“Queens: Season 1” – TV Series Review

The extent to which you may enjoy the Israeli TV series “Queens: Season 1″ depends on expectations from its Mafia-esque premise. All the men in one of the country’s crime families are killed at the beginning, except for one overlooked child, who may or may not have seen the shooter(s). The wives and daughters find themselves on the brink of losing all the wealth and power their husbands oversaw when rival families swoop in claiming debts to be honored and businesses to snatch from them. The women decide to defend their turf and family honor by trying to do what their men had done in running their illegal businesses.

For American audiences, the first analog that comes to mind is “The Sopranos,” with infighting among competing families and ambitious underlings. The closer comparison might be with “Queen of the South,” which some strong, determined women struggle to become drug cartel bosses against a variety of male obstacles. To get into this one, forget about those. The tone is significantly tamer.

First of all, “Queens” is considerably less violent and sexy than either of those domestic counterparts. There’s plenty of menace and moments of brutality but well short of the others’ body counts or displays of carnage. The other is that these women are truly feckless at succeeding their husbands, sons and brothers, resulting in their taking far more punishment than they dish out. For about half of the 11 hour-long episodes, they’re getting pummeled and losing territory, without getting their act together. There’s suspense in learning who was behind the mass execution of their men, and whether that surviving child will be another target or the key to ID-ing the perp(s). Suspects abound. Fortunately, the women’s lot shows more signs of hope emerging in the second half of the season.

Among the protagonists we meet a diverse group of characters contributing fine performances, and a handful of particularly dastardly villains to create the requisite tensions. The matriarchal widow, Dori (Rita – the Israeli actress goes by that one name, like Cher), is rather strident and overbearing in her desperation to assert control and normalize their situation. Her daughter, Lizi (Dana Igvy), seems like the only one tough and focused enough to get them back to an acceptable position among their underworld colleagues and rivals. Others also have interesting story arcs, including a few surprises that maintain viewers’ interest.

So once you gear down for less adrenaline boosting than our series mentioned above, you wind up with an action and character drama that works pretty well. The bad news is that Season 1 ends on several cliffhanger plot points of unanswered questions and unresolved issues. The good news is that Season 2 already has aired in Israel, and will be released for streaming here within the next few months.

“Queens: Season 1,” mostly in Hebrew with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting on Sept. 19.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars