Tehran
Not long ago I recently finished watching the first series of Tehran on Apple TV. I remember seeing the trailer for this and was quite intrigued at what I saw. Wanting to know more, I took the plunge and committed to watching all 8 episodes.
Basically, Tehran is a microcosm of the years long cat and mouse geopolitical game between Israel and Iran. As a person born in Iraq but living in the UK, I find the whole Middle East chessboard both fascinating and depressing at the same time. A succession of miscalculations by several Arab leaders has resulted in a Middle East that is a mere shadow of its true potential.
Fast forward to the 2010s/2020s, the last true major rivalry in the region is between two of the last men standing : Iran and Israel. As well as having a vast network of influence across the Mid East, Iran's ultimate trump cards is its nuclear programme and vast hydrocarbon wealth.
For several years now, Israel and the United States have been using covert means to try and thwart the Iranian nuclear programme.
In fact, just a few months ago, a Mossad cell was uncovered within Iran :
This is a chess game that is very much alive and well as we speak.
Enter the Apple TV series Tehran. It follows a Mossad spy called Tamar Rabinyan, (played by Niv Sultan) as she goes undercover within the Islamic republic to try and disrupt the nuclear programme :
Hot on her heels is the Iranian intelligence officer Faraz Kamali, expertly played by Shaun Toub :
Within Iran, Tamar is aided and abetted by other Mossad operatives such as Masoud Tabrizi :
The series starts off quite well, the early episodes really keep you hooked and there are some truly nail biting moments to behold. The middle of the series features some episodes that are a bit more tame but necessary to create the landscape that paints a bigger picture.
However all of this is completely worth it, as the ending for Season 1 is absolutely fantastic and completely unexpected. I was truly surprised and did not see it coming at all. Very clever stuff.
I'm not really much of a TV type of person, but I have to say Tehran is excellent. It does a fantastic job of re creating the very real life struggle between two ideologically opposed countries. Even though it was not filmed in Iran, the look and feel of the production would actually make you feel as if it was shot in Tehran such is the realism.
The use of Farsi and Hebrew mixed with a sprinkling of English here and there only adds to the realism. It is subtitled, but again, this only adds to the whole experience. The composer Mark Eliyahu has crafted a fairly decent soundtrack with a very memorable main theme.
I feared that the programme would be quite biased towards the Israeli point of view, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to see it fairly well balanced between both camps. Maybe it's my Middle Eastern background, but I was fascinated by the depiction of each side as they tried to keep one step ahead of each other.
I would say the casting was mostly brilliant, but I feel Shaun Toub really steals the show in his portrayal of the world weary Iranian officer. He deftly outmanoeuvres both Israeli and Iranian obstacles in his path whilst trying to hunt down the Mossad spy cell.
I'm looking forward to see what Season 2 brings to the table, but Season 1 is a great bit of television that accurately depicts a sensitive topic in a way that truly intrigues. It is also a fantastic addition to the Apple TV stable of shows that continues to grow into a more mature platform.
I would give Tehran a solid 8.5 out of 10, if you have a passing interest in Middle East politics / conflicts then I think this will be well worth your time.