Apple TV Israeli Thriller ‘Unconditional’ Gets More Absurd (and Enjoyable) As It Goes: TV Review

Despite what the obligatory disclaimer before each episode may say, the Israeli thriller “Unconditional” — which aired on Keshet 12 in its country of origin last month before coming to Apple TV in the U.S. — is clearly inspired by real-life events. When 23-year-old Gali (Talia Lynne Ronn, in her on screen debut) is abruptly detained in the Moscow airport and indicted on trumped-up drug trafficking charges, her case clearly recalls those of high-profile detainees like Brittney Griner, Evan Gershkovich and Naama Issachar, who like Gali was arrested en route from India to Tel Aviv in 2019 before receiving a personal pardon from Vladimir Putin in 2020. 

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But as Gali’s mother Orna (Liraz Chamami) works to liberate her only child from captivity, “Unconditional” grows increasingly unmoored from reality. That’s mostly for the better. The eight-episode series, which was co-created by Dana Idisis with writer Adam Bizanski and directed by Johnathan Gurfinkel, aims to be an apolitical story of a parent’s love for their child, anchored by Chamami’s effectively underplayed performance. That’s easier to accomplish the further the plot moves away from a diplomatic incident involving several national institutions and toward an occasionally absurd — but absorbing and well-paced — tale of individuals in over their heads.

“Unconditional” makes no explicit mention of the events that have landed Israel in international headlines over the last three years, from the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks to the ongoing war with Iran waged in conjunction with the United States. (This stands in contrast with the series’ treatment of Russia, a country whose conflict with Ukraine is brought up within seconds of Orna appearing on television to boost awareness of Gali’s case.) Yet Orna’s public pleas to “bring Gali home,” an attempt to pressure her government into returning her daughter via prisoner exchange, instantly evoke a painful recent chapter in the country’s history, though they’re also drawn from Issachar’s earlier case.

Real life continues to intrude on Orna’s quest throughout the first half of “Unconditional”: the photo of Gali she shares with the media to inspire sympathy depicts her daughter in IDF uniform during compulsory military service, and conversations with the foreign minister are peppered with mentions of an unnamed prime minister and negotiations with Russia over issues related to Syria. Orna’s ex Dori (singer and Eurovision alum Amir Haddad), to whom she turns for help, is implied to work for the domestic security agency Shin Bet. If you’re looking for pure entertainment free of details that conjure the specter of International Criminal Court indictments, disputed military strikes and alleged human rights abuses without making a purposeful point about them, “Unconditional” makes that aim difficult. (So do many American series that use international intrigue as a backdrop rather than a central subject! The issue is hardly unique to “Unconditional,” even if this review is limited in scope to a single show.)

Yet “Unconditional” intertwines geopolitical scale with Orna’s intimate, personal struggles, which land with more precision. Her husband and Gali’s father Benni (Yossi Marshek) is in the advanced stages of early-onset dementia. In the present, this leaves her without a partner to navigate the unimaginable, forced to deal instead with her unempathetic in-laws. Over time, it’s turned the funny, lively Orna into a subdued person whose passivity Gali has seemingly rebelled against. The two were in India on a mother-daughter trip, with Orna pressing pause on caretaker duties to join the vivacious, outgoing Gali on her nomadic travels through Southeast Asia. But as Orna learns more about the activities that put Gali in the crosshairs of the Russian regime, it becomes clear Gali’s rebellion extended beyond going halfway across the world.

“Unconditional” all but transforms into a different show once Orna gives up on conventional statecraft and heads back to Russia with Rita (Evgenia Dodina), a blunt, wise-cracking spy with a clandestine assignment to clean up Gali’s mess. Unlikely coincidences and absurd twists start to pile up; plot holes emerge and are ignored. Orna unlocks a break in the case using a song saved to Gali’s Spotify favorites, by a band that just so happens to be playing in Moscow that night. Previously under the impression Gali had voluntarily extended her military service, Orna learns she was actually discharged early, then entered some shady deals with her ex-comrades. This would presumably come up once Gali became a news story and journalists started digging, but Orna finds out on her own.

This turn for the heightened has both benefits and drawbacks. “Unconditional” certainly loses something when it leaves behind emotional realism, though Chamami — who never plays Orna’s panic as hysteria, but as quiet confusion — remains a steady anchor throughout. Yet it’s also easier for “Unconditional” to stand on its own once it sheds some of the baggage that comes with dramatizing an encounter between two embattled nation-states. There’s safety, it turns out, on the other side of the looking glass.

The first two episodes of “Unconditional” are now streaming on Apple TV, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Fridays.