'Tehran' Episode 3 Review: Massoud gets caught, but will he betray Tamar under pressure?
In 'Tehran', no one is ever completely alone and we don't mean this in a fuzzy and sentimental sense. Someone is always following our characters or keeping an eye on them. And this time, someone's caught up to Tamar's Iranian handler, Massoud.
In 'Tehran', hell doesn't break loose. It unfolds slowly, painfully and uncomfortably. Tamar (Niv Sultan) has been on the run since Episode 1 as she accidentally killed a man. Hot on her trail is counter-surveillance agent Faraz (Shaun Toub), who is frantically trying to put all the pieces together and capture the Zionist spy. At the outset, the show is an espionage drama with slick action and entertaining chase scenes. Yet, at its heart, it is about love, loss and the rediscovery of one's identity.
Tamar has escaped from the police, but she has also been escaping from her old life for years. She visits her aunt Aarezoo, who at first takes her in, unwillingly. These scenes delve into Tamar's past, her family ties, the loss of her mother and unending grief of her father. Finally, the layers of Tamar are unpeeled. She's no longer just the Mossad agent on the run who has a nuclear mission to fulfill. She's also someone who is trying to understand the events that have transpired in her birth city for the past few decades.
She makes a call that is downright reckless and ends up at a student protest against the police. It's a risk and Massoud, who has been trying to keep up with her, is annoyed and perhaps rightly so. In order to avoid putting her aunt in further jeopardy, Tamar leaves her house, only to be confronted by certain unpleasant strangers at the end of the episode. Massoud has been caught as well, so how long before he cracks and reveals secrets?
The cliffhangers keep rolling and the tension is spiraling. So far, so good, as 'Tehran' keeps the balance between the tumultuous personal lives of those who left for Israel and those who didn't, the repercussions of the Iranian Revolution and the crackdown of a police state. Hell is breaking loose for sure, but in pieces.
'Tehran' is an Apple TV show.