HaMidrasha

Hard-hitting, uncompromising, (sometimes) cold-hearted, pragmatic.. And this is a dramatic series, remember -- not a docu-drama.

The Israelis have the best intelligence service (Mossad) on the planet - we all know that. But, how do you get into it? Well, this series shows you what the new recruits have to go through: you might have to evade the local police who are unwittingly firing at government trainees with live ammo; you might have to spy on your classmates whilst the class carries out a routine surveillance on Mr & Mrs Nobody (selected randomly from the phone book); you might have to initiate an affair with your child's teacher, who is particularly vulnerable at the moment -- all this to score points with Mossad's higher echelon, just to prove {you got what it takes}. Mossad has cameras and bugs planted everywhere, too, to watch, just in case you try to fake the success. It's a bit mind-boggling.

But, for those of you who watched Russia House, or MI-5, this is the familiar 'weary load' of those who want to break into the Intelligence Business. Betrayal, heartbreak, cold-hearted 'cuts' from the team - it's a little like an NFL training camp. Superbly-acted and written, as good as any comparable British series I have ever seen. Season-1 on Netflix now (hopefully, Season-2 will follow soon).

The first season was pretty good but a bit silly at times. The second season the show completely switched to a new format (or lack of it) and it's much better, more mature and gripping. Like a very good movie. Gotta hand it to the creators for not standing still and repeating the formula of the first season, that takes guts. Truly entertaining with high suspense from the first second till the satisfying last. Excellent writing and performing. Israeli TV is usually very good and this show now bubbles to the top. Waiting eagerly to season 3.

From time to time, I try to widen my horizons apart from UK and Scandinavian crime/thriller series, and have come across several good Israeli ones as well... The Season 1 of HaMidrasha, began to my liking, but then I realised that the trainees are not sent to their separate real assignments and I even thought of breaking off (very unusual for me); but then, the relationships and parallel stories became interesting, and the final episode became a nicely creamy mess, paving the way for Season 2 which was more versatile and interesting... Well, I am unable to judge the credibility of the events and relations, but as Mossad is of the most efficient secret services in the world, it may well so that the principle "The end justifies the means" is used very often.

The role and depiction of characters, however, is rather uneven, and many members of course are not so memorable. To me, the most interesting were Yehuda Levi as Yonna, Hana Laszlo as Doris Levi, Tzachi Halevy as Liron Hariri - apart from distinct performances, the viewers obtain a picture of their past as well, and they tend to offer most twists in the plot.

All in all, I liked it - Season 2 a bit more than 1 - almost equal to Bnei aruba and Fauda.

I started watching this after watching other Israeli shows such as Fauda and Tehran. Upon watching the first season, I did find it a little corny and humorous, but still enjoyed it non the less. The second season, as someone else also mentioned is totally different, and in turn the entire ambience, style of writing, realism is totally different. It's much more realistic, gritty and mature. It's really important that you watch the first season in order to understand the characters of season 2, but when you do get to season 2, you'll be very glad that you persisted through the lesser superior season 1.

I do not know why the rating is so low for this series. Overall it is very easy to get lost in and very entertaining. Maybe it is because you have to follow along with the subtitles for the most part or maybe it is because some people do not get the combination of grittiness and dark humor. Either way, if you are a fan of intrigue you should not sleep on this one-it is very good.