Hot Skull

"Hot Skull" is definitely better than I expected. It's far from perfect of course, but still quite a solid sci-fi from Turkey. I would not mind a bit more "sci" in it, they did not really go much into the explanation of jabbering throughout the series.

I was disappointed in the last episode, though. It felt rushed, and not so much in the story department, so much as in production. It felt as if actors have lost their edge and their performance got worse for no apparent reason. Although, I was watching it with English dub, so maybe it was the dub problem, and not the actors.

Nevertheless, I would not mind seeing a second season.

Hot Skull is a good Turkish dystopia travelling around contemporary social issues pandemic, state pressure, totalitarianism, resistance, individualism, and search for hope. Presented in a gloomy Istanbul atmosphere portrayed in brown, yellow and green colors, this eight part series tells us the story of Murat Siyavus, a linguist and an intellectual who is immune to the a social-medical pandemic, yet prone to another illness related to (his) bodily reactions. Around social and medical issues, Hot Skull presents a dark future, where the cities are wound round with walls and law enforcement forces. It is a good series since it is a dystopia that is not common in Turkish popular culture and it presents contemporary social-medical issues with good visuals, and credible storytelling. The acting of Osman Sonant, Sevket Coruh, Haluk Bilginer and especially Tilbe Saran are notably good, the rest is unfortunately below average. However, since it is within the boundaries of popular culture (yes Netflix) the series limits itself and almost always stops where it can say something more, and become critical and notable.

It has many similarities from many other series, such as: stranger things, dark, matrix, you etc...

It started with a curiosity but cannot keep that momentum all the way to the end. There is no surprise on any of the episode except that one scene.

Sometimes main character behaved like a really childish, selfish but without any good valid background, therefore you cannot make the connection with him.

Topic is okeyish, but could be way better with a little bit intelligence. It turned out a classic Turkish series, which has long lasting dialogs without any meaning, very very slow scenes, meaningless moments. Especially i really looked for a 2x or 3x fast forward option on Netflix to be able watch it.

I was reminded of Pontypool and various story plots of Charles Stross and Greg Bear regarding mental virus ideas.

It was a nice change of pace from Zombies and the actors all looked "real".

A pleasant edition was no sex instead of love character plotting.

And older people were actually depicted as stars and not simply incompetent bystanders as one finds in most US productions.

I'm always surprised at the respect and wide characterization foreign media allows older adult roles. There is no pandering to the youth market or excessive gore and sexuality.

Either way everyone should watch and create their own opinions instead of following someone else's.

That includes mine.

The story and performances were good, some parts were slowed down and some parts could be elaborated more, but overall it was quite good, cinematically. The ideas were captivating with all the visual compositions. I think it was unique in that way.

The most satisfying part of the series was the criticism on politics and the autocratic system, I really enjoyed it.

Downside was the character development, they were not so deep, especially the main characters could have more depth. My favorite character was Ozgur.

In short, the series are worthy of watching, it is not a simple action series, it gives you more than that.