What I’m Watching: Valley of Tears (Series Finale)

Valley of Tears: Season 1, Episode 10 “Valley of Tears” (B)

As expected, this series didn’t provide terrible happy endings for its characters. After the tank battle with plenty of casualties, Meni tried desperately to revive Yoni, who was injured and killed. That final post-credits scene was haunting, seeing a wounded Yoni walk through the streets and into a yeshiva where his religious father was studying, what I assume is meant to be an explanation of the impact that finding and then losing his son in this war had on Meni. Melakhi got to engage further with a war that he didn’t seem particularly interested in fighting, nominated to be on the first tank to head to Damascus by Colonel Almogi. He forgave Marco for everything in the heat of the moment because they had survived, an important development in their friendship even if it paled in comparison to everything else that happened on the battlefield. Avinoam was astute in his ability to recognize a spokesman on the radio broadcast he heard about Jerusalem and Tel Aviv having been invaded as Israel was prepared to surrender, but that didn’t stop the interrogator from bringing in Yoav and threatening to kill him if Avinoam didn’t talk. And the only parting glimpse of Dafna that we got was her walking through the desert, not found by the Syrians but also not able to locate either Yoav or Avinoam. This series has certainly been interesting, but it never quite reached the emotional impact of something like “Lebanon” or “Our Boys” to me. I’d still recommend it as an involving portrayal of war and a tribute to the many people who fought in the Yom Kippur War.

Series grade: B+
Series MVP: Shahar Taboch as Avinoam