Prime Video's The Tribe Review: Unrelatable, Obnoxious Influencers In LA Make For Surprisingly Good Reality TV

Prime Video's The Tribe Review: Unrelatable, Obnoxious Influencers In LA Make For Surprisingly Good Reality TV

In a scene from the first episode of Prime Video's new series ‘The Tribe’ Alanna Panday sits down with her fiance Ivor McCray. The two sit and share how much their marriage means to them. Alanna says “I think it is a big day For us personally, but like…in terms of brand deals, it is one of the biggest events In a creator's life when you can bank on it.”

The Tribe: Peak Reality TV 

Alanna is obviously looking forward to the lakhs of rupees she can make via brand deals at her wedding. It makes one wonder—how exactly are influencers able to put so much of their personal life in public and monetize every event big or small (some, not on this show, monetize even funerals!).

Where does one draw the line? Prime Video's The Tribe follows four rich, spoiled brats who happen to be influencers. They have a collective called CollabTribe where they flow out best influencers to LA.

The Tribe: Everything You Need To Know About The Show

So far, their tribe consists of Alaviaa Jaaferi, Aryaana Gandhi (Ariana Grande, anyone?)  Srushti Porey and Alfia Jafry, (besides Alanna ofcourse!). Leading this tribe of somewhat obnoxious yet strangely likeable influencers is entrepreneur Hardik Zaveri.

In each episode, the girls are given tasks to complete—ranging from branded content to photoshoots. Of course, the selection of influencers doesn't have any diversity in terms of their background. Like Cosmo Awards, we don't have a token ‘body positive’ plus-sized influencer or diversity hires.

The Tribe: What Works, What Doesn't 

The dynamic between these dysfunctional cast is intriguing—think catfights, competition and on rare occasions, friendly vibes. The target audience for The Tribe is the same as the target audience of Archies of Netflix—rich South Delhi, South Bombay GenZ kids who aspire to emulate this lifestyle.

What doesn't work for The Tribe is just how unrelatable the show is. Of course, most of its Indian viewers aren't really born into generational wealth so they won't relate to living a lavish life in LA.

Unlike Prime Video's ‘Follow Karlo Yaar’ where we could relate to Uorfi Javed's hunger for success or Dharmatic Entertainment's Netflix show “The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives” where conversations on menopause and the undying quest to look younger were relatable, The Tribe offers little for us lesser mortals to identify with.

The sets where the show is filmed are so prim and proper, that there isn't a leaf out of place. There is no room for imperfection. The show does offer insight into the life of a creator/social media influencer (mind you, it isn't as easy as it seems) but strictly on the surface level.

Even then, The Tribe, spanning over 9 37-40 minute episodes, isn't entirely a waste of digital space. If you are in for some mindless entertainment, no stakes show, The Tribe is just the show for you.

Star Rating: 2.5 / 5 stars

The Tribe is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.