2. Hostages |(Netflix)
“Hostages,” or “Bnei Aruba” in Hebrew, for a riveting, Israeli home-invasion thriller that is full of surprises. “Hostages” begins with an impossible dilemma: Dr. Yael Danon (Ayelet Zurer) must poison her country’s prime minister on the operating table, or the men who have laid siege to her house will murder her timid husband, bratty son and pregnant teenage daughter. The invaders’ motive remains inscrutable, but it’s only one of many mysteries on a show that is less interested in politics than in the choices people make — and the secrets that are revealed — in life-or-death situations. Tension runs high as divisions form within the Danon clan and among their captors, complicating the victims-vs.-villains binary and making each episode thrillingly unpredictable.
“Hostages,” or “Bnei Aruba” in Hebrew, for a riveting, Israeli home-invasion thriller that is full of surprises. “Hostages” begins with an impossible dilemma: Dr. Yael Danon (Ayelet Zurer) must poison her country’s prime minister on the operating table, or the men who have laid siege to her house will murder her timid husband, bratty son and pregnant teenage daughter. The invaders’ motive remains inscrutable, but it’s only one of many mysteries on a show that is less interested in politics than in the choices people make — and the secrets that are revealed — in life-or-death situations. Tension runs high as divisions form within the Danon clan and among their captors, complicating the victims-vs.-villains binary and making each episode thrillingly unpredictable.