*** SPOILERS SCATTERED ALL OVER ***
When I first started watching this TV series, I thought it was going to follow a typical mafia plot, and turn into a cheesy and pointless story in no time like the infamous Deli Yürek. The first few episodes were rather weak, cheesy, and downright boring. Despite the load of goofs and occasional cheesy conversations though, it got more and more captivating, and I finally got addicted.
Speaking of the cheesy parts, I have to say I said "give me a break" lots of times watching this show. Meral Yilmaz shooting her dad; who is a major gangster, murderer of his wife and Meral's mother, and an extremely conservative guy. Polat killing and juxtaposing a bunch of armed guys at a time, the terrible goof about the years of birth in the Çakir family... Just countless! But then again, the vast majority of the cast, particularly Gürkan Uygun as Memati, does an amazing job with the acting, and that saves the show along with the strong plot. Speaking of the acting, unfortunately I have found Polat Alemdar (Necati Sasmaz) to be the king of overacting, and in my opinion, he sticks out amidst the excellent cast. He does look intimidating enough to be a mafia leader, but I am sure they could have found someone who looks intimidating and knows how to act too.
How realistic the story is would be a controversial issue. It is not unfounded fiction for sure, but awkwardly exaggerated in some aspects, and sometimes right at the key moments. All in all, I find the content quite accurate considering the real situation in Turkey. But it could have been much better if they hadn't depicted a bunch of gangsters as honourable and perseverant fighters against drugs and child prostitution. There rises a question about mafia, as to whether they cause the disarray or fix it. According to Kurtlar Vadisi, both.
Another gap in the plot was why the Council Of The Wolves decided to bestow envoyship of Istanbul on Süleyman Çakir all of a sudden, and how he still had to deal with all the scum troubling him, leading to his death. One last thing that I can think of is that; Tuncay reprimands his henchman Abidin throughout the story, accusing him of being incompetent, and he does nothing, he just obeys. Does that happen in real mafia? I strongly doubt it. Same goes for Testere Necmi's blatant attitude on Çakir, Polat, and pretty much everyone involved.
For the most part, Kurtlar Vadisi is interesting to follow. Better than all the other violence based Turkish shows I've seen, revolving around a relatively logical setting. As aforementioned, it does have its flaws, and not just a couple. But as far as the big picture is concerned, it's still watchable, or actually way more than watchable. It's good!
8,5 out of 10
When I first started watching this TV series, I thought it was going to follow a typical mafia plot, and turn into a cheesy and pointless story in no time like the infamous Deli Yürek. The first few episodes were rather weak, cheesy, and downright boring. Despite the load of goofs and occasional cheesy conversations though, it got more and more captivating, and I finally got addicted.
Speaking of the cheesy parts, I have to say I said "give me a break" lots of times watching this show. Meral Yilmaz shooting her dad; who is a major gangster, murderer of his wife and Meral's mother, and an extremely conservative guy. Polat killing and juxtaposing a bunch of armed guys at a time, the terrible goof about the years of birth in the Çakir family... Just countless! But then again, the vast majority of the cast, particularly Gürkan Uygun as Memati, does an amazing job with the acting, and that saves the show along with the strong plot. Speaking of the acting, unfortunately I have found Polat Alemdar (Necati Sasmaz) to be the king of overacting, and in my opinion, he sticks out amidst the excellent cast. He does look intimidating enough to be a mafia leader, but I am sure they could have found someone who looks intimidating and knows how to act too.
How realistic the story is would be a controversial issue. It is not unfounded fiction for sure, but awkwardly exaggerated in some aspects, and sometimes right at the key moments. All in all, I find the content quite accurate considering the real situation in Turkey. But it could have been much better if they hadn't depicted a bunch of gangsters as honourable and perseverant fighters against drugs and child prostitution. There rises a question about mafia, as to whether they cause the disarray or fix it. According to Kurtlar Vadisi, both.
Another gap in the plot was why the Council Of The Wolves decided to bestow envoyship of Istanbul on Süleyman Çakir all of a sudden, and how he still had to deal with all the scum troubling him, leading to his death. One last thing that I can think of is that; Tuncay reprimands his henchman Abidin throughout the story, accusing him of being incompetent, and he does nothing, he just obeys. Does that happen in real mafia? I strongly doubt it. Same goes for Testere Necmi's blatant attitude on Çakir, Polat, and pretty much everyone involved.
For the most part, Kurtlar Vadisi is interesting to follow. Better than all the other violence based Turkish shows I've seen, revolving around a relatively logical setting. As aforementioned, it does have its flaws, and not just a couple. But as far as the big picture is concerned, it's still watchable, or actually way more than watchable. It's good!
8,5 out of 10