Realer than Nati punching some poets
Amir, come to our bed in that flannel shirt. Ahem. +10
We want a Carla Bruni Sheitl.( Marry me Haredi girls) +200
Also maybe Yifat will become charedi while working for them. Outreach!
Of course Israelis ask about who fronted the money without any shame.+5
Azaraya would you really write a letter to your old girlfriend in front of your new one?
Yes, yes you would. +5
Amir when you start taking advice from an 18 yr old you need to do some reassesing. Also mitzpe rimon kind of sucks,its just you and a crater. +10
Oh man, the rabbi doesn’t remember him, why would he? I am always surprised when teacher do remember past student, they have hundreds of kids who look the same. Sarah may or may not have had this experience this week. And it may or may not have brought back traumatic memories for her. +10
Of course in Israel they would not have a problem making a kid sleep in a storage closet. +100
Tehila secretly loves all the attention she is getting re being a muse.. We would too. +50
Ariel is pretty observant. They talk about the desert but have never seen it once! Zing. We like you, oh maladjusted one. +15
Oh man they are really putting Reut and Nati in a lot of cutesy situations. We are feeling a future romance—although srugim never really seems to think ahead. +50
This one is Hodaya free. Nice. +100
Burger is Azaryua’s frenemy! Also Burger thanks for confirming every stereotype of a self-involved artist. +40
Wow, the fighting just wow. +1,000
Even when Nati is being cool he really can’t get that sympathetic look down. +5
Like Reut, we like the idea of Nati punching someone. It’s kind of hot. +25
We hate to admit it, but the poem did suck. We hate it when you are right, Azarya. +10
Also, we snicked here: Now I’m also drunk. I don’t love you. Is that direct enough? +100 even though our heart breaks for Reut because it is a rule of Srugim (and life) that drunkies speak the Truth.
So Amir. This cathartic breakdown deserves a lot of analyzing that we won’t give it. A breakdown like this could save people years of therapy. Also Laizy, is this autobiographical? Because we get it. We really really get it. So Amir pulls out the race and class cards pretty quickly and the rabbi looks super uncomfortable, pretty much confirming that it was partially true. But in the end it’s just that Amir was a loser. It is actually amazing for him to take this long to discover he is not special. Didn’t he have a freshman year when he looked around and realized that everyone was top of their class, newspaper editor, basketball captain etc? Realizing you are pretty average is fundamental to a college education. Israel you need to rethink your University system. +400
Ultrasounds are hard to read. We feel ya, Amir. +15
Azarya, we still hate you but Nati did totally overreact to the PG 13 poetry about Tehila and your line about Nati going to join Toldot Aharon was ahhhh maaaazing. Don’t think we forgot about Nati’s Secret Fruminess. +100
Faker than a poetry book named digital figs
We are not even surprised that Azarya asked Reut for a ride to Tehila’s house. We would give points for character consistency, but..ugh. No points. Trauma hits too close to home, like when Shayna’s ex made her meet the new girlfriend. UGH. Ok it’s not exactly the same but we like oversharing anyway.
Is Yifat Hot or Not in that Blond Wig? We went back and forth many times. Your comments needed!! No points until further notice, but leaning towards not hot for now.
Nati, you don;t want to move to nahloat. ever. Stop lying. You suck at it. -15
ugh, Tehila and her hippy nachloat outfits. -10.
Everyone knows that Reut paid for the book to be published. Sigh. That was a waste of money, and now everyone knows Reut is a Desperate Sugar Mama–100 because we want to cry and reminds Shayna of the time she wrote all these essays for an ex because she was a total friarit. Oh well. At least the same year she had another “friend” who did her global econ problem sets for her.
Did Amir even call ahead or is he just showing up on this farm? we know israelis dont plan ahead, but this seems to be a new low. -20.
Floppy hair!!! We hate you. Ugh. Stop being smug. And stop reading the poetry. -30
Uh oh. Reut is slipping in her work, shes making mistakes. Keep it together! We need you! -10
That old rabbi gives us the creepies as well. and is clearly lying. -50.
Reut!!! We are sad because you are sad. But don’t worry, you still look hot. And Nati thinks so too. -15
Amir is davening at home? Oh, how the mighty have fallen. You know, if you went to shul, the Magical Sephardi men could set your life straight. -25
Our love affair with Azarya, while already waning, is O-V-A. You were mean to Reut. No way. Not allowed. But not gonna lie, the way you dumped her is pretty hilarious. Also, we kind of like the idea of meausuring the girl via your artistic output. -2 million
Why does everyone stalk Tehila? Why is everyone on this show completely insane? Sigh. – only 10 because we would have done the same thing. Also, did Reut not realize Nati was dating Tehila? Aren’t people friends on this show, or are Hodaya and Yifat the only people who tell each other secrets?
Amir, like Yifat (much less Chani and Fayge) would EVER wear a sheitl that wasn’t 100 percent real avoda zara free hair. PUHLEASE. -50 because men are so dumb sometimes.
Amir, what the hell is with this road trip? You have a pregnant wife, and job to find, and all sorts of things n what we call Real Life. Well, maybe we get it now. We would go to the Negev to if we had to deal with Pregnant Yifat every day. So, wash. ‘
When your boyfriend has dumped you, all you need to see is your dumpy secretary who got married to an egged bus driver after she davened at Amuka to remind you of your failures at life despite the fact that you make quadruple her salary. sigh. We feel your Pain, Reut. -50
Publishing in a book is old school? We. Can’t. Deal. With. The. Future. Save books!! -15
Really, Nati didn’t go in to kiss Tehila? Have you gone soft? Not the Nati we know and love. Maybe he’s saving his mojo for Reut. -20, but we give back ten points if he smooches Reut. (Although maybe staying for Aruchat Erev was implying something more).
Seriously a baby goat, seriously? -900 (machloket–Shayna wishes she was that goat. Worth repeating)
Oh man, things be happening. Characters are becoming more sympathetic, relationships are changing and sheitals are coming out. Also, who is Rabbanit Weinstein? Is she a real life haredi hottie? Let us know!! Till next time.
The Srugettes
Srugim Recap 
This episode gives a whole new meaning to the term “poetry slam!” Also, I finally figured it out: Azaryah and Judah Friedlander (the guy with the funny hats on 30 Rock) – twins separated at birth!!
Speaking of sheitels – why do Faygie and Chani’s sheitels look so FAKE and wiglike? I get it that the viewers need to realize they’re wearing sheitels – but a scene of them putting them back on in the gym is enough to take care of that!
Amir’s scene with the rabbi was one of the most powerful performances in the show’s history. I always felt Tamam was an underrated actor but he really blew me away here with the respect he’s trying to give mixed in with years of almost-forgotten hurt finally coming to the surface and refusing to let go. Brilliant.
As for Yifat’s sheitel – I always thought wigs were dorky and kind of ridiculous, but then again not half as silly as Yifat’s usual kissui rosh (“I gotta 12-year-old’s headband on so I’m obviously married!”) – it just seems more like the kind of thing orthodox-lite ladies do, and not really suited to Yifat’s straight-arrow nature. Plus, her liking a change of costume is nice amd consistent with her character arc, and Amir’s “do I like it or not? And what will she say if I don’t?” reaction shot was priceless. Still, I hope it’s a phase, and I think Amir is with me there. And I’m admittedly not up to all the minute details, but isn’t the fact Amir is Sephardi an obstacle to his wife wearing a sheitel, since he’s the family’s patriarch and his minhagim are therefore the ones it’s supposed to follow? Correct me if I’m wrong here.
Also I really hate Azarya. Never liked him and found his poetry pretentious and crappy (I thought Nati’s half-assed effort was better) but at least he was making Reut happy. I don’t find anything funny about the dumping scene, and as a matter of fact I thought the breakup, while very well done, was one of the moral low points of any character on the show. Other people exist in this world aside from you and your ego, moron.
Amir is not very in touch with his Sefardi roots (except for the brief bonding with the Tunisian shul), and anyhow not all Sefardim outlaw sheitels.
What I find interesting is the very wide range of dress code among the characters. Chaya, for instance, covers in quite a Chareidi manner now, ‘tho in S01 she had a bit more hair showing! Yet, she is very tolerant of all types of kisui rosh, and, for that matter, necklines!
And no, I have no idea what people find in Tehila. She’s annoying and snobby. She’s certainly not pretty or intelligent enough to warrant the kind of obsessive pursuit Nati is giving her. And while I normally like the hippy style, here it’s painfully obvious that it’s just part of her pose. She and Azarya do seem to go rather well together, now that I think about it.
I agree that the hippy thing is also a pose, but I think she’s more like Nati than she first seems, and maybe fills a role as a surrogate mom figure for him. She’s less aloof than Azariyah (who IMO is classic Asberger’s), but DK if the two of them have that classic ‘couples that are miserable together and enable each other’ destructiveness enough to wind up back together at the end of the day.
I think Tehila is kind of cute. Not nearly as snobby (I would have said ‘self-satisfied’) as Elisheva!
Sarah, let’s split the difference and settle on “self-important”. 🙂
Here’s my analysis of this series:
1]The acting is very good. A great bunch both the veterans and the rookies.
2]The cinematography is excellent.
3]The whimsical,flight of fancy,and comedic interludes[fence climbing,interview for Jewish Agency,besheitelled frummettes on treadmill,etc.] adds an enjoyable edge to the series.It’s one of the best aspects of the series.
4]The actual plot is however replete with emotional “black holes” that really detract from the series. The writing feels amateurish without any emotional “gravitas.”Amir and Yifat magically overcome their critical problems from season 2. How? A Type A personality like Nati falls for the artsy Tehilla.Makes no sense. Reut and Azaryah?How does that work?Yes, they are searching for their real selves but there still needs to be psychologically believability which is in very short supply here.By the way why did the much heralded reappearance of Avery as Hodayah’s “basherter” suddenly fizzle? Hodayah’s “brain fog” is no substitute for anemic writing.
It’s a shame because the” srugim” religious-secular culture has incredible possibillities when transposed to a dramatic TV series.Unfortunately,it doesn’t seem to be working.
My take on the ‘black holes’:
— In season 2, the two biggest issues for Amir and Yifat were trying to get pregnant (cultivating in the ep where Yifat gets drunk at the comedy club and misses Amir’s emergency trip from reserve duty), and Amir’s lack of ambition in the eyes of Yifat. This season, Yifat is pregnant and her design career is on the way up. Since the tension was mostly one-way, IMO she’s papered over their issues with her ‘success’. As long as she’s self-consumed she doesn’t notice all that much that Amir is going backwards while she moves forward. We’ll see what happens when their kid is born.
— Nati and Tehilah aren’t as weird as Reut and Azariyah: Nati in his way has grown up since his relationship with the divorced clown crashed (due to her, NOT him). They have an opposites attact thing going, but she’s pretty tightly wound herself. At least Nati has learned to be in a couple, compared to when he was with Nitzan.
— Reut: eh. She seems fated to have her career but no personal happiness due to being a serial bad chooser. I see her winding up as a feminist single mom through IVF or adoption, or settling for someone like the floppy hair guy. The dark horse choice is winding up with Nati, but he’s mono focused on Tehilah.
— That brings me to Hodaya. Her problem is that she’s aimless unless she has someone or something to rebel against. She enjoys teaching because it gives her money, but also a way to play act as a rebel against the dati world without emotionally feeling the halachic consequences. But I think the big theme is that being free of religion doesn’t bring her the happiness she sought. That’s why she keeps ‘searching’.
As for Avri, I think the point of his return was that even by her being secular (and dropping the previous sex and observance obstacles to their relationship), if she married him she’d be emotionally empty and playing a chilonit version of the traditional wife living through her kids and family. I’ll go off on a limb and also predict she won’t wind up with him or anyone when the season — and possibly even the show — ends. At least if she’s living in Israel.
Excellence analysis. I don’t really have anymore to contribute, I just wanted to say I think you nailed it perfectly.
Hi Shayna! Love your blog, thanks for all the commentary and entertainment. I was wondering if there’s a schedule posted somewhere for the remainder of the season. I want to plan my srugim season finale party, so I’d like to know when it will air.
Also, as an aside, have you seen the “Mishehu Larutz Ito” movie? (based on the David Grossman book, “Someone to Run With” in English) It has a brief appearance of Avri as the guy selling pizza at Pizza Mei, the shop at the corner of Palmach and Haportzim. Love it!
hey! so there are 15 episodes in the season, and 11 have aired. i don’t know the schedule, but if they don’t skip a week, the finale would air January 29th. (sniff, sniff). have fun at the party!! we love this idea.
I did see the movie years ago, and I vaguely recall that pizza shop, but now the news that Avri has a cameo clearly calls for a rewatch.
You people have WAY too much free time on your hands.