The
first phase of the operation went pretty smoothly. The Jordanian airliner bound
for India was forced to land in Tehran for emergency repairs. During the
layover, Rabinyan was able to trade places with an Iranian who was desperate to
leave the country and had an identity that would be helpful to her mission. However,
an Israeli couple who booked last minute tickets unexpectedly complicated the
mission. While understandably freaking out, she recognized Rabinyan from their military
service and Iranian counter-intelligence officer Faraz Kamali noticed her
noticing.
Assuming
Jila Gorbanifar’s identity, Rabinyan gains entry to Tehran’s power station,
where she intends to tap to the air defense system, through a back-door.
However, her hacking excursion quickly goes sideways. Soon, Rabinyan is in the
wind, with her identity burned. Going off the gird and way underground,
Rabinyan contacts Milad, a.k.a. “Sick-Boy,” a dissident Iranian hacker, whom
she had established a flirtatious relationship over the dark web. To accomplish
her objective, she needs Milad’s help, but she will be constantly conflicted regarding
how much she can trust him and how much information she should withhold.
Tehran
vividly
captures a sense of how scary the city could be for a fugitive outsider. It
feels a lot like the Vienna of The Third Man, but with the creepy
trappings of an Islamist theocracy layered on top. Even though it is Israeli-produced,
Tehran is definitely le Carré-esque in the way it depicts both sides
ruthless realpolitik machinations. Still, the intrigue and duplicity are fun to
follow.
In
fact, Shaun Toub is one of the most attention-grabbing cast-members as the shrewdly
intelligent Kamali. Even though he faithfully serves an oppressive regime, he
is definitely an improvising cowboy-type. Likewise, Navid Negahban (who was the
husband in The Stoning of Soraya M) is terrific as Masoud Tabrizi, an
Iranian working as a Mossad sleeper agent. He is also a loving family man and
an Iranian patriot, who believes his work with the Israelis is the best way he
can also serve his country, which probably makes him the series’ most
compelling character.
Menashe
Noy and Liraz Charhi also bring a lot of grit and nuance to Tehran as
Meir Gorev, the Mossad operations commander and Yael Kadosh, Rabinyan’s handler
(also Persian). The relative weakness of Niv Sultan and Shervin Alenabi (arguably
the leads, playing Rabinyan and Milad) might sound like a significant undermining
flaw, but everyone else is so compulsively watchable, we can sit through their
hackers-with-sexual-tension melodrama, waiting for the show to switch back to
the good espionage stuff.
If you need resolution, let’s just say there is plenty of room left for a second season of Tehran. Yet, in a way, that is very much in keeping with the tone of the show, which fully explores the ambiguous complexity of Israelis’ historic attitudes towards Iran and the inherent social and class-based conflicts of contemporary Iranian society. It is a smart, suspenseful show that hopefully has more revelations to come. Recommended with enthusiasm, Tehran premieres this Friday (9/25), on Apple TV.
