Maggie Gyllenhaal
Philip Arditti
Lubna Azabal
Andrew Buchan
Eve Best
Lindsay Duncan
Janet McTeer
Tobias Menzies
Igal Naor
Genevieve O’Reilly
Katherine Parkinson
Stephen Rea

Hugo Blick

Miniseries
2014
Drama, Thriller
Sundance
TV-MA

“The Honorable Woman,” a co-production of The BBC and Sundance, fits right in with Sundance’s other series and miniseries (“Rectify” and “Top of the Lake” to name a couple). It moves at a slow pace and is mostly subdued and quiet; well, at least the first episode is. It’s presented in a style that’s common to many British dramas and mystery series: straightforward with no frills.

There’s a heaviness to the events on display, but it’s not clear why for much of the first episode. For most of that episode, I kept thinking: Why am I watching this? There just didn’t seem to be anything happening that mattered to me, except for the murder of the patriarch of the family at the center of this series 29 years ago. I know that exposition is vital to the spy thriller genre, but this exposition didn’t clearly set up the context of the events. I felt like I was on the outside looking in on characters that didn’t interest me.

Toward the end of the first episode, however, we’re given a glimpse at the rougher currents that are flowing just below the surface of “The Honorable Woman,” especially those that involve the titular character’s apparent kidnapping in Gaza eight years ago and the kidnapping of her brother’s son in the present. Those rougher currents help to ratchet up the tension a bit, so I’ll continue to watch. I hope that all of the disparate parts from the first episode begin to gel into a compelling narrative. “The Honorable Woman” must draw viewers in to be successful. Otherwise, it will be a slog. The actors know what they’re doing, so that’s good. But we need material that makes the effort of watching this worth it. …

The second episode of “The Honorable Woman” is a big improvement on the first. There’s enough tension to keep you interested, even though they still don’t tell you exactly what’s happening: That’s the point. The third episode isn’t as good as the second, but it’s still better than the first. The rest of the episodes do a good enough job of balancing tension and pace and of revealing the characters’ secrets along the way. So, overall, “The Honorable Woman” is worth watching … somewhat.

Verdict: Somewhat Good Overall

About: (Source: honorablewoman)

Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. As children, Nessa Stein (Gyllenhaal) and her brother Ephra (Broadchurch’s Andrew Buchan) witnessed the assassination of their father, a well-known Israeli arms manufacturer. Now in her thirties, Nessa has taken control of the company and refocused its purpose on connecting Palestine and Israel in order to promote peace. Her efforts have thrust her into the public stage, and while she lives her life under a constant media and political spotlight, this belies her paranoia, personal demons and her dangerous behavior. Everything comes to a head when a secret from her past threatens to be exposed, her company undergoes intense political scrutiny and those closest to her are potentially her most dangerous enemies.