Leyla: Hayat... Ask... Adalet...

Writers and directors of turkish series have the habit of making excellent TV shows and twice the bad habit of ruining the story right past the climax, in order to extend the series as per audience clamor or sponsors and advertisers requests.

This is what happened to Leyla series. Everything was good, almost all episodes past 10 have their own climax, slow unraveling of secrets and revelations and vengeance kept us audience on the edge of our seats, until it's almost the end. BUT, hey, they're not ready to pack up just yet, so the writers decided to divert the story into something the viewers, I'm sure, are not happy about, nor interested to see.

Hatice and her infidelity - we are not interested. Then we lost Serap, what happened to her? Then, the appearance of new characters which, for sure, comes along with their own lengthy stories to lengthen further the story and this series.

This series is ruined past episode 30. If you want to start watching it, you've been warned.

I am learning Turkish through my love of these dizis, but they are long (2+hours). This is one of the few that I do not skip any parts. The story is compelling, tragic, and suspenseful with charming supporting cast that I've seen before. It also uses some of the same techniques and music as Kara Sevda, another one of my favorites with a similar tone. Cemre as Leyla sparkles on the screen and the young Leyla and Gino scenes are amazingly talented. Those two have bright futures as actors.

Nur is a beast and the actress embues her with such evil with those wicked looks and temper, I'd like to see her in a big Hollywood production playing the Evil Queen in any story. My only criticism is that I wish that Alperen did not look so downtrodden and perpetually on the verge of tears as Civan (adult Gino). Little Gino was brave and strong and a fighter. I'd like to see more of that in the adult version.

I like the story so far, I appreciate it's trying to highlight an important message as well. The pace is okay for a turkish series but it still drags sometimes. Female lead she's pretty strong and doesn't let everyone walk all over her. The male lead on the other hand is insufferable. Little Gino was happy and a fighter but adult Gino is weak and stuck in the past - all his scenes are him talking about a short lived childhood romance, at least the female character is motivated by revenge even though she still has a strong connection to their short lived loved. The chemistry between them is also lacking. I am watching for the revenge plot only at this point - I really love to hate Nur she keeps things interesting but of course i'm waiting for her downfall LOL.

Also personally there's way too many flashback scenes from the past.

This series ended at episode 34 or 35. If you've watched all those episodes, you've watched the "live telecast". If you're still watching after episode 35, it's like watching replays. This sort of BOOK 2 is a remake of the plot, same story different characters and perhaps some circumstances. They dismissed the previous family/characters - the family f Tufan which Nur deceived and played with for a whole 35 episodes. Now they put in new set of characters or a new family in a new house, that Nur is deceiving and playing with all over again. If you've watched upto episodes 35, you're done! Continuing so woud be boring and a waste of time.

The first and middle parts of the first season of the series are really, really good. Especially the episodes between 10 and 20 are truly excellent. It feels like each episode has the intensity of a "final" episode, and this is wonderfully integrated into the story. However, after episode 28, things really start to go downhill. By the time episode 30 rolls around, it becomes almost unwatchable.

This is what happens when a series doesn't wrap up with a proper ending. It gets filled with unnecessary scenes and irrelevant story elements. As you continue watching, you start to realize how ridiculous everything seems.

The actors are genuinely talented, and the director's ability to convey emotion in the scenes is quite successful. But as I mentioned, if the script isn't well-written, nothing else really matters.

In short, a series that starts off strong and pulls you in ends up completely ruining itself in the last few episodes.

Is it worth watching? Yes, but you might want to be selective.