‘Tehran’, is an Israeli show that revolves around the Iran-Israel conflict and gives us an exciting spy thriller that is sure to hold your attention. Director Daniel Syrkin manages to keep you on the edge of your seats through the first two episodes, and if the remaining six are just as good, then Apple TV+ has a hit on their hands. The opening scene of Tehran establishes the relations between Iran and Israel quite precisely, and it is this relationship that establishes the tone of the series. Tehran follows a Mossad agent Tamara (Niv Sultan) who is on an undercover mission in Iran that goes horribly wrong, and it is this imperfection that instantly draws you into the series. We have all seen enough Jack Bauers whose airtight plans always saves the day. So, the flawed plans here make the audience even more alert. The show establishes very early on that there is no designated path that’s being followed and that is what makes it gripping.
For a Mossad agent being undercover in Iran is nothing less than a death sentence and to make her death sentence a reality is an Iranian intelligence officer named Faraz (Shaun Toub). He is a high-ranking intelligence officer whose love for the country supersedes his love for the family. It is this constant dilemma between family and country that makes him real. Tehran is instantly addictive. The episodes are structured in a way that you can’t help but speculate about the next moves of these believable characters. There are no parts of the episode that make you want to skip ahead. Every detail is relevant and executed well, which makes it extremely binge-worthy (We will only see weekly episodes after the first three episodes). The innocent casualties of international conspiracies are regular tropes in spy thrillers, but as insignificant as their impact might be to the overall story, it is noteworthy that characters in Tehran do not just shoot, kill, and move on. There are consequences, and that makes even the random kills worth the screen time.
