By Alan Zeitlin
It shouldn’t be too hard for a smart, funny, and successful Israeli woman to meet Mr. Right.
At least, that’s the theory hilariously put to the test in “Bloody Murray,” the hit Israeli romantic comedy that recently made its US debut on ChaiFlicks.
The series centers on two 35-year-old roommates and best friends navigating careers, dating, and the pressure to settle down in Tel Aviv. Murray (Naomi Levov) teaches romantic comedies at a university but can’t seem to make one happen in her own life. Her roommate Dana (Rotem Sela), meanwhile, is a successful gynecologist whose search for a mate isn’t exactly thriving either.
Originally released in Israel in 2022, the nine-episode first season premiered on ChaiFlicks on July 19, with new episodes arriving weekly. The streamer has also acquired the second season, which will receive its global premiere on the platform at a later date.
“Bloody Murray” wastes no time creating its own meet-cute.
After Murray gets into a minor car accident with Lior (Shlomi Tapiero), he initially pretends to be a police officer. Once he comes clean, Murray realizes that beneath the bizarre introduction is a handsome, confident man.
Instead of exchanging insurance information like normal adults, Murray drives off. But because she teaches romantic comedies for a living, she can’t help wondering whether the crash was actually fate intervening.
Then comes the twist: When Lior tracks Murray down, he meets Dana instead — and is immediately interested in her.
Suddenly, Murray is forced to watch the man she had begun imagining as her destiny date her best friend.
Murray insists she’s fine with Dana and Lior dating.
She is very much not fine.
Part of what makes Murray such an entertaining protagonist is that she knows all the rules of romantic comedies. She teaches them. She analyzes them. And yet she is remarkably incapable of understanding her own romantic life.
Her jealousy is also wrapped up in her insecurities about Dana. Murray sees her best friend as more beautiful, more composed and more professionally impressive. Dana, of course, has insecurities of her own.
While internationally successful Israeli shows like “Fauda” and “Tehran” revolve around national security, the crises in “Bloody Murray” are wonderfully ordinary: bad dates, complicated friendships, impossible apartment hunts, and wondering whether you’re falling behind while everyone else seems to have figured out adulthood.
That doesn’t mean the show ignores Israeli society. In one scene, Murray confronts a landlord who appears unwilling to consider her Arab friend as a potential tenant. But politics exists in the background of these characters’ lives rather than defining them.
“Bloody Murray” ultimately feels unmistakably Israeli while telling a story that could resonate almost anywhere.
The series works because Levov and Sela are so good together.
Sela, one of Israel’s biggest television stars, is familiar to audiences from “The Beauty and the Baker” and “A Body That Works.” Levov previously starred in the acclaimed Israeli series “On the Spectrum.”
The two have terrific chemistry. Their friendship feels lived-in — affectionate one minute and exasperated the next — and creator and writer Stav Idisis understands that the real love story at the center of “Bloody Murray” isn’t necessarily between either woman and a man. It’s between Murray and Dana.
The entanglements keep the plot moving, but their friendship gives the show its heart.
