DUBAI: Season two of Mo Amer’s semi-autobiographical comedy drama is apparently its last. Amer has said the events of the series had to stop before Oct. 7, 2023, to avoid the horrors that have since been perpetrated in Gaza overtaking the narrative. Though understandable, that’s a real shame, because “Mo” is one of the best shows on television, exploring incredibly complex and divisive topics — family, religion, imbalance of power, exile, mental health, parenthood, multiculturalism and much more — with an artful lightness of touch, without ever taking them lightly. In season two, the ensemble cast are once again excellent, always serving the story, never looking to outshine it.

Amer plays Mo Najjar, a Kuwait-born Palestinian refugee living in Houston, Texas. Mo, his mother Yusra (the superb Farah Bsieso), and his older brother Sameer (Omar Elba) have been waiting more than two decades to have their asylum case heard.

Season two begins with Mo in Mexico, six months after the events of season one saw him stranded there. He’s living with the aunts of his ex-girlfriend Maria (Mo believes the fact he told her to “move on” will not prevent them reuniting — he’s wrong), and his family’s asylum hearing is just days away, but bureaucracy is preventing him from returning to be with them.

In one of several examples of the way “Mo” tackles dark topics with rare grace and humor, Mo attempts to illegally cross back into the US but is captured by border patrol and incarcerated (though not before his country music impersonation nearly convinces his captors he’s a red-blooded American). When he does eventually get back ‘home,’ he finds the family olive oil business is thriving, and that Maria has indeed moved on, starting a relationship with an Israeli chef.

Seeing friends and family prospering without him isn’t something Mo is necessarily ready to celebrate. That’s one of the great things about the show: Amer is as comfortable pointing out Mo’s own failings — his neediness, his pride — as he is railing at, say, the Kafkaesque officialdom that plagues his family’s existence. “Mo” is beautifully balanced in so many ways — from the blend of tragedy and comedy to the mix of maddening realism and fantastical dream sequences. Even the family’s joyous return to Palestine in the finale must be weighed against their stoicism in the face of the iniquities visited on them by the Occupation.

“Mo” isn’t just a great show, but a necessary one.