Mossad 101

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.

I generally enjoyed season 1 (the story line is pretty captivating) but I can't get past the whole pro-Mossad advertisement of the show. The worst was the ending: psychopathic Jewish Mossad agent who has been teaching trainees to lie, cheat, kill, and fraud is portrayed as a true hero while the Palestinian agent who is killed without any trial or proof of his wrongdoing is the devil. Give me a break, FFS.

I know that Mossad's recruitment is quite low and a lot of these shows are to amp up the reputation of the organization, but this felt quite cheap on the cliché.

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.

In the first season of this Israeli drama we see a group of recruits being put through their paces as they vie to join the Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Agency. They must pass a succession of tests; any failure, for whatever reason, will lead to that trainee being immediately dropped. The recruits are a mixed group; one is an expert on reading people's body language; two American brothers; and another is hoping that by joining she will learn how her husband died while on a Mossad operation overseas; the rest are similarly varied. The course is led by Yona Harari; an experienced agent who doesn't appear to be too bothered by rules; unlike his ex-wife who is the Psychologist monitoring the course.

The second season sees Yona with another group of trainees; officially they are taking part in a training exercise on Kiev, in reality Yona is running an unofficial operation that will see them dealing with a group of Israeli criminals and facing ISIS terrorists who would like nothing more than killing a group of Israelis; especially Mossad agents.

If you are looking for something gritty like 'Fauda' you may be disappointed. This does have its thrilling moments but there isn't the consistent level of extremely high tension... and deliberately so. There are comic moments; some action, even deaths of main characters; and quite a lot of character led drama; notably between Yona and ex-wife Avigail. The two seasons have a very different feel; the first is all about their training programme and seeing who will get eliminated while the second is about one specific mission. In both questions are raised about the motives of characters who should be trusted. The characters are a good mix and the way they are introduced means that by the time dangers arise we care about what happens to them. The cast is solid making the characters believable even in some of the more unlikely situations. I don't imagine many viewers will believe this gives a realistic insight into the Mossad; it clearly doesn't intend to be; it is a lot of fun though. Overall I'd recommend this viewers looking for a somewhat lighter spy series; if we get a third season I'd continue to watch.

These comments are based on watching the series in Hebrew with English subtitles.