Black Space

An entire school of dirty, smelly, drunken, stoned, cynical and amoral teens? Even the one kid with a respectable demeanor is a drug dealer and a forgery expert. Add in administrators who bury their heads in the sand, and a morose detective with a grudge that we never even get the full back story on.

Having said all that, I did like the concept of a middle aged detective assigned to a case at his old high school, and incorporating a handicap issue.

The plot was too hard and vague for me to follow. I watched it all and I still don't fully understand who did it and why. That's not a good sign.

The description mentions a small town, but it's clearly not. That is a big mistake. This is an urban setting that is obviously in a fairly upscale, secular area of Greater Tel Aviv. The urban aspect is part of what alienates the kids. Because there is no small town vibe.

By not including any normal kids, you get the sense that the entire student body is disaffected. That is not realistic.

Nevertheless, the actors played their parts convincingly, and our lead's intensity mixed with care was intriguing.

This Israeli drama opens as a ceremony is taking place in a high school; it is interrupted when three or four people wearing unicorn masks start shooting at the students. Four are killed. The building is quickly locked down and three Palestinian workers are promptly arrested... however there is no sign of the weapons or masks and Rami Davidi, the policeman leading the investigation is not convinced of their guilt. He believes the killers are amongst the students. As the investigation progresses we learn more about the various students leading to suspects emerging. We also learn about our protagonist; notably how he lost an eye while he was a student at the same school.

I found this to be a gripping series. The characters are interesting and the identity of the killers isn't too obvious. Davidi is good lead characters, Guri Alfi does an impressive job in the role, his backstory adds to his character without distracting from the main story. The rest of the cast are pretty solid too. The ending is perhaps a little melodramatic but not overly so. It must also be said that the student characters are mostly fairly unsympathetic; even those we know to be innocent. Overall this is a good, tense series and would recommend it despite some faults.

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

Slow burn which is typical of police procedurals but atypical in the sense that the story delves into something fresh: what happens to high school seniors in the aftermath of a school shooting that leaves some of them dead.

The viewer is tempted to fastforward but hesitates because he/she could miss something important in the investigation by Rami Davidi (Guri Alfi) and Morag Shmuel (Reut Alush).

The pace picks up considerably in the last 2 episodes when the young killers are revealed.

The writers spice up the story by developing Rami's personal story: a skillful detective, who's having a hard time adjusting to a glass eye, with his own issues on the school where the shooting takes place and on being a would-be father and neglectful husband.

The ending is a tad melodramatic and a bit of a surprise. But I suppose the writers had to end it the way it did because the subjects of the story are simply 12th graders (who are about to begin their compulsory military training) and not hardened criminals. And the viewer could empathize (although it can never be condoned) with the motives of the young killers.

Overall, it's an entertaining series that provides insights into the thinking of young Israelis.

The senior actors gave solid performances. The young ones didn't disappoint either. Their portrayal was heartfelt. Special mention to Liana Ayun ( Libby), Yoav Rotman (Itamar), and Noam Karmel (Eram Sagi).

You want to figure out who did it and why, but it was kind of hard to differentiate actors sometimes because the girls looked alike and the names. Once the detective figured out it was students we really stayed with it because ...who were the four and why????? The dubbing was a pain because they were English speaking accents instead of Israeli so we had to keep rewinding to understand who said what. When we finally get to the end and see who did it, it was a bummer, because the reasoning was not sound and so it seemed like they did it for a stupid reason, ughhh came undone for us. But it was good enough for us to stay up late to keep watching haha so there you go!

I am into the 3rd episode and this series looks on the money. BGM is excellent and the stories are stitched together very well.

I am surprised that I am writing the first review here. The lead investigator is a fair character who is not blindly in favor of local students or blindly against immigrant workers and that makes it easier for everyone to see without prejudice. Don't doubt it, go ahead and watch it.