Full Description
Following in the footsteps of Israeli shows that were adapted to American television like Prisoners of War and In Treatment, The A Word explores terrain that is fresh and timely and will soon find its way to US audiences. It’s the story of the Rotenberg clan, who live in the Arava desert. There’s Meir, the idealistic patriarch who corrects his adult children’s Hebrew. Meir’s daughter Ayelet and her husband Yaniv have a refreshingly hot-blooded marriage and two children, daughter Natti and her younger brother Omri. Meir’s son Avishay has just returned from Tel Aviv to tend the family farm and try to mend his relationship with his wife Yael, a doctor who, we learn in the series pilot, has been unfaithful. This complicated interpersonal stew is stirred up when Yael starts raising concerns about Omri’s development. She thinks the young boy’s obsession with music is troubling; his parents think it’s a sign of genius. The truth is somewhere in between. It’s the A word: autism. In just three episodes, this show makes you care deeply for all its characters and portrays familial relationships in all their beautiful, flawed glory. The motley crew of resident Thai laborers serves as a humorous Greek chorus.
