'Little America' Episode 7 paints an Iranian father's struggles while he adapts to his son's American ideals
This article contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 7: 'The Rock'/'Farhad'.
From Iranian resplendence, a successful businessman — a jack and master of all trades — moves to America for a better life for his son. Sadly, his efforts are not only unsuccessful but also met with the eventual and inevitable despair of his son following American living traditions and deciding to move out once he's an adult. Thus, we meet the coming-of-age story of a man nearing half a century, trying to adapt to the realization that his son is a grown individual.
Farhad is a man of odd jobs and illustrious projects. His business card reads 'Bee keeper, quail egg merchant, pistachio farmer, roller skating instructor' and he spends his day selling himself to potential investors for his various entrepreneurial ventures.
When not busy, Farhad works at a parking lot with his son working his shifts at times. The rest of the time Farhad invests in taking care of his family. His beautiful wife adores him and respects him for the man she remembers him to be from their life in Tehran. Sadly, his musician and almost adult son Behrad, can't see the same and probably doesn't remember Farhad's past life as a successful man.
But Farhad's problem is not an affluent past long gone. It is his struggle to come to terms with the fact that his son is probably more Iranian-American than just Iranian.
He plays his drums, he likes his band, and he can't wait to move out of his parents' house, which is barely holding itself together amidst a festering rodent problem. So Farhad does what any South-Asian parent would do and tries to build his beautiful wife and 3.56 GPA son a bigger and better house.
But there's only so much a family man can do with failing businesses and minimal means. So he buys whatever his savings allow him to, which turns out to be the giant 8-ft-tall, 8000 square foot titular rock — symbolizing Farhad's own significance to those around him.
No builder will take up his land, neither will anybody help him out in exploding the rock. When one finally does, they inform him the rock has grown too deep underground to be ever removed completely.
However, that doesn't dampen Farhad's spirits. He has a breakdown of sorts and cries to his wife quietly in the company of his own despair, asking her if he's made a mistake. He even asks her why the tighter he wants to hold on to his relationship with his son, the quicker the young boy slips away. She tells him how the best thing would be to adjust to Behrad's ideals and let him be the man he is growing up to be, but unfortunately, Behrad isn't so considerate.
He takes it personally when Farhad fails to show up for his coffee shop gig due to complications with removing the massive body of rock. His complaints about what a failing dreamer Farhad will always be earns him parenting at its finest, as his mother informs him of the life Farhad gave up in Iran so Behrad could study in the US and lay music at coffee shops.
Farhad himself is also brimming with pride in his Iranian heritage — thus stemming the other fear that his son is losing his roots. But, just like all coming-of-age stories, the more Farhad grows to adjust to Behrad's contemporary mindset, the easier it is for Behrad to learn what a shining star his father used to be. It's a mutual story of respect where two men grow into seeing each other's value all in the middle of good ole' America.
'Little America' premieres on January 17, only on Apple TV+.