Tehran Review: An Espionage Thriller in Conflict With Itself
As a whole, Tehran is a smart, tense spy thriller about two countries locked in a quiet battle. The show doesn’t hold back showing how each side and their agents will stop at nothing because of what they believe in.
But because of its fast-paced opening, the show has an issue with one of its two story arcs not quite connecting as it waits for the pieces to click into place.
Tehran follows Tamar (Niv Sultan), a Mossad agent who comes to the capital of Iran to pull off a power outage in an attempt to take out a nuclear reactor. As most things do, it does not go to plan and the fallout becomes the focal point of the season.
From there, Tehran digs into the city and its factions of regime support and protesters, where the various views of a difficult subject are laid out and given a just exposition.
But at the same time, the show feels like it’s missing an opportunity, or that it has half a foot in the espionage thriller genre and the rest in social justice drama, where it has a lot to say but at the detriment of its more exciting parts.
The season starts with a rousing two episodes but settles into a necessary quiet period, where most of the character development comes from Tamar as she lays low and the hunt for her run parallel.
It’s needed because of how dogged that hunt is, but does lead to that initial excitement dying down during the middle act of the season, which lags the momentum those opening hours provided.
The more gripping and engaging story comes from this espionage side, where Faraz (played by the always great Shaun Toub), the man hunting Tamar down, uses all the power at his disposal to get results. This runs into a collision course with the man tasked with handling Tamar and her extraction, Masoud (played by the equally great Navid Negahban).
This is where the brunt of the season’s tension comes from, as Tamar is more on standby. This makes her arc feel like it’s spinning its wheels at times, but it does make some great points about life for the younger generation and the standstill they find themselves locked in.
This isn’t to say these stories aren’t welcome; it’s more that the show starts as one thing and feels like it becomes another, at least in part.
But the cat-and-mouse style between Faraz and Masoud has two fantastic performers pitting themselves in an internal cold war that will leave both of them at a loss, where their beliefs and their principles become the battle.
Niv Sultan makes for a solid lead with Tamar, where the job is everything and the bonds she makes gives her something to care about losing. The personal and the thriller side coincide and give Sultan some great moments, but the story does flounder at times and can leave her with little to do.
Tehran makes for a solid thriller, but with an asterisk. It does what it sets out to do, and does them very well, but there’s this feeling that the show is holding back.
What did you think of Tehran? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Tehran is available Friday, September 25 on Apple TV+.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.