In an exciting atmosphere, this drama series, follows the daily activity of a Jewish girl, who has a miserable life, as she has an arranged marriage and doesn't love her husband and suffers from the restricted rules of religion, so she flees to have another life.
"Unorthodox" feels like a modest revelation: It uses familiar language to explore what it means to push beyond the strictures of ritual and community guidelines by digging into the mindset of a woman battling to think for herself.
The true star of the show is the tiny but indomitable Shira Haas, a kind of mini-me Elisabeth Moss who gives Esty a believable sense of inner steel that belies her fragile exterior.
To me, this is really the story of a young woman who wants more from her life, who bravely seeks a new way, who still loves her family and thinks even though she may be disappointing God, she must find her own direction.
We wish Unorthodox didn't have the menacing specter of Esty's estranged husband (more accurately, his family) interfering with her story of discovery, but the story is well-told despite the thriller aspect.
Communicated in English, German, and Yiddish, Unorthodox tells a compelling story about escaping rigorous doctrine and inherited trauma for a life of meaning and self-actualization.
Through a glance, or a gesture, or a swell of emotions seen in her eyes, we see that her Esty is proud and scared, self-assured and filled with doubt, but always defiantly and powerfully herself.
