‘SEAL Team’ Season 4 Episode 5 ‘The Carrot or the Stick’: Who is Ray's cellmate Zied Al-Haqqan and will he die?
A good companion shortens the longest road. As ‘SEAL Team’ comes back from its winter break with another intense episode ‘The Carrot or the Stick’, Ray Perry's (Neil Brown Jr) life is still in danger and the one thing he needs is a partner or a close mate.
The one-hour drama begins with Ray in captivity and The Bravo Team crossing a dangerous line to rescue him. Bloodied and battered, Ray sits on a chair as an assailant puts a sharp knife to his neck and almost slices his head into two. The heart-pounding scene leaves you wondering if Ray is already dead. Hold your breath! He survives and is thrust into a cell with his hands tied.
In the next scene, another man is pushed into the same cell and sobs in a corner. While Ray seems disinterested, he introduces himself and narrates his heartbreaking tale. “I am Zied. They think I am like them because I look like them.” Talking about his six-year-old child, he then painfully says, “I am afraid he will never see me again. What must he think has happened. A parent is meant to worry for his child, not the other way around.”
As soon as Zied Al-Haqqan asks Ray, “Where are you from?” the captors enter the cell with guns and tape Ray's hands together to torture him and slice off parts of his body. When he returns, panic-stricken Zied asks, “What have they done?” Ray asks him to hush as he repeats, “I only want to know what they have done to you...”
Valiantly, Ray remarks, “It's not about breaking your body. Pounding on the soles of your feet, rippin' at your fingernails, hurts like hell. They wanna break your mind and your spirit. They come randomly. No schedule, it's disorienting. They drive us insane.” When his young cellmate asks, “How do you stay sane?” Ray tells him, “Focus on what keeps your spirit strong. Faith. Family.”
But it's not enough for Zied. “How could you go on as if nothing has happened? That was worse than physical pain,” he says. When Ray dishes out his plot to fight them, Zied hopefully exclaims, “Please tell me we can escape.” Ray tells him, “We have a better way. We need to call for help. Phone or radio."
Zied is enraptured by Ray's composure and bravery. “How are you so calm about it?” he asks. Ray then tells him the secret, “I am scared. I am scared every moment. It takes everything to not show it,” and motivates him by repeating, “They will not break me... They will not break me. Brother, you got this.”
Soon after, both of them are dragged out and the men seat them side-by-side on two chairs and put sharp knives to their necks. In the very last moments, they kill Zied and leave Ray as the former's blood splatters on his cheeks. The sad ending will haunt you for days and nights. But, the shocks don't end there. As the fifth episode ends, it leaves another cliffhanger when Ray realizes where he actually is.
Did you know Steven Spielberg discovered Ben Youcef (who plays Zied) in Munich? The 42-year-old actor is also known for his guest roles in ‘Law & Order’, ‘CSINY’, ‘NCIS:LA’ and ‘Chicago PD’. Apart from Youcef, the guest cast in the upcoming episode includes Tim Chiou as Michael “Thirty Mike” Chen, Mo Anouti as Ray’s Guard, Ibrahim Renno as Mr Nasri, Ashwin Gore as Faraz and Omar El Gamal as Eating Guard.
‘SEAL Team’ picks up on January 13, 2021, with the fifth episode — ‘The Carrot or the Stick’ — from 9 pm ET to 10 pm ET after the winter break. In case you don't have a CBS All Access subscription, you can also watch it on Amazon Prime, Direct TV, Fubo TV, or on Youtube TV by order.