What I’m Watching: Valley of Tears

Valley of Tears: Season 1, Episode 5 “Stuck on the Hill” (B+)

Things are definitely serious now, with the joyride ended as Meni gave Melakhi some important advice about not trusting people – a notion he shouldn’t employ right now – before he went off to rejoin and rescue his friends. Telling the base that the pilot was still alive was a clever way to get help sent, but they ultimately decided to stay and defend the hill rather than go back and retreat. Hearing that the Syrians were at the Sea of Galilee was devastating news, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer that this is not an ordinary conflict. Dafna continues to remain calm under pressure, getting reserve drivers on the way so that they can be of help. It was strange to hear all about her from Yoav as he talked Avinoam down and kept him focused as they were navigating their way through the minefield. It was good to see Yoav acknowledge Avinoam’s skills and actually ask about him, and Avinoam gave him some decent advice about how to move forward with Dafna given the strong feelings he had towards her. While he did manage to get Avinoam through without incident, it was in a quiet moment immediately afterwards that Yoav set off a mine that appears to have killed him, which is going to strand Avinoam in the desert far from anyone else all by himself. He did fine when he came upon the Syrian soldier who Yoav then shot, but Avinoam could really use a friend to help him survive this.