‘Tehran’ Recap: ‘PTSD’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 203 of ‘Tehran’. To revisit the previous two episodes, click here.
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One particular trope that pops up often in spy and espionage themed stories, is that death… is no big deal. It’s simply part of the spy’s trade and in their minds, the lives that are lost along the way are either collateral damage, if the individuals that died were aligned with evil, or lives that were lost as part of a grand push to keep the greater good going, and as long as someone remembers them… they will have never died in vain. In fact, this nonchalant attitude toward death is so prevalent in these stories, that even the plucky sidekick that joins the spy in their quest to save the world, adopts the same mentality. Which when you think about it… is rather surprising.
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Because death is a huge deal, since the loss of a person creates a void in the lives of others and of course, taking a life is no easy task. It requires a conscious choice, one that the person that has committed the act has to reconcile and it is quite amazing that these stories treat death in such a flippant manner. But as spy stories continue to evolve and new voices enter this realm, that is beginning to change, as evidenced by the next episode of Tehran on Apple TV+. For ‘PTSD’ is a story that takes the time to shatter that trope completely, by having someone in this tale… deal poorly with the fact that they were involved with taking the life of another human being.

For when we catch up with Milad here, he’s struggling with what he’s done, and everywhere he looks and goes… all he can see is the nightmare of the moment when he pushed the life out of another human being and well… that motivated him to go to extremes in this tale. Because he firmly believed that there was no way he could live in a place or a city where he had committed such an act, and that pushed him to collect as much money as possible to pay for smugglers to pull he and Tamar out of trouble and out of this life and well… this was quite the powerful sequence to watch. Because it finally added depth and gravity to an act that is akin to breathing in these types of stories, and it was refreshing to see someone be genuinely impacted by death and see how their inability to reconcile an act of murder for the greater good… could cause serious trouble.

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Because Milad’s panic… outright jeopardized the mission. Because in order to get the cash he needed, he had to go out into broad daylight and steal from his murder victim. An act that flagged Faraz and put him on Milad quickly and things only got worse from there. Since he showed up at Vahid’s house to pull Tamar out of there, despite the fact that she was making incredible progress with him to get closer to her target. A move that nearly cost her a chance at revenge and her freedom. Since the police were quickly onto the two of them as well, and it took a daring cat and mouse game in an abandoned part of the city to continue to enjoy their freedom. Which are acts that finally hammered home the reality that Milad is going to have to put some trust in Tamar to handle business and play by the Mossad’s rules, if he wants to get out of this alive.
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However, while that fascinating plotline could have carried this episode for the entire hour, there were some more traditional spy story elements to be found in this tale. Since we also had the opportunity to see how Marjan handles her business, and she is quite the skilled spy. Because not only was she able to ingratiate herself into Faraz and Nahid’s home and life with her disarming charm and style… but she was able to hold Faraz to account when he tried to dig deeper on who she might be and as an added surprise… she may have managed to take him out of the game. Since the pills she swapped out in his home, will either put him down for the count or end his life and this was… quite the quality storyline as well. One that made it clear that Marjan is indeed a true force to be reckoned with.

If anything, this was just another wonderful episode when all is said and done. Because it truly took an age-old trope in this genre and flipped it upside down and in doing so… provided the viewer with incredible depth and realism. Which actually manages to pull the viewer in further since it added to the humanity that this series is known for and well… everything that happened here, definitely leaves us eager to continue the journey. So, we can see if Tamar has done enough to move her plan for revenge forward, and we are dying to know if Milad can make peace with what he’s done just long enough to get out of Iran. But what matters most, is that we simply must know what is going to become of Faraz… because that pill swap is a huge deal and could upend this season completely, and well… that is going to make the wait for next Friday’s adventure, as painful as it gets. Until next time.

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