What to watch this week: ‘Unconditional’ series grips, Israeli women’s magazine history revealed

I couldn’t wait to watch each episode, although, as so often happens, the ending didn’t quite live up to the promise of the opening episodes and the premise.

The eight-episode series resonated so much because there is a mystery at the heart of it that everyone can relate to: How much do we really know the people closest to us?

It’s an especially strong question for parents whose children are growing up and growing away from them.

Orna’s husband Benny (Yossi Marshek) has been suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease for years, and Orna, who married and had Gali when she was very young, is an unassuming woman who is devoting herself to caring for her ailing husband.

She has long been looking forward to a two-week vacation in India with Gali, who has been traveling there since she finished her army service.

Orna, with no money or connections, must figure out how to save her daughter in the middle of a bleak Russian winter, which makes for an effective contrast to the scenes set in the warm, colorful touristy India.

Unconditional turns into Orna’s hero’s journey, but what makes it interesting is that there is much about Gali that her mother never knew.

It turns out that Gali has been traveling with Eastern European men’s passports hidden in a stuffed toy deer, and that there are photos of these men with Gali from her army service.

What’s going on? Is Gali the victim of these men, or is she involved in some kind of highly illegal operation, and perhaps even one of its ringleaders, as some suggest?

The series is at its best when all these questions are completely open, and we are as much in the dark as Orna.

It also brings up real issues that so many parents face here when their children serving in army intelligence units are suddenly privy to state secrets that they are absolutely forbidden to talk about. It’s a fascinating situation, rich with dramatic potential, that the series explores masterfully.

While I loved the idea of Orna becoming tough, assertive, and shrewd, there are scenes where she is able to fight off aggressors with implausible ease, and the plausibility of the premise was a big part of what made this series so great.

It seemed as if the creators could not decide how they felt about Gali, or how they wanted the audience to feel.

That she has acted in ways that have put her mother in danger is undeniable, but it was hard to say whether she was simply a sociopath to be condemned, or a troubled young woman pushed by circumstances into something she couldn’t quite handle. The final scenes in particular were frustratingly ambiguous.

The two leads give superb performances, though. In her debut, Talia Lynne Ronn does not seem to be acting at all.

She seems like any young woman you might see on the street, which is what makes her transformation into a criminal all the more chilling.

But the series really belongs to Liraz Chamami, an actress who has been good in so many roles, but here gets the complex starring part she has long deserved. A good supporting cast includes Evgenia Dudina, Amir Haddad, and Leib Levin.

It became popular from its first issue and soon became a standalone magazine, selling over 4,000 issues and reaching a peak readership of 800,000.

But that last statistic is a little misleading, because many women read it in hair salons, doctors’ offices, and other public places, so it actually has a larger readership than the numbers indicate.

Since its inception, many have criticized it for not being serious enough. One former editor recalled: “People would always say to me, ‘Oh, I read it at the hairdresser’s.’ Lots of people would say things like that. But they read it.”

Its covers originally featured working women and soldiers, later focusing more on models and celebrities, and the documentary shows how it has always offered an interesting mix of articles that women want to read.

There have sometimes been conflicts among its editors, publishers, and writers over how much to cover serious issues and how much to focus on celebrities, gossip, and skin care.

Until fairly recently, the main editors were men, and at one point, the magazine featured nude photos which were intended more for readers’ husbands and boyfriends. It also featured a much-watched beauty contest for decades.

But it has mixed all of this with serious takes on what is important to Israeli women, and featured a heartbreaking condemnation of government policy by Raya Harnick.

Harnick was a mother whose son was killed in the First Lebanon War, who felt that his death was in vain and that the terrorists would soon return to attack Israel from southern Lebanon.

Sadly, it’s an article that could have been written yesterday. The magazine has also covered abortion, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape.

Its current cover exemplifies the mix of issues it covers, featuring former hostage Elkana Bohbot and his beautiful wife, Rivka, who worked tirelessly to keep his plight in the headlines and who is now pregnant with their second child.

Turning to movies about men, Daniel Craig’s reign as superspy James Bond has come to an end, although his successor has not been announced yet.

Craig, who has had a distinguished career as a serious actor alongside the franchise, makes for a convincing Bond, but he never seems to be having much fun, which would seem to be one of the main requirements for the role.

With each movie, he has become more glum, as if the missions and the women were interfering with the time he had planned to spend brooding.

We will have to wait and see who gets cast as the next Bond and how the character will develop. Bond may seem to be an anachronism in this era, but audiences still crave the escapist fun these spy flicks provide.