Is it audacious or just stupid to go head to head with the biggest TV show in the world? New Israeli drama False Flag launched on the Fox channel in the UK at 9pm last night, just as most peak TV devotees were settling down with some blackberry wine to enjoy the latest Game of Thrones. But if you swiped left on Daenerys and Jon’s date on Dragonstone island, you might just have caught one of the most impressive spy thrillers in years.False Flag’s opening episode was an object lesson in how to whip up a spinning top of mystery, paranoia and conspiracy before letting it fly.
For a subtitled show concerned with an ongoing secret war between distrustful nation states, False Flag starts in a very domestic frame. The harried and slightly hangdog chemist Benny (Ishai Golan) is preparing for the school run over a chaotic family breakfast, somewhere in Israeli suburbia. The rolling news on TV suddenly becomes an unlikely mirror as Benny’s passport photo flashes on the screen, to his befuddlement, his pregnant wife’s concern and his young daughter’s delight.
This is the latest update to a sensational news story about the violent abduction of an Iranian defence minister from a Moscow hotel. According to Russian investigators, Benny and four other Israelis are now considered the prime suspects, glimpsed in blurry CCTV footage but really implicated by their passports being tracked in and out of Moscow. These names and photos are a global newsflash. Suddenly family man Benny, bride-to-be Natalie (Magi Azarzar), party girl Asia (Ania Bukstein), private English tutor Emma (Orna Salinger) and backpacking beach bum Sean (Angel Bonanni) – are the five most wanted people in the world…
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