User reviews

I am reviewing this series though I am only one third of the way through. Although the series is not exactly historically accurate, the reading and research I have done as I have watched the episodes shows that the basic story lines are quite true to life. I am amazed with how little history of the Ottoman Empire I learned before this. It is so interesting and colorful. I am finding it very educational to be seeing a drama told from the point of view of this Islamic leader of the Middle Ages, without Western slant and distortion. This might be only the second time I've seen a Turkish drama that displays so much history from the point of view of the Turks. As many other reviewers have said, the sets, costumes, and casting are all SPOT ON and very lush. I am loving it.

i am just falling in love with this show .... wonderful , terrific and interesting true story , from the history .... I had seen a plenty of shows. and movies , ... and noon one. , noon one

could made me addicted on it ...., ! like this show did :) !! ! it' s really really special ,, totally exceptional ....! Evrething 's particular beautiful amazing and interesting : story, events , actors , clothing , art , music , ! Ooohh. my god the music !!!!! <3 What a wonderful music , what a hight taste and rich arts ! The most important , And worth mentioning, that you deduce a real precious life lessons from it... Well done and. great job which respect the taste and the intelligence of the audience

To say I have been obsessed with this show for the past few months is to put it mildly:) I don't speak Turkish and my husband (who is Turkish) suggested we watch the first episode for fun and he would translate. Well…I am sure he was not so happy for that suggestion for the months that followed as we would watch almost every day and he would translate for me. Now we are half way through season two and we are still hooked! I love the overall feel of the show, the costumes the stories etc…yes it can be totally cheesy at times, but I think they did an amazing job. It is totally my guilty pleasure:) Now that there are episodes with Russian subtitles (which is a language I also speak) my husband is finally able to relax:) This may not be for everyone, but if you love history and period dramas, it is certainly entertaining and a great way to learn Turkish. Although I might sound like I am from the 15th century when I go to Istanbul this summer, my Turkish is definitely better and understand a lot more on my own now.

costumes, palace recreation, action scenes, intrigues, love stories, hate stories, great art of details, not bad actors, historical film with crumbs of soap opera, lights, shadows, beautiful music, and a legendary figure of Turkish past. is it enough ? almost. because the virtue of movie is ambition to present a human character. and for who discovers Soliman the Magnificent like silhouette of myth is not really easy to accept an Ottoman leader with many ( little ) vices. the air of fairy tall is at right place but the respect for truth is one of fundamental characteristics of script. and this is one of good points. another - the cast. not perfect but inspired instrument to present atmosphere of a time not very romantic but cruel, strange and seductive.Halit Ergenc is pure star, Okan Yalabik builds a complex and refined character and the victory of Meryem Uzerli are worthy of praise .in this conditions, the film is a Turkish cultural cruiser . so, its mission is very important. roots - hard work, good ingredients and unbeatable recipes.

It did not better for Turkey and will never come. Acting, costume design, production design, music are very successful.

Love the show! And I am addicted. First two seasons were amazing, but the third season is rather 8 then 10. You will be stunned by the beauty of the actors, amazing costumes and decoration and most of all the jewelry peaces that women wear. I even took a print screen pictures of some of them to order something similar. I love the fact that most of the show proceedings are based on the real history and real people(but some characters were made up). Of course it's an entertainment show so don't expect to learn 100% accurate history from it. Before starting watching the show I would recommend to read a little about Suleiman the Magnificent. At least read about him and his life on wiki. I also wanted to note the music in the show, I am not sure who is a composer, but he/she definitely had done extraordinary job with the music (and i'm surprised that nobody did comment on it before in their reviews) I really recommend it for anyone who loves historical TV series or soap operas.

I remember watching this show on TV when I was 10. It is quite a good show. One thing I wanted, were the fighting scenes. There wasn't much gore or actual good or prolonged fights, there were just men riding a horse and slashing. Sure, the imperial politics was entertaining, and I know this is mostly just a romance, but I feel like if they but a bit more effort into the scenes and added CGI for the wound sit would have been just a bit better. Hürrèm Sultan is also quite a good character, she's a cold and selfish consort. Overall, I give this a 7, It's pretty good but I think It could have been better.

I love history. I read and read to learn what was actually there in the past all over the world. If you do not know your history, how can you look forward to your future. This series is excellent! Best costume, best soundtrack, best acting and best of all ever filmed for Turkish community. It should be translated into other languages. Far better than many series, I bet. Thank you all the actors/actresses and all the team. I am not a frequent TV watcher due to my daily schedule at work. However, I am in the USA past 3 months and swatch in online. Can not miss an episode :) If you watch it once, you can not let it go. Dear producers, please continue for other crucial history periods since Turkish community seems to forget about it all. Thanks.

Very bad storyline, too many flaws, too absurb and many Cringey plot. Ughh, especially, the war scene, gosh I skip all the part and why only show harem scene??? No outside scene?? And the supermarket setting is very Cringey to me. Do all men only the seller at supermarket?? Where all the women??? Is this true??? And too many many harem scene, and a little about outside of the palace,. Too much focused in the palace life, but a little about how Turkish people do outside of the palace, what everyday thing they do. But it Soo limited and only shown sultan hurrem and sultan Suleiman, much much of them scene. Gosh, that's where the defect 4 star comes. That 6 star only for their acting, other than that this drama not that quiet interesting. What I hope from this drama is how fantastic they potray sultan Suleiman and his conquering as the great era of Turkish sultan, but then ughhh vanished quickly. Not recommend much to watch.

At first glance it appeared this would be a good series to watch. However, after 5 episodes it has become very boring. How many times are we going to see the same situations played out between the Sultan and his favorite concubine, Alexandra.

The long close ups of every ones sad faces is too much to endure. The part I find most interesting is the costumes .... especially the hats. They are great.

I will watch one or two more episodes and if the story line does not improve .... I am done with this series.

I do not imagine anybody who watches these kinds of shows ever actually expects historical accuracies. It's good entertainment and if you've studied or know a little about the history, it is even more so. It's not meant to be a learning experience. What it does accomplish is portraying the general "feel" of the era from an obviously biased perspective (the main characters'). If you have enjoyed shows such as the Rome television series (2005 - 2007) and The Tudors (2007 - 2010), you'll enjoy this. There is drama, action, a little comedy, complex characters, (mostly) magnificent acting, and beautiful wardrobes. I found it to be rather captivating. :)

Even Cardi B fell in love with the series but our Turkish men did not like it because it misrepresent the ottoman empire. Okay I agree with you. HOWEVER it doesnt change the fact that this show is perfect. Generally women love this show as it contains lots of plot, cabal.

I've watched many series in my life time and this is, one of my favorite shows.

1. This series is based on a true story, it has happened 500 years ego about a king that had a harem of 300 wife's, the scenes are rapid cuts and keeps you on the edge of your seat, and you can't wait for the next show.

2. The show has many great love stories to tell, like, the kings lovers, the sisters love lives that turns in to tragedy and all his children's love lives. Basically the story revolves around love stories and it's misery.

3. The scenery is beautiful, most of the filming is done in a beautiful palace across from the ocean and psychologically you feel you're there when you're watching the film.

4. I love the tranquility in the series, there is so much action and yet there is NOT any violence, you'll never see any blood! If, they are injured the blood is blurry. Even dough there are wars but the story revolves around the palaces, the loves and betrayal.

5. The Camera, scoring, shots, everything is perfection in this show. 6. Addictive to the max. 7. There are people that have watched all 380 episodes 4 times. P.s. I only watched it 2wice. I swear, :)

Knowing the Ottoman history quite well, I was enjoying the series, indulging in the outrageous telenovela as if gorging nonstop on doner kebab and kanafeh. I was drawn to the series because I am Ukrainian and know very well the saga of the Ruthenian lass who was kidnapped by Tatars, sold into slavery and overcame harrowing obstacles to rise to power as no woman in Turkish history had ever risen. Meryem Uzerli was particularly engaging as Suleyman's beloved with her expressive, mischievous features, the big blue eyes, the cascades of ruddy tresses, the throaty and infectious laugh. Alas, Meryem Uzerli was stricken with a bout of depression and left the series high and dry in medias res. It was most uncomfortable to witness the squirming and floundering of the plot caught in mid action. Finally, after some very improbable twists and turns, our Sultana returns, but after having been transformed into a hardened, shriveled, disgusting old harridan. Even her hair has become dull and drab and turned to stone. I am so disgusted and disappointed.

I started watching this thinking it had some historical accuracy. The entire series was a soap opera with catty woman fighting to get into the Sultan's bed. I watched until episode 15 and finally decided not to waste anymore time. Unfortunately, some will watch this series and think it's based on fact and that's just shameful. You would think with all the money spent on making a film, it would at least have some accuracy. Shameful to say the least. The acting was ok except for Meryem Uzerli. Not sure if it was intentional, but her turkish was just awful. Her acting skills made it even harder to watch.

To be honest i am not a fan of this show. I am not even watching it. So how come i am so into it ? Simple, my wife is watching this show every week. I am only listening the show while i am doing something else. Time to time i just peek in to see what is happening. Truly, acting, the song, costumes, and the places it has taken are all great. It is true history with adapted parts to todays TV show. You can even compare it to Game of Thrones. It is all about plots. Of course there is no dragons but this is the real thing of GoT. The love story is real. All the wars are real. All the killings are real. You will cry for the dead people knowing that, he/she was really killed like it in history. If you like palace plots and love stories you should give it a try.

Good costumes, setting design and actors. It is also pretty accurate compared with a lot of historical TV Shows. However, this is very much like a historical soap opera. Cheap sentimentalism and palace intrigues which play out over and over again. It's badly written and just so cringe. It's also too long and boring. It doesn't deal much, if at all, with Suleiman "the Magnificent", his conquests and politics. The show is entirely focused on his relationship with Hürrem Sultan (born Aleksandra, known in Europe as Roxelana), and the usual intrigues going on between women in the Harem. I wouldn't have minded if they would've made a show about the Sultanate of Women, but the soap-opera structure and writing style makes it unbearable to watch. Don't waste your time. Read a good book on the subject instead. There are plenty.

One of my favorite Turkish TV series. so interesting and entertaining just love it <3 the actors and actress are amazing, and fabulous :D great show... really enjoyed it everyone did a great job in their role and especially Alexandra because of her face emotions that had so much meanings to it. really great. when i started watching it, it made me so interested to search about the real ottoman history and what really happened. its a very nice show. worth watching i guess One of my favorite Turkish TV series. so interesting and entertaining just love it <3 the actors and actress are amazing, and fabulous :D great show... really enjoyed it

I am disappointed Netflix did not renew or continue. While using subtitles in English this did not spoil for one second the opulence of this series , well written well acted and the sets were splendid. I would love to see this series fully (since Netflix did not have all seasons) or have the producers have DVD's available with subtitles for the US for sale . A well done Docusoapdrama which I would recommend to others which in fact I did along with Dirilis Etugral .