First of all, I had mixed feelings about this series. It started off as a really intriguing plot, although "the gold digger" premise could not be left unnoticed - still, it was for a good cause, so we can forgive that. What I liked about this Turkish comedy drama was the fact that the filming was really technically perfect, the panoramic scenes and views of the locations were outstanding, vivid and colourful, showing the modern city of Istanbul and making you want to visit and experience it. I also liked the traditional elements, mahalah houses and neighbourhood chemistry and relationship; this was also very well done. The different sound themes of the awesome intro song were also perfect, although not all of the other songs used for the soundtrack were catchy or even interesting to hear more than once or twice. They had interesting lyrics for the required scenes, but were played too many times. The score section of the soundtrack was, however, superb. Especially the deep, love/suffering themes which, although a bit too serious for the otherwise comical show, were very emotional and would make you cry just by listening to them. The composer did a great job with these.
What I didn't like about the show was the overall lack of telling the truth and the over-exaggerated longevity. Not even after ten two-hour episodes do you hear the main characters say "I am in love with you". Although beautiful, the main characters seem to assume too much, and you know the old saying "assumption is the mother of all mistakes", thus leading to false conclusions on too many occasions. They were not direct or they couldn't say honest things to each other. Especially Defne, who comes up with all sorts of lies and false statements just to justify her attitude, not to mention her transformation from a snappy girl to a business woman with a dose of feministic demeanor - but she somehow still can't transcend into honesty, even with all the change she undergoes. And this lasts for too long and is repetitive throughout many episodes. It was like the characters were incompetent of saying what was actually on their minds - which eventually led to Omer being hurt at the wedding to the point of rightfully not wanting to see Defne ever again. There are a few good characters, like cool Ismail, warmhearted Sinan, and Omer - the only decent, consistent man of integrity, depth and professionalism. But, alas, the aunt and Koray... She never gets punished for her plotting. Too much and too long. Koray was actually amusing with all the faces he could display and snappy comments he would make, backed up by cartoonish sound effects and music. But if all this had been a lot shorter or properly dosed, it would have been just about right. I fast-forwarded many of these parts. In some segments the series resembled those Indian TV dramas where the scharacters significantly stare at each other forever with dramatic music and thundering sound effects, or start a sentence in one episode and finish it some time in the next. Dragging a lot.
Overall, I think the creators did a great series, but fell under the hype when the pilot episodes became popular, so instead of pacing the story in a normal and natural way, they unnecessarily prolonged the series, making irrelevant episode segments and long scenes in their efforts to maintain the viewership and ratings.
