Stream It Or Skip It?

On the second anniversary of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel, two Israeli-produced series based on true stories of survivors are being released in the U.S. Red Alert takes the more traditional storytelling approach of the two, concentrating on survivors that displayed unusual heroism on that day.

RED ALERT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A man hides in a shed; he already has cuts on his face. He’s holding his 1-year-old son, who’s crying. Outside, he can see terrorists shooting at any car that comes down the road.

The Gist: Twenty-four hours earlier, on October 6, 2023, life was more or less normal in southern Israel. At Kibbutz Nir Oz, Ohad (Miki Leon) and his wife Bat Sheva (Rotem Sela) are having a laid-back day with their three kids. Kobi (Israel Atias), a police officer working in the anti-terrorism, has been at the Nova music festival busting people dealing MDMA; as he and his partner leave after their overnight shift, in the early morning of October 7, he passes his wife Nofar (Chen Amsalem Zaguri), who is a uniformed patrol cop about to go on duty. Ayoub (Hisham Sulliman) and his wife are driving a father and son who are coming in from Gaza to find work on the Israeli side of the wall.

As air raid sirens go off early the next morning, Ohad, Bat Sheva and their kids move to the safe room in their house, but the door is broken. Tali (Sara Vino), who lives in Ofakim, 12 miles from the Gaza border, grumbles as she brings her teenage and adult children into their safe room. Nofar tries to clear the mostly-stoned ravers from the festival premises.

The usual sound of Israeli missiles intercepting Hamas rockets starts to be punctuated by gunfire, specifically AK47 gunfire. It becomes quickly apparent that Hamas terrorists have gotten through the border walls and are spraying bullets at any Israeli they can find. Tali’s son Itamar (Nevo Katan) grabs his rifle to defend the town, but inadvertently leaves his phone at home. This sends Tali out to look for him, despite the fact that terrorists are killing people everywhere. She keeps going, despite warnings from police to stay safe.

Kobi promises to get back to the festival grounds to help out Nofar as they try to evacuate the young ravers, but he and his partner get pinned down by terrorists in a nearby town. Ayoub’s car is ambushed by terrorists, who assume they’re Israelis and not Gaza residents, and his wife is killed. Ayoub is told by police on his phone to run and hide, and he takes his young son and does just that. Bat Sheva tries to protect her kids while Ohad gets his gun out of their safe; it’s at this point that he notices at least a dozen terrorists swarming right outside his house, and his safe room door is still broken.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? No coincidentally, there’s another show about the October 7 attacks out on the same day as Red Alert, called One Day In October.

Our Take: Red Alert, created by Lior Chefetz and Ruth Efroni takes a more conventional approach to stories about October 7, as opposed to the anthology format of One Day In October. Chefetz and Efroni filter the harrowing experience of the attacks through the real-life accounts of everyday people who displayed heroism during the attacks.

It’s certainly a way to filter such a horrible event through a more positive context; it’s been a way to make horrific events more dramatic since storytellers used to verbally pass down mythological stories from generation to generation. The creators and their writers don’t gloss over the bloodshed, though; as Tali runs through her town, for instance, she sees the bodies of neighbors who didn’t even make it past their doorways. But the emphasis is about the people who rose above the horror, not the horror itself.

Cefetz and Efroni also try to be nondenominational about the heroism, which is why they include Ayoub’s story. The idea is that the Hamas terrorists were targeting people indiscriminately, whether they were Israelis or not. As long as they were on the other side of the wall, they were a potential target. Ayoub’s inclusion is also a way for them to point out that the people who live in Gaza aren’t the same as the Hamas terrorists. And while the show isn’t trying to get political, it feels like his inclusion in the story is a strong nod to how the people in Gaza have suffered over the past two years.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: We go back to the beginning of the episode, with Ayoub hiding with his young son as another set of terrorist-driven cars approach his shot-up vehicle.

Sleeper Star: Rotem Sela’s character Bat Sheva will have to protect her daughters after being separated from Ohad and her oldest son, and Sela is up to the task of playing the strong but terrified mom.

Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Red Alert tries its best to show the harrowing experience of October 7 in southern Israel while concentrating on the heroic acts that happened that day. It’s a balance that’s at times hard to maintain but it is also worth watching.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.