This was a recent find we tried on the recommendation of several different friends. And what a fortunate discovery! This is definitely one of the best shows we’ve seen in recent months.
Tehran is a very intelligent Israeli spy thriller, with sub-titles, although much of the show is in English. The main character is Tamar (played superbly by Niv Sultan), a young woman Mossad agent and childhood Jewish refugee from Iran, who is on her first mission.
Tamar is working with a small team of fellow agents and Iranian resistance figures in Tehran to take out the radar system protecting a new nuclear fuel refining installation, so that Israeli fighter-bombers can reach their target and destroy it before the fuel is loaded into the centrifuges. Given the recent history of real-world Israeli relations with Iran, and their attempts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, this is a very believable plot.
Initially, Tamar’s main role in this dangerous operation seems to be as a super-hacker, whose job it is to break into Iran’s defense computer systems as part of the complex plan to destroy the nuclear site. But despite her computer programming brilliance, and the help of a young Iranian dissident hacker, things end up going sideways, and Tamar has to quickly go out on her own, and use the full range of her secret agent skills to stay alive and operational.
Meanwhile, on the other side, a canny older Iranian counter-espionage officer and his tough young sidekick are hunting for the Israeli team, especially Tamar, and are frequently one step ahead, or else just behind but on the trail of Tamar and her team at every step. In these characters, we see the personal and professional stresses they face in trying to do their jobs, in the context of the constant risks, politics and treachery within the authoritarian religious government and ideology they serve.
A whole cast of other Israeli agents, Iranian police and civilians, politicians, dissident young people, and innocent bystanders support the greater story throughout, as Tamar finds her way through an unending minefield of surveillance, betrayal, plot and counter-plot. It will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout each show.
This show is strongly reminiscent of Homeland, in its portrayal of a strong, incredibly bright and unorthodox young woman agent using every trick, skill, connection and plausible lie at her disposal to continue the mission against impossible odds. Highly recommended.
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