Title: Catalog
Cast: Mohamed Farrag, Tara Emad, Khaled Kamal, Riham Abdel Ghafour, Bayoumi Fouad, Samah Anwar, Sedky Sakhr, Donia Sami, Ali El Beialy, Retal Abdelaziz, Ahmed Essam Elsayed
Director: Waleed El Halafawy
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 8 episodes

Catalog is a nuanced exploration of grief, modern fatherhood, and evolving family roles. The setup of a contemporary Egyptian family, where the widower father is forced to break out of his gendered shell and become the mother and father to his children, is heartwarming and authentic even though the extreme nature of his cluelessness is problematic.

This Egyptian series on Netflix opens on a haunting note. Youssef, a recently widowed workaholic, returns home with his children, Karima and Mansour, to a space haunted by the absence of his wife, Amina. Her recent death after a long illness has left a disorienting void in the lives of Youssef, and his two children. Youssef, who was never involved in parenting suddenly finds himself set adrift.

Their lives have now become chaotic. You can feel the profound grief enveloping the family. The loss of a nurturing parent is experienced in the children's behavior while the loss of a spouse can be experienced by the utter cluelessness that Youssef displays.