And She Became A Stranger
Episode 5 of Alrawabi School for Girls begins with all the kids getting ready for their school trip. Layan is driven by her brother, who just so happens to have a gun stashed in the glove compartment. Layan doesn’t ask too many questions, but they’re dropped off by the bus ready for their trip. Eventually the kids all make it to their destination where Ms Abeer hands out all the room allocations. Layan, Rania and Noaf end up bunking together, which undoubtedly causes all sorts of drama. The activities get underway though with a volleyball match later on in the day. With all the kids busy, Noaf and Layan wind up chilling inside at a spa (separately of course.) Unfortunately a man shows up and starts touching Noaf inappropriately. Of all people, it’s Layan who jumps in to help, comforting the girl and warding this creep off. When Ms Abeer arrives though, Noaf doesn’t report the guy which Layan is not happy about. Given what’s transpired, Noaf has a hard time following through with her plan against Layan and Tania. After all, it was Layan who saved her from a nasty situation earlier in the episode. Just to prove her point, Noaf decides to disconnect the phone hacking for her completely At diner, Noaf tries to persuade the girls against following through with their plan. Mariam is blinded by revenge though and interprets Noaf’s actions as an act of betrayal. She’s pretty childish about it, and to be honest Noaf ends up walking away from the group in the middle of this heated debate. Back at the hotel room, Layan and Rania invite Noaf along to the club that evening. Layan’s thinking is that if she’s with them then it’s less chance that she’ll rat them out. Mariam though, believes it’s a ploy to use Noaf as a scapegoat and drag her down. With the girls all out, Mariam decides to execute Plan B – she’s going to rat the girls out completely and get them in trouble. What she wasn’t banking on though is Noaf being with them. But it’s too late. Mariam makes the call and everything looks set to come crashing down. In the midst of this, Rania’s sleazy boyfriend starts flirting with Noaf. Thankfully Noaf manages to check her phone just in time to evade capture. However, Rania is not so lucky when Ms Abeer shows up at the club. She covers for the others, encouraging the duo to scarper back to their dorm. And that’s exactly what they do. With the drama simmering down for now, Noaf casts a knowing glance down the corridor to Mariam, turning her stoic expression to a scowl as she realizes Mariam is the reason they almost got caught.
The Episode Review
So far Alrawabi School for Girls has been a straightforward revenge thriller with a couple of neat character twists. And character is where this show is at its strongest. Instead of Layan being portrayed as this emotionless evil bully, seeing her genuinely care about Noaf’s well-being is actually a nice inclusion for her character. These little touches are partly why the show works so well. Sure, it’s not the most outstanding story, and the plot is pretty basic in truth, but the character writing has been pretty good. The ending certainly hints that we’ve got a dramatic finale to come though, and quite what this will mean for our girls remains to be seen.
