TV time: A very good 'Bad Boy'

The series Bad Boy, which is running on Hot 3 on Thursdays at 10 p.m. and is available on HOT VOD and Next TV, is one of the best shows to come out of Israel in years.

Anchored by compelling performances by the entire cast, it tells a story, which is often tough to watch, of a teen in the juvenile justice system, but one that will keep you on the edge of your seat. 

It was created by a who’s who of the Israeli television industry, including Ron Leshem, a novelist who created both the Israeli and HBO versions of Euphoria, another series about teens with a dark vibe. He was also one of the creators of Valley of Tears, the series about the Yom Kippur War, and two of his colleagues on that series – Daniel Amsel, and Amit Cohen – were co-creators of Bad Boys, along with Roee Florentin, Moshe Malka, Hagar Ben-Asher (who also directed the series), and Daniel Chen. 

The series is based on Chen’s life, and he appears in it playing himself as an adult, a successful stand-up comedian, who mines his tough adolescence for material and who worries when someone from his past comes back into his life.

Chen’s stand-up is a framing device for the episodes, and his gallows humor prevents Bad Boys from becoming too relentlessly grim as it tells the story of his childhood self, named Dean (Guy Manster). Dean is a resilient, likable kid who has been dealt a terrible hand in life, in the form of his mother, Tamara (Neta Plotnik), a sometimes drug addict whose erratic behavior is a nightmare for him and his younger brother to cope with. 

The series deals with Dean being arrested and put into the brutal justice system, for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. In this scary world, he searches for allies, but it’s hard for him to know whom to trust, and as you watch, it will be hard for you to figure out as well.

Before he has spent even an hour in the prison, he is thrust into a situation that may either be his ticket out or may put his life, and the lives of his family, at risk. Heli (Liraz Chamami, best known for Manayek) is excellent as the tough warden who wants to bring out the best in the boys in her care, but knows they will likely spend much of their lives behind bars. Havtamo Farda is one of the standouts in a sparkling ensemble as the guy who is either the most trustworthy or most vicious inmate, depending on who is talking about him.

BUT THE revelation among the cast is Guy Manster, who is incredibly winning as a teen who is both vulnerable and, at times, out of control. He makes you care about Dean and gradually understand why he does everything he does, which is not easy to pull off with a character like this. Dean has been on the radar of the social services system most of his life, but he pushes away his best chances to break out of the miserable cycle he is caught in whenever help is offered.

Knowing that he became a stand-up and was able to turn his life around is what really keeps you going in each episode, because you will want to know how he managed. It’s like watching someone flying a plane into a mountain – you can’t look away, because you desperately want to see him change direction before he crashes.

The series invites comparisons to The Wire and Orange is the New Black because of the subject matter, but even more because, just as in those two great series, your perceptions of the characters keep shifting. The characters you fear most early on become those who you care about the most. 

Your perceptions of Dean also undergo massive shifts with each episode, and this masterful storytelling is what elevates it into something more than an indictment of a dysfunctional juvenile justice system that needs to be reformed. You care about the characters and will tune in to each episode to find out what happens to Dean in the prison and how he manages as an adult. The HOT series was produced by SIPUR and Tedy Productions.

Save the Date – Channel 12

Those looking for a series that is escapist and fun can finally see Save the Date, this Monday after the news on Channel 12. The Keshet series was supposed to air in early September but was postponed due to the war.

It’s a gossamer-light, enjoyable series, created by Ori Gross, about Hadas “Dassy” Toledano (Adi Havshush) an unhappily single wedding planner who suddenly finds herself, after her grandmothers cast a spell on her, pursued by four men. As the promos for the series put it, she becomes “Cinderella times four.”

It’s a fairy tale mixed with a rom-com, with flashbacks to Dassy’s high-school years, starring some of Israel’s most appealing young actors. Havrush has been great in the supporting cast of so many movies and series, among them Zero Motivation and Sisters, and she is more than ready for her close-up. This series wouldn’t work without her regular-girl persona – and you can believe that, in spite of her sweetness and charm, she is very insecure.

One of her suitors is portrayed by Tomer Capone, playing the nerdy friend she took for granted in high school who is now a huge hi-tech success. Capone has become an international star in recent years in the series The Boys, and will appear in the upcoming astronaut movie Slingshot. Oshri Cohen, who has specialized in playing hot, relatable guys for years, has the role of another guy who returns to Dassy’s life. Tamir Bar plays Dassy’s long-term performance-artist boyfriend who suddenly decides he is ready to commit, and the parody of Tel Aviv’s art scene provides some of the biggest laughs.

The series was made after the outbreak of the war and the conflict is referenced briefly in a number of scenes. Let’s hope this is the last time that Israeli writers have to walk this tightrope of making us laugh but acknowledging the ongoing suffering.

The Day of the Jackal – various venues

The Day of the Jackal, a new series that just began running on Tuesdays on Hot 3, and which is also available on HOT VOD, Next TV, Yes VOD and Sting+, is addictively suspenseful.

It’s a remake/update of the 1970s movie based on Frederick Forsyth’s bestselling novel about an international assassin – and it isn’t connected to the infamous terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal.

The series stars Eddie Redmayne, best known for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, as a chillingly focused, amoral contract killer who collects rare chess sets. Lashana Lynch plays the British MI6 agent who makes it her mission to catch him. It’s a bit like the Jason Bourne movies, but told from the points of view of characters on both sides of the law.

Not Without My Daughter – Apple TV+

Not Without My Daughter, a 1991 movie directed by Brian Gilbert and now available on Apple TV+, feels especially relevant right now that Israel is at war with Iran and its proxies. 

The movie stars Sally Field as an American woman married to an Iranian who goes on vacation with him to Tehran in 1984, only to discover to her horror that he wants them to stay there forever, and that she has no legal right there to decide her daughter’s future. While it isn’t a masterpiece, it’s a tense thriller, with Field appealing as a mother who risks her life to protect her child. 

Her husband, Moody, is not the most complex character in the world – how can he be, since he personifies obedience to a system that dehumanizes Field’s character. He is played by charming, sexy Alfred Molina (who starred in an Israeli movie, The Little Traitor, and portrayed Doc Ock in the Spiderman movies and Diego Rivera in Frida), so you can understand what attracted her to him when they met in the US.

The final third is very suspenseful, although there is a moment when, if you look closely, you’ll see the characters pass a phone booth with the word, “Bezeq,” written on it in Hebrew – because much of the movie was filmed in Israel.