This week, the second season of the police drama “Manaich” ended, which left us speechless. Nadav Menuhin, who also watched the episode, was particularly enthusiastic about the way they chose to end the plot for the series’ hero, who is Izzy Bacher, played by Shalom Assig. In a conversation with Iris Cole on 103FM he expressed his professional opinion on the season.
“We were trying to figure out if there was room for the series to develop, we were very worried, and at the end of the season we suddenly see this thing happening at full volume,” Menuhin claimed at the beginning of the conversation, and explained: “The last two episodes completely changed the feeling I started the season with. This is a series that has no mystery around it central, but mostly emotional and mental tension between the investigative hero and the corrupt policeman. This game of cat and mouse between them goes on and on. We tried to understand if they could meet again, if this relationship could reach new places in the course of this plot, so that we could get a new perspective on their meeting “.
According to him, “This season marks Izzy’s return to matters in the National Security Agency, and when he encounters all kinds of rotten institutions, foreign interests, ego wars, and in the midst of them he tries to maintain his honesty, the fight for what he believes is important and to go against corruption. In this sense, I think Izzy Bacher has become something very big this season, a real symbol of Israel. A symbol that both rightists and leftists can identify with perfectly, around the struggle and anger at rotten institutions and the need to stay true to your principles.”
In light of his statements, Iris Kol wondered if it is possible to know what is the political position of Izzy Bachar (Shalom Assig) in the series. Menuhin replied that not necessarily, and added: “I think it doesn’t matter that much, in the end Izzy is not a particularly political person, what concerns him is the investigation he is in. He understands that there are forces at work, he recognizes the rot. I think that alongside his anger at I can imagine him very angry about governmental corruption. To say that this is a right-wing series? I don’t know.”
“I think Izzy is an Israeli symbol in the sense that both right-wing and left-wing, the struggle that is happening in Israel right now and in general over honesty, loyalty to your values, this is common to all of us. Israeli society is a society that demonstrates, gets angry and reacts strongly, and sometimes bluntly, to many things,” he emphasized.
Later, Menuhin referred to Liraz Hammi, in the series she plays Inspector Tal Ben-Harosh, a police officer in the Yahabal: “A stunning role, in the first season she was the star who stole the offer, this season she moves her aside a bit to a more personal, psychological role, than of the main issues. She is an excellent actress, and still part of the three peaks of ‘Manaich’. There is a very rich gallery of characters that Roy Dan has built with a very impressive skill and every time a different supporting actor steals the show, from all sides. A very rich and complex world.”
Menuhin also claimed that the question on which the whole series is based is “do you bend with the wind and decide to protect yourself or go all out against corruption”.
In conclusion, Menuhin summed up his impression of the end of the season: “There is something in the nature of ‘Manaich’, it never explodes, you roll the ball up the hill only to crash to the ground again. The turnaround at the end is amazing, it mainly prepares us for a third season which in my opinion will be a lot More fascinating than the second season.”
Help in preparing the article: Shani Romano 103FM