Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.It takes a lot of effort to become an agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. It takes rather less to buy a DEA-branded windbreaker and a toy badge. Armed with these props (and actual weapons) Philadelphia hustlers Ray and Manny stage fake stings at drug dens across a city overrun by gangs. “It’s like Robin Hood,” says Ray — if Robin Hood stashed his loot in his mother’s attic.This is the set-up for the unimaginatively titled Dope Thief: a new crime thriller on Apple TV+. Like its protagonists, the eight-part series is capable of moments of ingenuity and showmanship and let down by some complacent execution. While a Ridley Scott-directed opener provides an auspiciously taut, stylish introduction, the episodes that follow allow the pace to slacken, the plot to drift and the tone to veer erratically from light to dark.Things begin to unravel in the aftermath of a meth lab heist. Though they seem like consummate professionals at first, Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura) fail to do their due diligence before raiding what turns out to be one of the biggest drug hubs in the state. Bullets fly; barns explode. While they manage to flee the scene, our law enforcement impersonators soon find they can’t outrun irony when a genuine DEA agent undercover at the lab catches on to their ruse.Of more immediate concern is the aggrieved drug baron who keeps calling Ray with sinister yet vexingly arch threats of retribution. The identity of this off-screen, raspy-voiced sadist is the show’s central mystery, yet his uncanny, haunting presence feels out of place amid the palpable grit of an unforgiving city. So too does a semi-farcical encounter with a Machiavelli-quoting, gun-toting cadre of clowns, which jars with more serious attempts to tease out the human drama beneath the chaos and violence.The series is elevated by the two leads, whose lively rapport offsets the repetitive cycle of chases, shoot-outs and self-sabotage. Moura impresses as the clammy, conscience-stricken addict Manny — a role that serves as a neat contrast with his turn as cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar in Narcos. It’s Tyree Henry, however, who keeps us captivated.An actor of immense natural charm and subtle craft, he imbues his troubled character’s emotions with remarkable authenticity — whether it is his rage towards his abusive father (Ving Rhames), his redemptive devotion to Manny and his adoptive mother Theresa (Kate Mulgrew), or his grief for a lost love. Ray may be a faker but Tyree Henry is undeniably the real deal.★★★☆☆First two episodes on Apple TV+ from March 14. New episodes weekly
