Midnight at the Pera Palace

I'm in love with this show! I find that time travel stories can get quite confusing, but felt that overall this show does well with not throwing everything at you at once and giving you a chance to understand what's happening.

It has moments that seem a little silly at first, but I found that I enjoyed that aspect of it once I got a handle on what they were going for. It's not meant to be an overly serious mood. The characters are interesting, the costumes and sets are gorgeous, and it's just a fun time.

On my first viewing, I watched with the English dub. If you are an English speaker, I definitely recommend doing the same to follow the plot more easily. I've heard some pretty poorly-done dubs, but this one was GREAT. I almost forgot I was listening to a dub most of the time even though the audio obviously doesn't match up with the lip movements. Kudos to the English voice actors for their performances!!!

It's a good story with twists wrought by time jumps which initially might tend to confuse the viewer. For a while, the story wavers before picking up pace towards the latter third of the show.

A story that links Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is invariably fascinating as Turkey is a fascinating country. The story takes place just 4 years before he becomes the first president of the Republic of Turkey.

The set design and costumes are amazing. Meticulous effort has been expended to capture the tone and vibes of the period.

Hazel Kaya and Tansu Bicer are a good team, and the viewer avidly follows their extraordinary adventure.

Reviewers are thinking the lead role has done poor acting, but the actual problem is the script. The character Esra is a journalist who wants to do something big in the world, but she talks and acts likes a 5 year old or less. The character herself is portrayed as the biggest idiot of Istanbul, so we cant blame the actress for this. She was just acting the way the script demanded it to be. Sometimes I felt I was watching the film, 'The Princess Bride' or some movie of that kind. It's like a parody and is filled with potholes.

I am writing this review after watching the 5th episode of the show and unable to take the poor screenplay...

A time-travel murder mystery set predominately in 1919 Istanbul. It doesn't take itself too seriously, the plot is well handled - for the most part, pretty decent acting and some nice scenery. Most importantly, the characters are likeable and by the end I was up for a second series.

Began watching with zero expectations, wavered a few episodes in but glad I persevered. It seemed a bit all over the place to begin with, but I gradually learned to trust the writers knew where they were going. There are some neat twists and turns and points where it was initially confusing - only to be resolved quite satisfyingly.

It features a strong female lead, notably, a character with strengths and weaknesses - it makes some mild feminist points without being woke or overbearing (other writers could learn something here). Not sure how historically accurate any of it is (it is a time travel story after all) and it does delve into some intriguing alternative history.

The Brits don't come out of it too well - something of a common theme lately, but it's inoffensive stuff.

Surprisingly good, with drama and mind bending time travel loops. I won't pretend there aren't plot holes but with such a compelling storyline, you're likely to forget them. The acting is good and the costumes and sets fit the time period. Good vibes and charming characters.