After an over four-year layoff, the Israeli television series, Shtisel is back on Netflix. I first wrote about the show two years ago. The show originally aired on the Yes Drama network in Israel in 2013. It ran for two seasons from 2013 to 2016, and in 2019, it was announced that it would have a third season. COVID intervened and made filming difficult, but now the shows are completed and back. It’s a strong drama, and in my opinion, the acting has gotten better. They have weaved several subplots revolving around a group of Haredim families living in Jerusalem together in a magnificent way that grabs your interest and keeps it.
A trailer was released in September of 2020, revealing that Season 3 is set seven years after Akiva’s mother’s death (six years after the events of the first episode). The series premiered on Israeli TV on December 20, 2020, and it became available on Netflix starting March 25, 2021 – just a few days ago. I was happy to see it return.
I like the show because the characters are real – and avoids the idea of portraying the Orthodox people as a stereotype. As I wrote in 2019, it portrays them as real people with feelings, problems, and issues to be solved. This is even more true in Season 3, where I think the show has truly hit its stride.
Watch the show if you can. It’s in Hebrew and Yiddish, but there are English subtitles.
Shtisel is back!
