Ep 1. The Empty Chair

In The Honorable Woman season 1 episode 1, titled "The Empty Chair," we are introduced to Nessa Stein, a woman who inherited her father's arms dealing business. Nessa is determined to use her newfound position of power to bring peace to the Middle East, but her past and present collide in unexpected ways.

The episode begins with a flash forward to the funeral of a young boy, where Nessa is visibly distraught. We then flashback to 29 years earlier when Nessa is 7 years old and her father is kidnapped while they are vacationing in Israel. Nessa is eventually released, but her father is never found and is presumed dead.

Jumping forward in time, we see Nessa accepting an award for her philanthropic work in the Middle East, where she has been working to build a fiber optic network connecting Israel and the West Bank. During her speech, she makes a bold statement about bringing peace to the region, which attracts the attention of the media and the government.

Meanwhile, Nessa's brother, Ephra Stein, who runs the family business, is in the midst of selling a portion of the business to Atika Halibi, an Arab-Israeli woman who is a former colleague of Nessa’s and who wants to help with the company's effort to bring peace to the region. Ephra, however, seems to have his own agenda and is less than enthusiastic about Atika's involvement. This creates tension between the two siblings.

As the episode progresses, we begin to see the complexities of Nessa's situation unfold. She is a woman with a past that haunts her, and her father's disappearance is a constant source of pain. She is also a woman in a position of power in a male-dominated industry who faces constant scrutiny from the media and the government.

Nessa's desire to bring peace to the Middle East is admirable, but it is clear that she is in over her head. She is caught in a web of family secrets, international politics and personal demons that threaten to pull her under.

As the episode comes to a close, we are left with more questions than answers. Who is responsible for Nessa's father's disappearance? What is Ephra's true motive for the family business? And what is Nessa hiding behind her seemingly altruistic efforts?

Overall, The Honorable Woman season 1 episode 1 is a strong start to an intriguing and complex series. The episode sets up the central conflict of the show while introducing us to a cast of characters that are compelling and nuanced. It is a show that asks big questions about power, politics and the human cost of conflict in the Middle East.