# The Choice (2020)

> Egyptian Thunderbolt Brigade commander Colonel Ahmed Mansi confronts his former comrade Ashmawy, now a radicalised militant leader, in a war against extremism in the Sinai.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/85560

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 90
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, war, action
- Created by: Peter Mimi
- Network: ON, MBC Shahid
- Cast: Yaser Galal, Ahmed Mekky, Ahmed Al Saqqa, Ahmad Ezz, Ahmed El Awadi, Karim Abdel Aziz, Mohamed Hamdy, Mohammad Reyad
- TMDB rating: 6.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12222224/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: sober, tense, patriotic, sombre, gripping

## Synopsis

The Choice (2020-2022) is an Egyptian television military drama series created by Peter Mimi and produced by Synergy and United Media Services, broadcast on ON and MBC Shahid. Built on true events, it follows Colonel Ahmed Mansi (Yaser Galal), commander of the elite Thunderbolt Brigade, as he fights to defend his country against rising extremism in the Sinai. Mansi's former comrade Ashmawy (Ahmed El Awadi), once his brother in arms, has been radicalised into a militant leader, and the two men end up on opposite sides of the war. Other principal figures include Yusuf Rifai (Ahmed Mekky), Mustafa (Ahmed Al Saqqa) and Zakaria Younis (Karim Abdel Aziz). The engine of the series is the operational grind of counterterrorism work: raids, intelligence networks, field operations and the personal cost of duty that each episode carries forward. Spanning three seasons of thirty episodes each, it unfolds as one continuing campaign rather than standalone cases. The tone is sober and tense, with a heavy emphasis on sacrifice, loyalty and the diverging paths two soldiers choose. Set in modern Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, it is a patriotic, war-focused drama for viewers who enjoy the military thrillers of Zero Dark Thirty and the morally divided intelligence world of Homeland.

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