Our Boys: Season 1

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 10 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Ratings

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7.5

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Ratings

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Our Boys

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Season Details & Credits

HBO | Season Premiere Date: August 12, 2019

Summary: An agent with the Israel Security Agency investigates two murder cases: three Jewish teenagers who were kidnapped then killed and the burnt body of a Palestinian teenager found a few days later in this 10-part limited series based on real cases that may have precipitated the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict was created by Hagai Levi, Joseph CedarAn agent with the Israel Security Agency investigates two murder cases: three Jewish teenagers who were kidnapped then killed and the burnt body of a Palestinian teenager found a few days later in this 10-part limited series based on real cases that may have precipitated the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict was created by Hagai Levi, Joseph Cedar and Tawfik Abu-Wael.… Expand

Genre(s): Drama, Movie/Mini-Series, Suspense

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E10. A Shaft Into a Dark Tunnel
Air Date: October 7, 2019
tbd
S1:E10. Chapter 10: A Shaft Into a Dark Tunnel
Air Date: October 7, 2019
tbd
S1:E9. The Perfumer and the Tanner
Air Date: September 30, 2019

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Metascore

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Mixed:

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Critic Reviews

100

Aaron Barnhart

Sep 4, 2019

Despite the pacing, or maybe because of it, Our Boys is actually pretty engrossing. And it’s timely. ... By slowing the pace of its narrative, Our Boys buys itself enough time to see these nuances in its main characters, a luxury you don’t get on a typical episode of SVU. ... More than a crime show, this is a parable about the endlessly repeatable cycle of outrage and violence that has humans around the world in its grip right now. Read full review

100

Dorothy Rabinowitz

Aug 8, 2019

It’s clear from the outset of this dazzling chronicle set in Israel that there’s not going to be any softening of its extraordinary tension, its scenes of anguished suffering, its furiously eloquent debates on justice and loyalty, its epic crowd scenes. ... A work of distinguished writing, fearless in its sophistication, unfailing in its powers. Read full review

Emily Nussbaum

Sep 16, 2019

A challenging work of art about the intractable problem of identity—the struggle of any individual to maintain core values, when the world demands nothing but solidarity based on shared victimhood. The show is unusually fearless about letting moral discomfort linger, and manages to be stirring without ever offering false hope, a rarity for even the best-made dramas. Read full review

Brian Lowry

Aug 12, 2019

The language and pacing in Our Boys reflect its Israeli roots, but the emotional core of this powerful fact-based miniseries hinges on tribalism, the intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the adage that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. In that, this HBO presentation offers a sobering window into that part of the world, with implications that swell far beyond it. Read full review

Daniel D'Addario

Aug 13, 2019

[Mohammed’s family's] well-drawn grief and their confusion is the key reason to watch “Our Boys’s” early going. ... “Our Boys” is paced with a punishing slowness, as if to drag the viewer into the morass of distrust that is contemporary Israel. But it rewards with tough insight, as through Arbid’s and Blal’s performances or in moments when the young people of Israel speak with a horrible clarity, revealing what they’ve learned from their upbringings. Read full review

Robyn Bahr

Aug 9, 2019

Stylistically, it's simultaneously beautifully crafted and painfully sluggish — essentially your finest tapestry of abject misery porn. ... If the viewer does not have a passing knowledge of the innumerable conflicts between secular Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews, the socioeconomic stratification of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, or the in-fighting between extremist factions within Haredi Judaism, then they might be more than a little lost watching this program. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Nick Allen

Aug 12, 2019

The series' intrigue appears to be held together by Shlomi Elkabetz, whose performance as the investigator at the center is calming but weighed down. ... You can too easily imagine "Our Boys" leaving a deeper impression by being half the episode length, or cut into a two-hour movie. Read full review

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7.5

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User Reviews

lagron

Aug 14, 2019

incredibly emotional, intense and all around a great watch. Highly recommended!

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

aantik4444

Sep 29, 2019

Intelligent writing, superb acting and beautiful cinematography (unlike the reviewer below I found the shaky camera to fit the purpose in the scenes it was used). Best thing I've seen in years.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

eram310

Jan 19, 2020

By far, the best TV show of 2019. Very intense and I learned so much. Equivalent to the quality of the "The Night Of" . Superb acting and very real.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Klebart

Nov 1, 2019

Very well done. Not everyone is a good guy or a bad guy or what you expect. Still wondering a bit why all the bad guys are doing this, but it does explain why their leader did. Very much looking forward to season two. Two thumbs up.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

MarcDoyle

Aug 12, 2019

I've only seen the first couple of episodes so far, but it's riveting. It's a different feel than Fauda (Netflix), but the acting is similarly superb. HBO has been on a roll lately, it feels.

4 of 5 users found this helpful41

OlivierPiel

Nov 14, 2019

Good that I stuck with it after Ep1 . The series get really going in Ep 2., when it focuses on the Arab family. The acting is excellent, the pacing engrossing, and the writing very "realistic". The only downer is still the camera work, as I described in Ep 1 see below. In the second half ofGood that I stuck with it after Ep1 . The series get really going in Ep 2., when it focuses on the Arab family. The acting is excellent, the pacing engrossing, and the writing very "realistic". The only downer is still the camera work, as I described in Ep 1 see below. In the second half of the series, and the focus on the perps, the show also sags along with the idiocy of Avishai, the arrogance of his cousin and the coward uncle. I felt that it failed to connect with the viewer and trivialised the murder. Cinematographically weak there again.

First take:
Ep 1 didn't do it for me. Plot-wise, it is certainly interesting and refreshing (had to research Jewish religion and Jerusalem geography quite a bit) and reminded me of the film Babel where destinies of strangers collide, but the cinematographic quality is quite poor imho. The photography is very bland and jerky, sort of an episode of 24, that is so old-fashioned by today's TV standards. The Arab characters and their motivations felt also quite clichéd, or at least far less nuanced than the Jewish ones.
Let's see if it gets better… Expand

1 of 7 users found this helpful16

Seasons & Episodes

83

Series Overview
Season 1

83
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: August 12, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E10. A Shaft Into a Dark Tunnel
  Air Date: October 7, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E10. Chapter 10: A Shaft Into a Dark Tunnel
  Air Date: October 7, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E9. The Perfumer and the Tanner
  Air Date: September 30, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E8. Defendants 2 and 3
  Air Date: September 23, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E7. Judging by its End
  Air Date: September 16, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E6. Acceptance of Silence
  Air Date: September 9, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E5. Shabbat Shalom
  Air Date: September 2, 2019