Friday, September 25, 2020

Round Two: Tehran

Tehran: Season 1, Episode 2 “Blood on Her Hands” (B+)

There’s a degree to which events have to play out a certain way on this show if it’s going to continue, and knowing that the first season is eight episodes means that, for instance, Tamar can’t get arrested by Iranian authorities and detained as an Israeli agent in the second one. Despite that, things did get way out of hand and Faraz was literally just a few flights of circular stairs behind her with full knowledge of who she was impersonating. It’s interesting to see the spotlight on Faraz and how he is a man most concerned with doing his job well, while his boss wanted to be sure to embarrass the Israeli government as part of the long game instead of neutralizing the threat right away. It’s terrifying to see just how quickly he was able to amass all of the information he needed to understand what was going on and identify Zhila, but it is fair to say that the Israelis also have quite a lot of knowledge they shouldn’t have about the goings-on in Iran. Masoud, a.k.a. Eagle, was a good ally for Tamar but didn’t succeed in hiding the body well enough for the few minutes it took for someone to discover it, and he crossed a line she wouldn’t have by murdering Zhila’s husband to save Tamar. She managed to get away, in part because no one expects her to be strong and capable, but now she’s trapped in a country where she can easily be identified and doesn’t have any way to get out since they know she’s there. I’m not sure what her episode-ending reunion means and whether the necklace is actually hers, but she needs all the help she can get from anyone willing to provide her shelter and safety.

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