'Wa Bena Ma’ad': The Family Series As It Should Be

When it was announced that Wa Bena Ma’ad series will have a sequel there was a mixed feeling about this; one of excitement to find out what stories awaits the blended family of Nadia (Shereen Reda) and Hassan (Sabry Fawaz), and a feeling of fear that like many other Drama series that had sequels, it will flop and become a failed attempt at carrying on the success of its prequel.

Forty episode later, there was no reason to have any fear as Wa Bena Ma’ad proved once again that the director and writer, Hany Kamal, had the right combinations to make the series as a big hit as its first season.

Wa Bena Ma’ad has reinforced itself again as the family series, one that the entire family can watch together regardless of their age, one that deals with topical issues without the sensationalised drama tools that is often used nowadays, which are foreign to the Arab and Egyptian’s tradition and customs.

In layman’s term, it is a clean cut drama that the public have longed for over the years, apart from Abu Al a’roosa (Father of the Bride) there are just not enough drama series’ dedicated to family issues for the entire family.

Before the drama series began, there was some reservations about the cast change, most notably the replacement of Dalia Shawky with Amira Adeeb.

Shawky had grown on the audience and had portrayed the role of Hend immaculately so Adeeb had a big task in making the role her own but without changing the character of Hend. As soon the series began, Adeeb like her predecessor, started to grow on the audience and by the fifth or sixth episode, Hend became Adeeb and Adeeb became Hend, which is a testimony to Adeeb’s talent and grasp of the role of Hend, making it very much her own.

The family of Nadia and Hassan are the gripping factor of the series, as it is their issues and problems that kept the audience tunning in for forty episodes, which makes the inclusion of other character though important but less vital to the flow of the series and that may be the only negative aspect of WaBena Ma’ad, there were characters that were unconvincing and unnecessary feature, such as Haidy Karam, the neighbours of Ehab (Mohamed Mahran) and his wife (Hager El Sharnouby), the elderly neighbour of Yehyea and Farida, and Marwa the drug addict, all these characters were not vital to the plotline and were used merely to fill the time gaps.

While the first season of Wa Bena Ma’ad focused on the relationship of Nadia and Hassan and the obstacles they had to endure to make their blended family live together. The second season concentrates on each individual character of the family, exploring their dreams, hopes, ambition, disappointment and heartbreaks. Each one of the boys and girls got to establish their characters further with an individual edge, Ali (Youssef El Kadwani) the hopeless and naïve romantic, had the audience rooting for him to get back with Arwa (Aya Salem), and Aya’s experience of sexual harassment at work.

 Taher (Ossama El Hady) the wise and ambitious one who we were frustrated with for failing to notice Hend’s love for him, and Layla (Tasneem Hani) and Murad (Youssef Ibrahim) partnership is of a typical sibling nature that many can identify with. Even the youngest siblings Nelly and Mustafa were a joy to watch with their own individual issue, such as the bullying of Nelly for being overweight and Mustafa’s misuse of social media. All these issues are relevant and important to address in a family setting.

There is definitely a scope for further seasons to come of WaBena Ma’ad as there are still room for many stories to come but one request we make is that the focus remains on the actual family of Nadia and Hassan. We have given the series a rating of 8/10.