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This article is about Our Boys, the 2019 miniseries. For the Amazon superhero sex post show, see The Boys (disambiguation). In 2019, HBO produced a gripping miniseries outside of the US that captured the emotion and fallout of the deaths of innocent people, a story that many knew bits and pieces of but not the full extent. Through great writing and acting, cultural differences were explained and enthralling television was made capturing those who watched it. They also made Chernobyl, which was really good too! Currently, 'Our Boys' is 6 episodes through its 10 episode run and should be a must watch for those with that "but why do all the Russians speak in English accents?" complaint. Hell, why have one language fully subtitled when you can have two? Split between Hebrew and Arabic, fully subtitled throughout and leaving you to recall which characters can speak which, Our Boys depicts the true story of the murder of 3 Jewish teenagers and the retribution that followed. That's pretty much all I knew going in, and it's all you really need to know. Why am I watching it? It's well written, and has a fairly methodical pace which is always welcome. Important characters shown in the first episode might disappear for 3 or 4 to place more emphasis on the more important storyline for that week, then shifts as the investigation continues. Last weeks episode, Chapter 5, had a nice The Wire season 1 vibe to it with lots of high tech wire snooping and barely covered anyone else other than those being watched and the police watching them. Production wise, what sticks out most is the lack of style - in a positive way. Sure, a lot of it looks like a standard drama but many scenes are shot close and personal with no color grading or lighting to create a filmic atmosphere. Outside, rioting scenes are shown in high quality, but flat, digital video interspersed with what looks closer to cellphone footage and similar. It gives a believable sense that you might be seeing real footage mixed in, adding to the sense that these are the stories about real people. When it comes to its audience, it feels like it's made with American money for an Israeli/Arabic audience with HBO assuming their subscribers are smart enough to either know whats going on, or to google references they don't get. Its refreshing there isn't a character there used solely to explain the cultural differences to a Western audience, and if you don't know about a particular religious sect or even what a dancing style could signify, then you're on your own - but really, it's nothing too important. I don't know poo poo about ultra orthodox Jewish stuff and I'm loving it. It's going to get totally overlooked due to Chernobyl, but it really shouldn't. It's super good - and Netanyahu hates it and there's a whooooooole ton of 1/10 reviews on iMDB pushing propaganda about how it's insulting to Israeli people and calling them all murderous monsters (which it doesn't remotely do).
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Sep 10, 2019 17:15
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Episode 7 tonight. WHO DARES BE THE SECOND PERSON TO WATCH THIS REALLY RATHER GOOD TV SHOW?
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Sep 16, 2019 21:39
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But what is it about??
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Sep 17, 2019 04:46
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quote:Our Boys depicts the true story of the murder of 3 Jewish teenagers and the retribution that followed. That's pretty much all I knew going in, and it's all you really need to know. Sorry, I didn’t want to write too much about the ins and outs as with these kinds of shows I find it’s more interesting to see for yourself how the story unravels, rather than waiting for it to cover what you know already. If you like slower paced dramas about police investigations, it’s worth a try. First episode should be enough to know if it’s for you or not IMO.
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Sep 17, 2019 04:50
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Yay, a thread. I was watching this, but I'm an Israeli so I guess it doesn't count. I thought the show was pretty good, I didn't really have any issues with it, I think the narrative can be a bit strange as it transforms from a sort of espionage thriller into a court room drama but it's good. I also think that the fact that it's presented as a show following the murder of the three israeli teens gives it the wrong contextualization, the show really only deals with the Abu Khdeir murder. Of course as an Israeli one of the amusing things to me is that the show had some massive backlash from israeli right wingers, who said it was leftist propaganda before it even aired, ironically I think that people who are very pro-palestinian may feel that the show is actually israeli propaganda, and both view points can be argued with some merit. I felt that Johnny Arbid, who portrays Muhammad's father, gave an outstanding performance.
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Oct 8, 2019 12:13
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Yeah, it felt like it was changing what it was doing every week until the last set of episodes all followed the same track. I do like it when the courtroom scenes are given enough time to actually feel like it's not a quick and easy trial at least, and there were some good plot elements during this. I probably shouldn't have spoiled myself by looking into the real case, as I knew they were all sentenced and there were no big surprises, I would've enjoyed the tension. But, I'm also guessing a lot of the audience knew the results too etc It was funny watching the backlash against a show that only had an episode or two available, I think as a neutral it made everyone look flawed and trying to protect their own self interest and not really demonizing any one group in particular. Yeah, Muhammad's father was definitely the best portrayal. I found everyone else really looked as close to their real life counterparts except him, and can see they evidently went for someone they knew would kill the part.
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Oct 10, 2019 17:32
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This is a fantastic miniseries and if you enjoyed Chernobyl you should give this a shot. The bleak realism of the setting feels more authentic than any police show I've ever seen bar the The Wire (and this might actually be better)
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Oct 22, 2019 23:02
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