‘Zarqa’ Is a Madcap Canadian Comedy

The Canadian sitcom “Little Mosque on the Prairie” premiered in 2007 and centered on a small Muslim group in a fictional Saskatchewan city. It ran for 91 episodes over six seasons, ultimately displaying around the globe (it’s streaming on Freevee, the Roku Channel and Tubi). Now its creator, Zarqa Nawaz, has a brand new short-form comedy with a narrower focus however an analogous cartoony vibe.

“Zarqa,” created by and starring Nawaz, is on YouTube and follows a divorced Muslim mom in Regina, Saskatchewan. In the opening moments of the present, she learns on social media that her ex-husband is marrying a youthful girl — a white yoga teacher. Zarqa panics and posts that she is relationship a white mind surgeon, which she is just not, and the shenanigans are afoot.

She begins a contrived romance with a pasty neurosurgeon, Brian (Rob van Meenen), although neither of them can inform in the event that they’re really occupied with one another or simply in pulling one over on everybody else. Zarqa desires to indicate off at her ex’s wedding ceremony, and Brian will get a rush from freaking out his tightly-wound, racist mother and father. Adding to the rom-com of all of it, Zarqa is stunned and delighted to be taught an outdated school flame (Rizwan Manji) has been appointed as the brand new imam at her mosque — and wouldn’t , her ex (Anand Rajaram) may be having chilly ft.

“Zarqa” has a madcap urgency to it, partly as a result of the episodes are barely 10 minutes lengthy and partly due to Zarqa, who’s brusque and pushed and tends to fire up drama. Her grown son recoils from a few of her antics however reminds himself, “We don’t say ‘loopy’ anymore.” Her mother and father lament that she is “a double D: divorced and tough.”

Both “Zarqa” and “Little Mosque on the Prairie” have an exaggerated sitcom fashion; most characters repeat one habits and specific one concept, which generally could make each sequence really feel somewhat like children exhibits with grown-ups in them. On “Mosque,” the central theme was the perceived variations — and lo, the similarities — between Muslims and non-Muslims. On “Zarqa,” the main focus is on race. “I promote white individuals brown-people issues,” Zarqa tells Brian.

The jokes and observations in “Zarqa” are fairly delicate, however the story is enjoyable, and it’s advised with endearing heat and vitality. So far all six episodes of Season 1 and a few of Season 2 are on the CBC’s YouTube channel, with the remaining arriving shortly.