Hulu Episode 3 No Man’s Land continues to explore the character of Antoine Habert trying to find his sister, Anna, who he says didn’t actually die fighting ISIS in Syria. He joined a group of Kurdish fighters.
Initially, they don’t fully trust him as he is warned to stay away. However, Antoine knows he must help them in their efforts if he ever wants to find out what really happened to Anna.
Also, in this episode, we get acquainted with Iyad Bel Tagi (Jo Ben Ayed), Paul Wilkins, and Nasser Al-Shammri. In a flashback, a young Paul is told by his father to tell Iyad to stop playing Moonlight Sonata on the piano.
We also see the connection between the characters as young Iyad gives young Paul a haircut. Iyad, Nasser and Paul fight the bullies in flashback, using a belt.
However, years later, as war rages on, the piano that Iyad was playing is burned, as ISIS sees music as a distraction from Islam.
No Man’s Land and finding his place
There are other memorable moments from the flashback scene. A young Iyad explains that the inhabitants of the building cannot afford food, but they can still afford alcohol and lottery tickets.
He also tells Paul that the Quran gives him hope that he will be different from these people. In other words, he seeks to be special in some way.
Still looking for Anna, Antoine is still on the move to join another battalion. He meets Woody, nicknamed after Woody Allen.
One is named Claudia Schiffer and Ryan is nicknamed “Captain America”. Although Antoine has no such name, he proves invaluable in giving instructions on the bombardment of the bridge, which is considered strategically vital against ISIS.
ISIS continues to kill people
Nasser is secretly operating against ISIS and reveals that ISIS has been ordered to capture any Westerners they can find. After Ryan (AKA Captain America) recites a poem about being a patient sniper near the bridge, Sarya (Souheila Yacoub) counts down the destruction of the bridge.
However, as hostile vehicles approach, Ryan gets shot in the throat by an ISIS fighter! (And no, that probably wasn’t just a criticism of the poem.)
Final Thoughts
This episode of No Man’s Land is hectic, but the action never feels forced. In fact, it really feels like it could be based entirely on true events.
That being said, the story, much like Antoine’s character, is a bit distracted from that initial question of “Where’s Anna?” Nevertheless, an attentive viewer will always have this in mind as the story progresses.
The story of Iyad, Paul and Nasser is another interesting dynamic of this episode. Granted, with all the different things going on, it’s potentially easy to lose track of each character’s arc.
It is also difficult to determine which characters have the most importance and which are simply present in the scene (apart from Antoine, of course). In this case, I hope a viewer doesn’t get too attached to “Captain America” because he gets knocked out pretty quickly (Cap, we barely knew you!)
What do you think of this episode of No Man’s Land? Let us know in the comments!
