Well - I have achieved it - watched from start to finish this marathon 164 episodes of the Turkish 'thriller' and love story. It has taken me nearly three weeks to do this, viewing five or six parts daily. Was it worth it? A resounding YES! I can't think of another serial which has gripped me, entranced me so much. This is due to the 5* writing, producing and acting of a stellar group. It is the story of Love in all its forms, but also of loyalty, forbearance, endurance and steadfastness, as well as of corruption, deceit, cruelty and vengeance. That this could be sustained for so long a time is mainly due to the outstanding cast, both major and minor. It is to these Turkish actors that I turn first.
Ömer Demir (Engin Akyürek)
Ömer Demir (Engin Akyürek) - the stubborn, headstrong, impetuous, over-emotional Lieutenant (later elevated to Captain) policeman, who is prone to flashes of anger (which includes assaulting defendants and smashing things); but, as another character says, "He is the hero in this story." His integrity can get in the way of common sense. He believes that not everything should be told. For instance, he does not want Elif (both are in their early thirties) to speak of any earlier relationships. When his previous love affair, Ipek, appears in Istanbul, he is unable to tell Elif that he was once engaged to her. Most importantly, when he finds out that his brother Hüseyin was the killer of her father, he cannot bring himself to tell Elif. Instead, he prompts Ipek to deceive the latter about the paternity of Ipek's son, Yaǧis. He is not lying himself, but he causes a lie to be told. While his conscience stipulates never lying, it does not necessitate revealing necessary truths, The result is estrangement from Elif (and more episodes).
Elif Demiizer (Tuba Büyüküstün)
Elif Demiizer (Tuba Büyüküstün) - in Elif, Ömer has met his match in stubbornness. She is also loyal, brave, resourceful and highly intelligent, if quick-tempered. However, she is also naive about the intentions of those around her. She has total faith in her duplicitous best friend Bahar, who initially persuades her against pursuing a relationship with Ömer. She trusts her lawyer, Sebnem, who is passing on information about her family business to their enemy. In fact, for a long time she also trusts that enemy, Tayyar Dündar, and her corrupt aunt, Nedret, when there were enough signs to say that they should, at least, be held at a distance. When in gaol, she allows herself to be manipulated by a corrupt psychiatrist, another on Tayyar's payroll. Although besotted by Ömer, their love rarely runs smoothly.
The actress, Tuba, is one of the best known and beloved in Turkey, and for much of the series I basked in her beauty! The Turks are a polygot of races, thanks to their centuries of their (Ottoman)Empire, and, unlike the other cast members, she could easily pass as an Indian beauty. Olive-skinned, with lustrous black hair and oval of face, one could argue that only her crooked bottom teeth detracted from perfection. However, I found that endearing and am only sad that (as shown in more recent films) she has had them 'seen to'. Whether it was the actress herself, or the idea of the film director/producer, there was clearly an attempt to link her to Audrey Hepburn. The scenes in Rome, where she talks about the Hepburn movie Roman Holiday; the visit to the same spot where Gregory Peck frightened Hepburn with his hand disappearing into the stone Mouth of Truth; the hair done occasionally in a Hepburn style. When one adds both had uneven teeth and both were essentially flat-chested, then... Tuba has also followed Audrey in working for UNICEF.
Hüseyin Demir - (Burak Tamdoǧan)
Hüseyin Demir (Burak Tamdoǧan) - Ömer's elder brother and a Captain in the same Istanbul police unit, has been corrupted because he fell in love with a Russian dancer Svetlana (and saved her from a murder charge) and fathered her child. He is thus vulnerable to Tayyar and subsequently pressured into committing further, more serious crimes. Tayyar and Nedret force him to kill Ahmet Denizer, Elif's father, and Sibel, Ömer's girlfriend, and, later on, Bahar. The latter two simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. His deepest love is for his younger brother, and this finally leads him to a confession of his crimes so Elif can be released from prison. He also takes, for a second time, a bullet meant for Ömer, which leaves him completely paralysed. He ends up being looked after by his long-suffering mother. Self-pity alternates with guilt throughout the series and it is only after months of inner conflict that he admits his crimes and submits to punishment.
Nilüfer Denizer (Bestemsu Özdemir) and Asli Denizer (Hazal Türesan)
Asli Denizer (Hazal Türesan) is the eldest of the three Denizer sisters. Seemingly highly unstable, certainly odd, she has been in and out of institutions since young. Only after the mother dies (actually shoved to her death by Asli in her hospital room), does she become more 'normal'. The actress displayed all sort of gawky mannerisms - involving tugging her hair, 'staccato walking', etc. and was one of the many reasons for watching the series.
Nilüfer Denizer (Bestemsu Özdemir), on the other hand made you want to strangle her every so often! Youngest of the sisters, she has been spoiled, and is highly emotional and self-absorbed. If an Oscar could be given for crying, she would be high in the stakes. Her sisters are endless frustrated by her persistent loyalty to Fatih Dündar. Time and time again, not only does she get into trouble herself, but the knock-on effect brings danger to others. Ömer's view that we can't help who we fall in love with, shows his capacity for empathy and he recognises the strong pull of the heart over the logic of the head.
Tayyar Dündar (Erkan Can)
Tayyar Dündar (Erkan Can) is a splendidly corrupt, amoral and evil genius! Power and wealth are his only gods. His eldest (illegitimate) son works for him but is never fully trusted. He uses him to extract a kidney after he has been wounded by Hüseyin. On another occasion, he sadistically hammers Fatih's hand as a punishment for disobeying orders. Tayyar is involved in organ trafficking, not only of kidneys but hearts and other organs. He regularly kills minions for failing in tasks he has set them by shooting them in the forehead and making his trusted personal physician extract their organs. He corrupts young students from poor families by giving them scholarships to study medicine, law or education. He then uses them as couriers for money laundering, or makes them serve him in hospitals or as lawyers. His army of 'retainers' includes doctors, police, judges and the warden of the main prison. He is everywhere! His deserved end comes - hanged by his own belt from the bars of the prison. Suicide forced upon him by Ömer. As the latter said: "Tayyar is not just a criminal to me. He is my Nemesis".
Metin/ Fatih Dündar (Saygin Saysal)
Metin/ Fatih Dündar (Saygin Saysal) dreadful childhood, as the illegitimate son of Tayyar, goes a long way to explaining if not condoning his career in crime. He witnessed his mother having her tongue cut by Tayyar, he never gets praised and Tayyar regularly practises cruelty on him. The actor managed skilfully the slow transition from professional villain to genuine remorse over the whole series - thanks to his genuine love for Nilüfer Denizer. He can't stop her incessant crying, but he can inspire devotion. His dual nature is well portrayed. Known as Metin in the criminal world, he is capable of cold-blooded murder; but those he kills are guilty. While in prison he kills again - but in self defence. He genuinely loves his mother Nevin and his love for Nilüfer is profound and steadfast and he is capable of enormous tenderness towards her. Her aim is to force him to renounce his life of crime; his is to force her to choose him and his mother over her own family. Fatih, by the end of the series, has forsaken not only crime, but given Ömer enough clues to trap Tayyar. He also convinces his father that he has killed both Demir and Ömer on different occasions. One wishes him well with his wife and forthcoming baby, even if, as he himself says, "I'm the bad guy in the story"!
Ipek (Öykü Karayel)
Ipek (Öykü Karayel) is the one character who met an undeserved fate, shot by Nedret's henchman, but only after she had already killed two of them. She was engaged to Ömer while they were both assigned as young officers to Van. She never told him why she suddenly broke off their engagement to marry a thug Serhat. Only much later in the series does it transpire that the latter had raped her and that her mother insisted that she marry him. Her son was born seven months after the wedding and one of the plotlines is whether the boy is Ömer's son. Nedret conspires to make Elif believe it is and it is only when Ipek realises that Ömer is too in love with Elif ever to return her own love, that she tells him the truth about a falsified DNA test. She uncovers the fact that Nedret is Tayyar's partner in crime, but loses her life in the process. Sad.
Two of the most likeable characters are Arda (Ahmet Tamsu Tasanlar) and Pelin (Ilkin Tüfekci). Fellow police officers with Ömer, they are intensely loyal to him and his family. Between the three of them, they slowly uncover Tayyar's and others' crimes and are a bedrock of the series. Arda has, quite overtly, loved Pelin throughout; she hides her love for him, often too successfully. Finally, they get married - a great scene where everything blows up for Ömer and Elif - the latter disappearing because he will not resign from the police. It takes over three months for them to meet again - in the last episode.
A major strength of the series is that even the minor characters are developed. None of them are shallow, one-dimensional, cardboard cut-out figures. Nedret (Isil Yücesoy), Elif's evil aunt, who posseses the finest, whitest and largest set of teeth of the entire cast; Levant Inanç (Emre Kizilirmak), pushed by his duplicitous girlfriend Bahar (Tuvana Türkay) to make a move for Elif for cynical ends, but who falls in love with the latter and even comes to fisticuffs with Ömer over her; Elvan Demir (Güler Ökten) - the devout, kind and forgiving mother of Ömer; Mert Dündar (Ali Yörenc), the spoilt younger son of Tayyar, with an aimless existence, but who comes good under Elif's tutelage. He gets his degree, and promotion in the Denizer firm; he falls in love and at the end of the series is set to marry Ömer's niece Demet (Damia Colbay) and even changes his surname to be rid of the connection with his sociopathic father; Filiz (Firdeus Vüdü), the daughter of Nedret; and Fatma Andaç (Bedia Ener), Ömer's girlfriend Sibel's mother, who is too ready to get her family involved in money laundering and whose face is permanently set on 'miserable'; are all vital components in a first-rate production There are others - upstanding citizens and corrupt villains.
Any criticisms? I could have done with less crying; it seems as if every member of the cast had to have a weeping session - even Ömer and Arda were at it. Hüseyin led the way amongst the men and Nilüfer won by a country mile amongst the women. The ubiquitous use of mobile phones is, I suppose, inevitable - it reflects the lives of today. I could have done without the silly 'treasure hunt' when Nilüfer and Elif were locked in the creepy house, with a torch whose batteries were never ending and Tayyar seemingly able to watch their every move and talk to them by a well-placed radio. One got used to the fact that nothing positive lasted for long; every episode had its down turn; real life can't be that bad!
However, few series can have such a scenic ending - at that small fishing town of Gölyazi in Lake Uluabat. The old Mosque, seen in the aerial shots, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I quote from another reviewer: Overcoming countless trials and tribulations, Elif and Ömer return to one another, having understood the immense power of the affinity which binds them. Despite the differences in their backgrounds, they ultimately share the same values. In a sense this is a morality tale, in which the hero and heroine are united in their conviction that justice must be done and that truth will prevail. Though set in Instanbul, its themes are universal, causing it to rise far about the routine formulaic constructions of other detective stories. Only when the characters have admitted their own vulnerabilities are they able to achieve the happiness to be found in 'unconditional love'.
Tuba (Elif)
