she continues to make references to “The Office”, again to Ramy’s confusion, before he is interrupted by work. Now working at Maktoub, a jewelry shop in direct competition with his Uncle Naseem’s business, he is called to make a delivery for a client.
As often happens, Ramy’s plans with Steve get wildly out of hand. Before long, the client joins Ramy, Lena and Steve, making them even later for the wrestling match, and further impacting Lena’s opinion of Ramy as Steve takes second place to his work.
In the end, they miss Steve’s wrestling match, but to Ramy’s surprise, Lena gets behind the wheel, letting Ramy know that she knows exactly what he thinks of her.
“It’s over,” a disappointed Steve tells Ramy, after his night of hijnks finally comes to an end. “What?” Ramy replies.
“The match is over,” Steve continues. “I’m sorry, it’s like a whole — the whole thing took a lot longer than I thought it would, man,” Ramy says, beginning to apologize before Steve cuts him off.
“I don’t see you for a whole year, and then you pull this s**t?” Steve asks. “The only time you call me is when you needed a f**king chauffeur because your girlfriend can’t drive, which makes no sense. If there was one requirement for your girlfriend, it would be a driver’s license,” Ramy replies.
“Lena’s kind,” Steve fires back. “And fun. And she thinks about people other than herself.”
It’s then that Lena, now sitting in the driver’s seat, shares what she really thinks of Ramy. “Steve told me all about you,” she says before taking a shot at Ramy’s failed marriage to Zainab, which viewers remember from season 2. “I know exactly who you are. I’m Team Zainab.”
Hadid does not return until the final episode when Steve is ready to propose to Lena. But as Ramy has moved up in the ranks at Maktoub, both his friends and his Uncle Naseem begin to turn against him, questioning his moral compass given some of Maktoub’s unethical business practices.
Ultimately, Steve decides to buy an engagement ring from Naseem, sending Ramy further on a spiral that has him questioning his own life choices more than he ever has before.
With Steve seemingly getting ready to tie the knot with Lena, it seems Hadid could make an appearance should the show return for a fourth season.
In an August interview with GQ, Youssef and Hadid teased the model’s appearance on the show, telling the outlet that Hadid will be playing the “weirdo girlfriend.” While it was initially assumed she would date Ramy, it became clear after the trailer’s release that her relationship would actually be with Steve.
“People probably thought that my first acting job would be something super sensual and sexy,” Hadid said in the interview, implying her role on “Ramy” is neither of those things. In fact, Youssef said the plot written for Hadid’s character is one of the “weirdest scripts” he has ever penned. “And that says a lot.”
See Hadid make her acting debut on “Ramy”, streaming now on Hulu.
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