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What did you think of The Honourable Woman?

563 replies

LauraPashley · 03/07/2014 23:12

I can't decide! MG for me veered between really good and really annoying. Loved her clothes tho. Is she in a relationship with the nanny?

OP posts:
OneStepCloser · 25/07/2014 21:26

Ooops Gypsy should have read your post better before my question about American Taxi Spy! Grin

ThursdayLast · 25/07/2014 21:28

Just caught up.
I admit to watching the rape scene on fast forward with no sound, and THAT was upsetting enough.

Thank you for posting all your thoughts! I didn't get that Burnt Face Man raped to order.
What were the tablets about then?

Atika is a strange one. I thought that when they were in the car she was being obvious re; a relationship between herself and Ephra. And kind of smug about it. Then she was SO hard after the rape. I can't get my head around her.

Agreed about MI5or6 lady Grin. And hard faced American based spy.
Lovely to see so many complex female characters in one series!

rootypig · 26/07/2014 00:10

I don't know if burned face raped to order - I don't think so, though there was something odd about it. But the idea that there was a scheme to get Nessa pregnant is too far fetched for me - her arrival in Gaza was unexpected, so any plans for her were surely as hoc; I don't think the pill was Viagra, though its blueness was incriminating!; one rape is unlikely to produce a pregnancy, so if this was the plan it would have to have been a plan for sustained rape / imprisonment; the Shahria council seemed genuinely repulsed by it and the son it seems really is banished (as is told in private to his father...)

WalkingThePlank · 26/07/2014 11:56

I have rewatched it as DH wasn't in on Thursday. It is interesting how many little sentences make sense when you watch it again. I did go to empty the dishwasher during the rape scene. However, I am pretty sure the scene prior to that is showing us that Saleh (burnt face) is married, loves his wife and children but has been ordered to rape Nessa, hence the tablets to help him along.

I am not convinced of Atika's innocence in all this. She seems to suggest the trip to Gaza, she recommends meeting with whoever it was they were on their way to see. She claims to be an orphan (there are a lot of orphans on TV), I wonder who is considered responsible for her family's death (Eli Stein?). In previous episodes we have seen her creeping out at night (visiting Kasim or Saleh or both?) and she has previously indicated that she is prepared to play the long game.

Nessa is indeed the Honourable Woman. They knew that about her and knew that she would promise anything to secure Atika's release. The real secret is what exactly has Nessa promised.

I'm also wondering what Monica is up to - why does she want Stein Group to exist?

Also, why do we see hands on shoulders and hands pressed on glass so much? Are these significant or just a stylistic thing?

GlaikitFizzog · 26/07/2014 12:56

Isnt there a symbol in religion of an open hand that's mean to protect against evil?

WalkingThePlank · 26/07/2014 12:57

The hand of Fatima I think.

GlaikitFizzog · 26/07/2014 13:04

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa Fatima in Islam, Miriam in Judaism and Mary in Christianity.

Relevant? Maybe?

Isitmylibrarybook · 26/07/2014 18:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BelleOfTheBorstal · 26/07/2014 19:40

I think that hand thing is definitely a 'thing'. During Nessa's speech, she has her hand very definitely positioned.

rootypig · 26/07/2014 19:43

Isit yes I definitely think Monica killed the FBI woman, the swinging ponytail was surely too distinct. English woman's voice on the phone too. And she's said she's in cahoots with the Americans - who presumably must have planned / sanctioned the agent's death, or it would have been a diplomatic disaster.

TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 27/07/2014 01:44

Finally found it to watch in catch up
Wish I had been wrong about Nessa being raped
Scarred mans wife and children are definitely dead. The photos showed severed limbs

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 28/07/2014 00:28

there are a lot of orphans on TV. Absolutely.

Late to the party - have just watched the first four eps back to back. Apart from the inexplicable and unbelievable stupidity of the beautiful security man I'm finding it mesmerising. I wouldn't say it's confusing - just requiring patience.

Re the orphan theme - whenever anyone claims this status on TV there's usually a secret about at least one parent. Either not dead or not really their parent.... I'm curious about Nessa's mother who "died in childbirth" (anyone watching Utopia?) But also, given that someone on the Guardian blog had the impression that Nessa wasn't demonstably keen on her dad, I vaguely wondered if he might turn out to be (secretly) Attica's father as well. She's an "orphan", there must be a secret..... And how, exactly, did she and Nessa's bro first meet?

What I would most like to know is what Hugh was trying to communicate to his estranged spouse with the "I love you" message... Because, as someone said above, she surely has a more concrete role in the plot than just the wronged wife. Was it code for something?

ShineSmile · 28/07/2014 00:55

Pp, but if Nessa and Attika are siblings, then why is Attika having an affair with her brother?!

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 28/07/2014 01:22

......"secretly" - as in "unknown to anyone except the late Eli Stein, Attika's DM and some as yet unintroduced busybody".

(But it was only idle speculation...)

ShineSmile · 28/07/2014 01:28

Zero, hummmmmm (Smile)

BOFster · 28/07/2014 01:37

I can't really see that it was Monica who assassinated the CIA woman- someone of her ambition wouldn't be likely to get their hands dirty, surely?

So much of thinking about this series makes my head hurt...

GypsyFloss · 28/07/2014 06:18

I agree but I do think she arranged it.

I don't really get Nessa's naive enthusiasm on meeting Attica and her visit to Israel followed by her daft decision to head to Gaza. This woman watched her father murdered before her eyes as a child...did that not make her more than a little wary?

GypsyFloss · 28/07/2014 06:20

Zero Ephra and Attica met when she worked as his translator out there.

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 28/07/2014 08:36

Nah.... when she worked as his translator isn't an explanation of how they met.

I didn't put it well. I meant "how was it that Atika in particular got that particular translating job with that particular employer"....

OnlyLovers · 28/07/2014 10:15

I don't think Monica killed FBI woman. She's too high up. Anyway, she was on the phone directing it; I think she was doing so from a safe distance.

I agree Burnt Face man raped Nessa to order, hence the pills. I'm not sure WHOSE orders though, as I believe that his dad did genuinely banish him for it. However, I think the Sharia council were only repulsed by it in the sense that they found anything to do with women and sex repulsive; I thought their 'something smelly under their noses' facial expressions were repulsion at her and the fact of her having sex, rather than moral revulsion about the rape.

I hadn't thought about Nessa's pregnancy not necessarily being from her rape, but it's a good point. There is still time for lots to be revealed.

I think Schlomo is Jewish; it's a Hebrew name and I thought he was wearing a yarmulke at the celebration of Rachel and Ephrah's new baby. I think he is a baddie but I don't know why or how.

Atika being an orphan is suspicious. I think she is playing a very long game of some kin –I just don't know what!

SuedeEffectPochette · 28/07/2014 22:48

I think Atica is a baddy as she took Nessa into Gaza. She is playing the long game as stated above. I think she burned Saleh as she didn't realise that he was going to rape Nessa (that was unexpected for her). However, I think she brought Nessa to that situation (kidnap). Why? Revenge for some past event. I still think that there is time for Nessa to give in to Stockholm syndrome - let's see. It doesn't make sense that she is phoning up Saleh later with her "secret's out" problem if she has not sided with him, I think...

GypsyFloss · 29/07/2014 15:03

I don't think she phoned him up. He phoned her, questioning more than once whether the secret is safe. She is under his control I think.

OnlyLovers · 29/07/2014 17:38

I agree, Gypsy, he phones her to check about the secret, not the other way round.

But do we know who gave her the sat-phone she takes those calls on?

GypsyFloss · 29/07/2014 18:14

No. It was just left for her in lobby wasn't it? I wonder if it Attica did it. She said in an earlier episode that she is used to waiting. I do wonder what her long game is. She made a big point of "friendship" with Ephra...I wonder if that was to make Nessa trust her?

OnlyLovers · 29/07/2014 20:07

Oh, I'd forgotten she picked it up in the lobby. So maybe he sent it for her? He must have ways of doing things like that.

I hadn't thought of that about Atika. Maybe ... but then maybe she actually realised how gutted she was looking that he hadn't come to the West Bank, and wanted to ask all those questions she asked about his new baby and was he well and everything, and tried to turn that into being interested because she was his 'friend'?