The Reel Review
This AppleTV+ series is about an Israeli Mossad agent/computer hacker who gets trapped in Tehran during a failed secret mission to sabotage Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Using her wits, and some strained family connections in the city, she must race against the clock to finish her mission and flee the country before the Iranian government finds her.
Fans of the popular Showtime series Homeland and Fauda (of which Tehran creator Moshe Zonder also was a head writer) will see a lot of similarities with this eight episode series. It has all the familiar hallmarks – lots of clever, twisty, red herring plot points, nail-biting action and compelling performances, in particular from model-turned-actress Niv Sultan (Eilat, Temporarily Dead) as the agent on the run.
But about halfway through, the action does start to slow up a bit, with some of the episodes way too long and veering over the top in their ridiculousness as the convoluted storyline crosses the boundaries of the absurd. Still, as entertainment, it’s a fun ride.
REEL FACTS
• Niv Sultan learned Persian and Krav Maga, the self defense and fighting system developed for the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), for her starring role.
• The plot of Tehran mirrors that of Season 2 of the ongoing 2015 French Canal+ series, Le Bureau des Légendes.
• Tehran was filmed in Athens, Greece, incorporating stock footage of Tehran to lend the series an air of authenticity.
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