Karadayi

My heart sings, cries, laughs, and warms as I watch this series. I find that I can not watch the American TV series as the modern producers seem to go for cheap sex, bad humor, and shallow content. My opinion may be viewed as being bias and general but as I compare the content, and the depth of the story and acting in Karadayi I can only say that it superior in every way. It successfully portrays real selfless love not just between the main two characters, Mahir and Feride but allow love for family, neighbors and friends. The characters, emotion, interaction with family all feel real and genuine.The love story and struggle has left me in tears many times. I look forward to coming home and spending sometime with these characters. Netflix customer service can provide no information on when or if the remaining series will be aired and so I wait with the hope that Netflix will stop streaming partial seasons of these foreign TV shows and either get all on the seasons and air them or not put them on the site for viewing; it is frustrating and annoying.

I feel a duty to share my feelings about Karadayı. I watched this series dubbed in Persian split in 350 episodes. I feel a close cultural background with this story especially the timeframe of its events in the 1970s. As a whole, the series look quite different in texture from almost every other series or movie I have ever watched in my life. It is very real. I am not a critique, but I am going to share what I could absorb from Karadayı:

1. I admire the great play by Kenan İmirzalıoğlu, Bergüzar Korel, Çetin Tekindor, Yurdaer Okur, and virtually all the cast. I can't point out any particular actor/actress. They are a team of professionals in one place. Kenan, for instance, can express a broad spectrum of feelings on his face. He can mimic, let's say, 15 shades of happiness, 16 shades of sadness, 17 shades of anger, combinations of them, as well as diverse shades of indifference, astonishing, and virtually any feeling in its right context without any exaggeration. In his extreme anger, Kenan can momentarily get a little bit hopeful and happy; and then resume to his previous level of anger. For example, anytime after getting good news about his father, Nazif, who he holds him in high regards, his face blows into cheers and happiness. I have never been able to feel the life as vivid as Kenan feels it!. He should be a gifted actor whose face muscles are richly innervated. Kenan has been excelling in his roles compared to his plays in the previous series. Same thing with Bergüzar. She can love you now and despise you next minute. She can be so flirting in this scene and so serious in the next scene. They both can cry anytime they want. Other main characters are also great players. I should also congratulate the Persian dubbers. They conveyed passion, love, kindness, anger, and every other feeling through their voices. You could easily tell when the character was determined or hesitant just by listening to their voices. Kenan has enjoyed many dubbers in his other series such as Ezel, but Mr. Nader Keymaram has done an extraordinarily superior dubbing job for Kenan in this series.

2. The directorship is simply GREAT! The way the scenes relate to each other and the story timeline is put together entices you to be impatient to watch the following scene or the next episode. I couldn't sleep enough just to watch it continuously, even 15 episodes in a row sometimes. Although the story could still be trimmed easily, the prolonged story is not a big deal, especially when moral lessons fill in the conversations.

The series depict a story that seems very real. I noticed some less real or less logical parts throughout the story, but they are infrequent and pleasantly forgivable. These less real scenes are just symbolic, used to narrate the message of the story, and don't affect the beauty of the whole thing.

There is a high fidelity in expressing the time of day (using dusk, the moon, and the newspaper boy) and time of year (using people's clothing, green plants, winter trees, snow, and people discussing weather).

3. The camera does a professional job. The camera captures the scenes virtually from any angle regardless the location, either a small room, on the street, on a hill, etc. The camera is just salient in three dimensions. It can move fast focusing in or out, descending or ascending based on the stress level of the scene. It can suddenly start to swirl vertically or horizontally if needed. It showed Mahir once he was sitting on his bed in the jail, leaning to wall behind, drown in his thoughts and banging his head slightly, slowly, and repeatedly to the wall. The camera, showing him from his side 90 degrees turned, as if he is banging is head to the ground, to entrain your empathy with his deep sorrow. The camera does a lot of subtle tricks in every episode. I wish I were a cinema critic to pick all its tricks. But the ones I can notice, help me to feel the fragrance of the scenes better. The light helps the camera to emphasize the feelings of the characters much better.

4. The music is from a great Turkish composer, Toygar Işıklı. I didn't know him before, but I am addicted to some soundtracks such as Ateşe Yürümek, Ölüme Gülümse (İdam Sehpası), Elimi Tut, and Benden Kaçış Yok (Turgut). I should appreciate his choices of the old songs including but not limited to Sensiz Saadet Neymiş (by Yaşar Güvenir), Kıskanıyorum (by İnci Çayırlı), Unutama Beni (by Esmeray), Geri Dönülmez Bir Yoldayım (by Neşe Karaböcek), Sensiz Kaldığım Geceler (by Şecaattin Tanyerli)

In summary, Karadayı is the best series I've ever watched. I laughed and cried with the characters. I was just stuck to the chair, hungry to watch next episodes. I wish it never ended. I will watch it again next summer.

The first time I started Karadayi was three years ago, I watch two episodes on YouTube and stopped because I thought it was too slow... then three years later, it showed up on my Netflix recommendations. I was at a different place in my life and I started watching it again.. and lo and behold, I couldn't stop! I binge watched the 93 episodes that were on Netflix in two months (because I work for a living).. and I was left wanting more! I needed to see how it ended. So I looked and looked till I was able to find Seasons 2 and 3 on another source. I loved how the series took time to develop the characters, and how those characters changed throughout the series. Some even transformed from annoying to stellar. What I realized is that by the end of the series, I knew each and every character so well that I could anticipate their next move. And I knew the streets of Mahir's neighborhood.. where the bakery was, where the Kara shoe shop was, where the indoor bazaar was and most of all, I looked forward to Mahir and Feride's rendezvouz in the beautiful and quaint Cay Bahcese. I also loved how characters weren't just good or evil.. they were given context.. you knew why each character was the way they were. And when one of them overcame a difficult life choice, or came to a realization, you cheered. The story starts as a murder.. Mahir Kara's father, a shoemaker in Istanbul, is framed for a murder and Mahir goes undercover as a law clerk on his father's case to prove his father innocent. While undercover he falls in love with the Judge in charge of his father's case. But as the series progresses, you see that its more than just a murder.. that the frameup is a result of corruption in the system.. and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Along the way, over the course of the 3 plus years that is the timeframe of the series, you meet the Kara family. You go through their trials and tribulations as they struggle to prove their father's innocence and you witness a love story unlike any you have ever seen. Every woman should be loved the way Mahir loves Feride, and every man should be loved the way Feride loves Mahir. Their love is mature, self sacrificing and has withstood the test of time and tragedy. Only the first season of the series focuses on the murder trial, but the other two seasons bear out the fruits of the investigation that Mahir along Feride have conducted along the way. Quotes like "As long as the sun comes up, and we open our eyes, we hold on to hope." may seem cliche, but you will remember their true meaning as you watch the tribulations of the Kara family.. And new quotes like "If I don't burn myself, if you don't burn yourself, if we don't burn ourselves, how can there be light in the darkness?" will forever be ingrained in your memory as you face the notion of righteousness vs power in your every day life. I can honestly say that Karadayi gave me a whole new perspective on life, family and justice. I highly recommend it.

My husband and I binge watch this 1st series of Karadayi and enjoyed every episode and not wanting them to finish. We feel anxious now about when we might see the 2nd and 3rd series on Netflix in Australia??

This series is up there with Magnificent Century, 1001 Nights, Gran Hotel and we have had many late nights trying to fit in as many episodes as we could. Just lovedit!!

The music, scenery and the acting are amazing all the actors had a depth that draw you in to their colourful worlds. We find that there is no going back to TV in general for us which has no content to speak of.

The Turkish sure know how to put together a great series that keep you wanting to go back each night to catchup on their stories.

Without good acting though the storyline would not be realised as it is in these series, wonderful actors who portray their characters so well.

It's a 20 out of 10 for us!!

Sue and Dan Australia

Karadayi is definitely the best series i've ever seen. I've never seen anything like that!! It's so smart and exciting and every episode was full of action and excitement since episode 1 till episode 115. I would like to thank the whole cast for this amazing show i'm so grateful i watched it and i wanna thank them for the hard work and everything else. I never regretted watching this show and i would like to tell everyone else to watch it because it's worth it. Also it's almost unbelievable how things changed from episode 1 till episode 115. And i loved the new characters in season 3 and btw season 3 was the best, everything was clear and everyone is working together to give this amazing result, all the seasons are remarkable but season 3 is just something else, i'm so proud of the cast and i'm thankful.