Benny 2 Or 2: "The Good City" is another Israeli series looking for a horizon for lost boys

Hot's new series, starring Oz Zehavi, continues a series of Israeli series that try to describe the world through the eyes of homeless youth, but scatter between the plot lines and range from charming to absurd moments.

This is an accessible series with a good heart, and the heroic boys are wonderful, but it has a hard time diving into the depths

Nadav Menuhin

15/07/2022

Friday, 15 July 2022, 09:21 Updated: 09:33

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Lost children are the order of the day on Israeli television.

Drug dealers start at Bnei Or, insanely violent at Alumim, rich psychopaths at Blackspace, racists at Zero Hour.

In all cases - lost, with parents, adults and teachers who are unable to understand, contain or deal with them, until the conflict erupts in acts that can not be reversed.

This week, the children of "The Good City", a new series by Hot created by Eliran Elia ("Doubtful", acting mayor and deputy mayor of Or Yehuda), also join this group.

Residents of some peripheral city, under a corrupt mayor, a framework that does not believe in them and out of poor and half-functioning families - they try to grow up, learn and find meaning, but along the way get entangled in trouble, violence, gambling.

Even they do not see a horizon.

The young boys are funny and captivating.

"The good city" (Photo: Ohad Romano, HOT)

On a class that was once called in charge of Ido (Oz Zehavi), a determined, stubborn and somewhat childish substitute teacher himself, himself a former at-risk teenager, who also takes care of his depressed mother (Tiki Dayan) who was fired from her job. Ido fights for his students, but most That he identifies with them, he also crosses boundaries non-stop. He bends rules and says things that an educator should not say, and too often it has dangerous consequences. On loan, he is a kind of Peter Pan of these lost children, and like them refuses to grow up

. And rents half of his apartment to tourists, there is a secret: he is gay in the closet, but refuses to accept it. He only meets with tourists and undergoes dangerous conversion treatments in the hope of "healing". "Lock time") forces him to accept himself.

This story therefore turns in many directions, and ranges from a melodrama about sexual identity, an adolescent story, a socio-economic thriller in a realistic style and perhaps, as hinted at in the series summary but not yet really expressed in the first four episodes sent to journalists, also political drama.

The plot is scattered between all these directions and it is difficult to focus on one plot line - and it is a pity, because some of them are original and very interesting.

In one of them, a boy whom everyone has given up finds meaning in a series of anarchist crimes against the establishment and other forces that harm the weaker sections (and along the way also harm the innocent).

In Hollywood they might have turned him into a tragic superhero.

In this neighborhood, monsters are slot machines that fuel addiction, violence and poverty.

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Refuse to mature.

"The good city" (Photo: Doron Ofer, HOT)

With boys and girls asking for their first stops in the game world - alongside a cast adorned with familiar faces that also includes Ilanit Levy, Agam Bohbot, Oshrit Seroussi, Lyric in White, Shiffi Aloni and Yaakov Cohen as mayor - "The Good City" wants to be a kind of "Bnei Or" 2: The series that shows what life really looks like in the eyes of teenagers from the neighborhoods, and what chances they have at all in this world.

Even Or Pelach, who played "Mosquitoes" in that series, stars here in a major role.

Like that series, "The Good City" ranges from realism to pathos, from adulthood to childishness, and from charming, poignant and intriguing moments to weak dialogues.

This suspense characterizes every element and element in the series, from the unbalanced and simplistic and sometimes absurd script, to the game.

Zahavi, for example, enters the lead role with a lot of energy, and his charisma is evident in a role that is essentially inspiring to young people.

But alongside his and other characters' sensitive scenes, there are also those in which everything seems like an unconvincing recitation.

The result is an accessible series with a good heart, but also one that finds it difficult to dive into emotional depths or a really heated discussion.

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The focus of the occurrence constantly moves between Ido the teacher and his students and back, with the key issue being self-acceptance and the transition from survival to taking responsibility.

If the heroes themselves do not do this, no one else will help them out.

Another major issue reflected in the plot is the complete lack of trust between the citizens and the establishment and its emissaries, including welfare and social security, when the public feels it is forced to deceive these institutions because only then can it survive.

Circles of poverty, dysfunction, violence are expanding, children are drowning in them, and those responsible are helpless.

And indeed, with all due respect to the adults, the young actors - who were mentored by Maggie Ezerzer - are simply wonderful, funny and captivating.

The "good city" has been blessed with them, and hopefully it will also make the characters they embody understand this.

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• Oz Zehavi

• Emery Bitton

• The good city

• TV review