The Tribe Review: A lackluster reality show burdened with dull drama

The Tribe is a reality show that misses the mark, leaving you wanting more excitement, depth, and, well, drama. You might even ask yourself, ‘Is that all there is?’

Reality TV shows have really taken over lately, haven’t they? A lot of it could be credited to our love for drama and conflict, so much so that we don’t really care if it’s scripted. The showrunners have always understood the assignment. Now, I’m not usually a big fan of reality TV, but a little guilty pleasure binge now and then doesn’t hurt, right?

The Tribe, directed by Omkar Potdar and produced by Dharmatic Entertainment, brings together five influencers who leave behind their lives in India to try and make it big in Los Angeles. Leading the group is Alanna Panday, who co-founded Collab Tribe with Hardik Javeri. Joining her 'tribe' is Alaviaa Jaaferi, Srushti Porey, Aryaana Gandhi, and Alfia Jafry. These influencers are hustling to build something real in a country where competition is fierce, and that setup sounds like the perfect recipe for drama... or so I thought.

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What else would you expect from a show about influencers, or any reality show for that matter? A lot of drama, obviously. That’s what I was expecting too. I was ready for the ups and downs of their lives as content creators. And while the show does have these elements in theory, everything about it feels dull. Above all, the DRAMA is dull. Sure, we get a sneak peek of their efforts to make it big as content creators and businesswomen, but it’s hard to stay invested when everything is delivered with so little energy. There’s hardly any tension or build-up, and even when things happen, they don’t leave much of an impact.

The show tries to flesh out each influencer’s different personality and aspirations. Srushti has her own brand to work on, Aryaana is pursuing her music, Alanna is juggling her role as CEO, Alfiya is just starting out in content creation, and Alaviaa has her own thing going on. But this attempt falls flat because none of these aspects are explored in any meaningful way. Yes, there’s a whole episode about Srushti’s swimwear brand party, but I wish they focused more on these individual pursuits. Instead, the show spends way too much time on trivial conflicts like who gets the smallest room in their LA house. I mean, really? It took them four episodes to come to a conclusion. 

Nobody expects deep, thought-provoking conversations from a reality TV show, but this show failed to give us anything to discuss. Even the conflicts over the rooms were too bland to be entertaining. I wanted to see more behind-the-scenes of influencer life, like how they tackle day-to-day challenges, what goes into creating content, or how they manage the stress of brand deals. There are brief mentions of online hate, the pressure to post consistently, and the difficulties of landing deals, but all of that is overshadowed by personal drama which is just painfully underwhelming. Speaking of personal drama, most of the show revolves around the group’s reluctance to accept Alfiya as the new member, and honestly, it gets boring fast. There’s no real emotional depth or stakes, and feels like a drawn-out subplot rather than something you’d care about. 

The Tribe lacks the basic appeal that makes reality TV shows addictive. The stakes never feel high, the emotions don’t run deep, and the whole thing ends up feeling like just another boring show instead of the guilty pleasure I was hoping for.

But, if there’s one thing I was looking forward to, it was the ending. After all this dull drama, I was curious to see how they would wrap things up. The show had been dragging, so I didn’t expect anything big. I figured they’d tie things up neatly after the Lakme collaboration, giving us a standard happy ending. Well, the collab happens, but instead of the satisfying conclusion I hoped for, the show ends on a strange note. The Collab Tribe project is suddenly called off, everyone is sent back to India, and that’s it. It's just been 2 months. Considering they were coming back from a two-year-long break at the start, the unsatisfying ending feels even more bizarre.

The Tribe is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video! 

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