Paper Piano
Zahir works at a chicken shop in Little America season 2. He struggles to deal with rude customers demanding refunds on half-eaten food. Zahir’s passion is not with chicken though but instead with playing the piano.
Zahir, an Afghan refugee who has been living in New York for a year, struggles to find his place in the city. Everywhere he looks he sees reminders of his homeland - abandoned pianos in hotel lobbies. Zahir’s roommate encourages him to start playing them, but Zahir is hesitant because he fears being arrested if he tries. Zahir is still grieving the death of his father, who never came to his funeral back home in Afghanistan. His friend points out that even if his father had come, it wouldn’t have changed anything; Zahir should follow his passions. ..
Zahir explained that he was in New York for a music exchange and that the Taliban had attacked his home country. He said that he is not safe to return home and that he needs help getting back to his family. The Taliban have outlawed music in his home country, so he needs help getting back to his family.
Zahir’s father encourages him to write his own symphony to the sounds around him, and as a result, Zahir creates a powerful and unique piece of music that is both beautiful and powerful.
That night, Zahir is forced to tell that angry customer to leave but he comes back with a gun. It’s a horrific moment, as Zahir realizes he could have been killed over 3 pieces of chicken by a madman believing that “the customer is always right.”
Zahir decides to spend his money on a piano to improve his music skills. He’s finally ready to get back in the saddle and wants to go to music school. With his guidance councilor, Zahir gets a foot in the door and prepares for his audition. Despite playing all day and night, Zahir is not successful in landing the job as a symphony musician.
Zahir starts to doubt himself right before his big audition. With the bitter news that his mother won’t be coming to the country for many years, Zahir uses all of that energy - that pain and those memories from the past - to play his original composition.
Zahir returns home to find out he has been accepted into music school. However, this news is bittersweet as he realizes that his mother will be dead when she arrives in the United States. Thankfully, Zahir receives encouragement from friends and family to pursue his passions while waiting patiently for her arrival. ..
Zahir heads into school and touches the keys of the piano, hearing his father’s voice from an earlier time when he was first learning to play with his loving parents around him.
The episode closes out with Zahir still working to bring his mother to the United States. They haven’t seen each other in seven years now, and Zahir’s works have been performed by the New York Symphony but that’s undercut somewhat by the fact that the Taliban are back in control of Afghanistan. ..
The Episode Review
The penultimate episode of the second season of “The Crown” does a great job encapsulating all the drama and tension filled within the streets of New York. Zahir, feeling like an outsider, struggles to grapple the complexities of bringing his mother over to the States at the same time as following his own dreams. ..
The episode itself is well-made and the composition is really moving. In particular, Zahir shedding tears in the middle of playing is very touching. Overall, this is another strong chapter.
