I'll admit that I really have to be in a particular type of mood to endure a Netflix Turkiye production, but every once in a while they put out something that leaves an impact quite unique from western productions.
To the seasoned critique, it will come across cheesy and basic, leaving them bored and tuning out a few episodes in. It almost happended to me but as I said, on this occasion I was in a particular mood to not watch with my mind but rather my heart. I think the why 'Dizis' (Turkish serials) appeal to a certain audience is that they apply life lessons most of us can relate to. While undoubetby far more entertaining to watch, I can't relate to Alien Covenant, Interstellar, the Irishman etc.
The Taylor started slow, and during the first few episodes I got distracted and lost focus. My first impression of Dimitri was that of a cheap suit; a loud horny obnoxious guy with a cross tattoo on his forearm. It came across a bit tacky and cringe, so I was immediately put off. The disabled father had zero emotional effect on me; probably the exact opposite of what was intended (too soon for ott emotion!!!). And the straw that broke the camel's back was the Tony Stark vision thing Peyami did before embarking on his next masterpiece. That made me pause, literally!
Then a few weeks later I gave it another go and boy was I glad I did. As mentioned in my title, to me it was a story about flawed humans doing what they do best. Some reviews claimed a bias towards the portrayal of the Greek character(s). I objectively didn't see. For me, it was an objective story that I thought pretty obvious Dimitri was the most likeable character. Fun, charismatic, flawed, broken, yet incredibly loyal and with compassion. I adored Bademci's Rumeli accent, sounding not too different from bilingual (Greek and Turkish speaking) Northern Cypriots.
Perhaps due to my first wife being Greek, and my best friend since the age of 11 being Greek (myself being Turkish), seeing a Greek family and community of Istanbul (my father's home city) really spiked my interest, but that's not the reason I enjoyed it so much. Just binge watched the lot over the weekennd, on the final 2 episodes of season 3...let's see what happens.
If you are going to watch it, watch it with your heart and not your mind. If that makes sense to you, you'll probably enjoy it. Be warned it does start off slow, and it will require a leap of faith.
