First of all a round of applause to the BBC for organising the airing of The Honourable Woman, BBC 2 at 9pm, around the World Cup because writer/director Hugo Blick's latest project looks fantastic. It's similar to much of Blick's other work in that it plays out like a game of chess with the full story not usually revealed until the credits roll on the final episode.
This new eight part drama tells the story of Nessa Stein (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the daughter of an Israeli arms manufacturer who was assassinated in London during the pre-credit sequence, has become an idealistic business leader, seeking to unite Israelis and Palestinians through high-speed broadband in the West Bank. But, on the day that she is installed in the House of Lords by a grateful UK as Baroness Stein, a death and an abduction occur, which are somehow connected with a secret related to a second flashback that takes place in the Gaza Strip eight years before the main action.
This has drawn a lot of comparisons to the British spy thriller Tinker,Tailor, Soldier, Spy but I think that this bears more resemblance to the stateside work of Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) or Jenji Kohan (Orange is the New Black). It's cunningly watchable even you're only still with it to see how it all plays out. The Honourable Woman is stunningly well cast as well with Maggie Gyllenhaal a standout and not just because of her stunning British accent. From what I've seen the writing is also top notch, in typical Blick style we're never really invited to really like our main character just because she's the main character. You might find yourself leaning towards one side or the other but the events that shape your opinion are there to service the story, any emotion here is optional. Normally that would be a problem but the plot is strong enough to carry everything along.
I could go on for a while here about how it's well shot or well edited but that'd just be overkill. The Honourable Woman should be the thing you watch tonight. Even if you think you won't like it, give it a try anyway.
