I have no inkling of the politics of the region. From what I could surmise, Syria and Isreal do not like each other one bit. With only this limited information, I still could enjoy the series. Sacha Baron Cohen was a big reason for this, and so was the muted and subtle cinematography by Itai Ne'eman.

The series tells us the story of Eli Cohen an Israeli spy who infiltrated the Syrian government and elites. Rather than focus on the effects of his actions in an explicit way, the series talks more about Eli as a person. The toll this assignment takes on him.

In the first few minutes of the series, we are shown how he is conflicted about which name to sign his letter with. This is after 6 years of assignment in Syria, not a training scenario. Eli starts living and merging with Kamaal, the name he was given when he was undercover.

Sacha Baron Cohen is well known for his comedy work, but this and The Trial of the Chicago 7, show how wonderful he can be in serious roles as well. I wish to see him more in diverse roles, the man can act, can hold the audience with him for hours on end.

Despite him being really good, I am usually untouched by spy thrillers. Even if the director tries to humanize the person and rationalize his / her actions, the cost of human life is still a big elephant in the room for me to feel much sympathy towards the spies, so as the series culminates, even though it did not hit me hard, I was further impressed by the nuance shown by Sacha in the last few minutes of acting. That walk of a physically broken yet emotionally resilient man was worth the watch.