update: I can get these shows. "Deadwind" - Black Heart" - "Intersection" - "What if" - "Unforgotten" I have seen Unforgotten and it isn't bad - I wouldn't mind watching it again as I have forgotten all but the gist of it. "The Staircase" - "Winter Sun" all on Netflix. 

There is also something called Filinta and another one called Fartsa, both are labled "vintage crime" shows. If you also have them, check them out and see if one of them looks worth a try.

Or if you want, we can slog through and finish 3%. Up to you.

I deserve a medal - I finished S3 - I don't give a stuff what happens in S4. The gay box was ticked yet again with Joana and some girl or another which means I suppose that being as Joana and Rafael had a moment - that she is bisexual. I loved the way Xavier ended up at the war table after betraying Michele so utterly. That bunch of idiots change their minds like they change their flip flops - there's not one of them worth saving or fighting for - I would blow the lot of them to smithereens. By all means check out some Turkish stuff. I am pleased because one of my favourite shows is back on BBC - Spiral - the French police team show. I usually tape it all first and then watch it - so it will be at least six weeks before I do. From what I have seen "Ezel" was the best show to come out of Turkey for a while. Some I have previewed have been beyond bizarre - still we might get lucky !!

You did better than me. I bailed after the second episode of season 3. At some point I might go back and finish it but I am kind of sick of it right now.

I looked at a couple of the shows you mentioned. Black Mirror seems to be about a high tech future and adventure of some sort. I think people have to undergo some surgical procedure to play a virtual reality game. It starts out with them extremely happy with it, but I think it can also make them depressed. I am sure it has more to it than that.

Winter Sun is one of the foreign films, another revenge thing. Some boy's father and brother were killed by some ruthless businessmen and when he grows up a friend of his father tells him the story. He decides to get revenge.

Either one of those sound interesting?

Well, Black Mirror has five seasons so it may be interesting to keep in mind. Winter Sun has only 1 season so maybe we could watch that first and then Black Mirror. I am equally amenable to both. There is one I keep passing over because I am not a fan of sword and sandal historical dramas - but it has five seasons so it might be doing something right! It's called Resurrection Ertugrul and it's Turkish. Maybe as a last resort !!

Good, we can start with Winter Sun then.

OK - I'll start watching it tomorrow.

The coyotes don't play unless the lions are sleeping. Sounds a little like Ezel. The first episode was a little confusing as they introduced the main characters. The second and third episodes sort of set up the main plot. I am finishing the fourth now. One brother has to impersonate his dead twin in order to protect his loved ones and find and punish the men who killed his father and his brother. He had not seen his twin brother in 20 years and now he must figure out all about his life and pretend to be him. And all the while there is this mysterious man who has come into his life to help him get revenge, and get revenge for himself as well. That much you can mostly get from reading the show description. I will let you learn the details.

2-Here is something that nearly all TV shows and movies do that makes me nuts. Somebody asks someone a question and that second person stands there looking at them, just looking at them, and then when they finally do speak, it is just a couple of words that hardly convey any information. They have this pained look on their face, like it kills them that the first person has the wrong idea and doesn't understand the facts. But instead of telling them, they stand there staring at them. The first person tires of waiting and continues to ask them to answer them. And the second person stands there looking at them, pained expression and all, just looking. These scenes go on far too long. Sometimes the second person will finally say something, Sometimes they say a limited amount, and fail to clear up the misunderstanding. Other times they stand there looking, mouth open, as if they want to speak. The first person may then walk off in frustration, or anger, or tears, as the second person finally manages to call out their name. Oh she left! Oh the sorrow! 'If only she knew what really happened, how I really feel!'

And if only you didn't act like a retarded idiot. They could just say "Wait a few moments. I will tell you, but first I must stand here for several minutes, staring at you like a fucking retard while you beg me to answer you, while the violin music plays in the background." I guess the idea is supposed to be that the second person is so emotional that they can't bring themselves to speak, or they don't know where to begin or something.

Yeah, something like that happens at the start of episode 10. I checked and there are 50 episodes in the single season. I wonder if they just bunch them into one season for Netflix, or if they are all shown in one year on TV in Turkey.

This show has a lot of overly dramatic scenes. Characters break down, cry, show pained expressions on their faces, and when they finally speak they shout and cry and seem as though they're about to burst. "They killed my brother and my father!"

I am on the episode (4?) where the brothers have met each other - hugs and tears - don't know why they bothered because it was a very brief reunion. They are very heavy handed with the symbolism scenes - a photograph crashes to the ground - he cuts his finger and smears blood on his brothers picture. The inevitable vehicles speeding crazily between scenes - they don't have much imagination. The guy who saved Efe was the same guy who killed his father wasn't it? A lot of the men look alike in this series - it' s hard to separate them. I find it hard to believe that Nisan didn't recognise her best friend when she followed Mete, she would recognise her hair - her clothes etc. The way Efe is carrying on - he doesn't have a clue about anybody - he constantly gets things wrong - people ask him what is the matter - he's acting weird - but he never gives a reasonable response. I mean he could say I fell down and hit my head and my memory is really fuzzy now - but no - as you say - nobody responds to anybody. Nisan has just made a drunken scene at the fashion show and we learn - out of the blue - that Efe's stepfather and Nisan's father are smuggling weapons in the dress shipments. OOhhhh - so that has to have something to do with why Efe's real father was killed then. No real logic in letting Efe live - at least I can't see it right now. It's amazing that he and that guy can stand a few yards away from his entire family and the people who have known him all his life and nobody notices. I find Turkish series very soapy - it's all family drama instead of interesting plotting. I also love the way that letters are found that explain in great detail people's feelings and motivations - and intentions - I guess it saves acting it out. And that Seta - what a vamp!! I think she has her suspicions about Efe not being who he says he is by the way she handed him the mike in the fashion show- I mean let's face it - it's not a huge leap is it - the guy had a twin brother that was never found. And why would they cancel the shipment just because some cheated on wife made a scene at the show? Give up all that profit for that - nah - that was just silly. Like the Italians are a faithful bunch of guys huh? They would be more likely to cheer him on.

Yeah it was the same guy, but he didn't know a kid was in the car. When he called to say the man was dead he told them about the kid, and then got the order to kill the kid, but he decided not to do it. He didn't agree to kill any children. (The kid had amnesia from the crash so he grew up only knowing his foster family.) Later the people he did the job for set him up for a death sentence to tie up loose ends. But in Muslim countries they don't drop hang you, they raise you up and let you strangle. And when they brought him down he wasn't dead. I don't know why they didn't leave him up longer or hoist him back up. Anyway, that is Kadim. So he has his reasons for getting even. And he wanted to help Efe get even also.

Nisan, who names these people? Is there some one named Toyota and Jaguar in that town? She will eventually figure out that Efe isn't really Mette after she sees Efe's photo in the paper announcing his funeral and she grills him on things he ought to know. Another recurring scene in this show: Nisan and Efe talk and Nisan gets emotional and wants to run away. Efe doesn't want her to go, but he always manages to let her get a head start and then has to chase her in his car and talk to her on his cell phone. Why not just run and catch her before she gets to her car? Oh yeah, he has to stand there and do his look. Family drama indeed. Fatma, Efe's foster mom, wow. She gets hysterical and runs around screaming, and family and friends run after her out of concern, to calm her down and comfort her. It's a good thing you cut the sound off and just read the subtitles because the orchestra music with the sad clarinet would get to you. The extended scenes showing first one and then another crying, heartbroken person go back and forth between them with that dramatic oh so sad music playing. I have to fast forward through those. I get the message. Both of them are sad. Nisan and Seda both get a few sad scenes.

You have to be so glad you're not from that culture. I don't want to spoil things but I will tell you that at some point a man (not the father) takes a woman by force to an abortion clinic and tells her she has to have an abortion. She cries and pleads to keep the child, but he says no. He sends a man with a gun with her who sits in the waiting area. The lady tells the nurse to please help her, she doesn't want an abortion, and an armed man is waiting for her to make her get one. The nurse stands there listening, like she is weighing the situation to determine if she wants to hep the lady or not. Holy shit. Is it really that bad? What was she thinking? (Well, remember sweety, the MAN said you have to have one, and you're just a woman.)

I think Efe's dad found out about the smuggling and was going to report it, so one of the partners had him killed. The police chief is one of the bad guys too.

I thought the same thing, I would have said I had an accident and hit my head really hard and was having trouble remembering things. But not Efe, he just stands there with his blank, confused look and people just say "he seems a bit different today". They never show him doing any actual work. I wondered how he was going to fake doing the job. Apparently he has an easy job and gets to take a lot of personal time. Must be nice.

You have to suspend your disbelief in scenarios like these. Imagine yourself going into a strange family that you know nothing about - not even what they look like and who is related to who and what the family dynamic is - who is the dominant female - the relationships between the parents and the children - even ( in a house that size) where the toilet is!! If you are going to impersonate someone it is not enough just to look like them - you have to research them - it's easy enough on the net. In the film "The Assignment" (a good film by the way) the hero had to go through a gruelling course of memorising everything about the guy he intended replacing - it took months. In real life Efe wouldn't have survived breakfast. As a fisherman he simply wouldn't have the air of confidence and entitlement that well off people have - it's not something you can learn - it's just intrinsic to their wealth. I didn't realise what Kadim meant by they hung me - I thought he meant some prison gang had strung him up - my God - they don't drop hang you in Muslim countries? How absolutely barbaric. I should have realised because there was a horrendous scene in Homeland (another excellent series) where they did the same thing - but again - I thought it was a bunch of discontents who did that - not the authorities. I think Fatma went over the top somewhat - and I am glad I watch it on mute! The abortion thing - this is a huge dilemma for me - and for most compassionate people I think - I wont go into the issue here - it is too huge and complex. However - I am indeed glad I am Western and not subject to the domination of men. Do you know what the worst thing about this is? Women have been so conditioned to accept male dominance that they are actually in favour of it. For instance - in Britain - a Muslim family immigrated here and brought their two daughters with them - when one of the teenage girls started to become Westernised and didn't cover her arms they became enraged and at the behest of the MOTHER the father killed her. It was witnessed by the other daughter. You should see the mother - she is so hard and cruel and I suspect jealous of her pretty young daughter. They were both imprisoned but they have no remorse at all. It is the same in Africa with FGM - it is supported by women and performed by women. Perhaps Prince Harry and his black wife currently touring Africa on a mental health awareness visit might care to address that issue - but I doubt it. His brother Prince William and his wife Kate are currently touring Pakistan to strengthen ties with Britain and to reiterate what great mates we are - perhaps William is prepared to overlook the fact that Pakistan is a haven for terrorists and that they are invariably included in the grooming gangs that blight our children's lives - but that's the world for you - whatever is expedient and to hell with the truth. I think Mete's job seemed to consist of looking at dresses that somebody else designed and saying yes or no - and of course having an affair with the designer. The way he recoils from Seta is ridiculous - as if she wouldn't twig straight away that he wasn't Mete. But Efe is or will be in love with Toyota - after all she loves dogs and went to get one and - didn't. I can't believe we have let ourselves in for another marathon Turkish series! Oh well - as long as it doesn't end with "Welcome to the game" we should be OK !!

I'm up early today. I am up to episode 22 now. Bingeing right along. You won't believe how crazy Seda and her mother become. So far she has tried to kill Toyota twice now. She keeps telling her mom that she cannot breathe without Meta, she can't live without him, they're in love, but Toyota did something to him and changed him. And she has to get him back. Her mom schemes ways to do that, which never work. Seda is a mess. She needs to be in the funny farm for a long stretch. Toyota/Nisan's dad is the worst criminal, and the best at hiding it from others. There is some back story with him and Seda's mom which has only been alluded to at this point. Meanwhile, Efe/Mete and Nisan are getting closer, which we all saw coming. Kadim's wife and daughter are not really dead as he was lead to believe. That is a developing story arc, fairly interesting.

There are some people, including ex congressman Newt Gingrich, who are calling for everyone who subscribes to Sharia law to be deported from the country. I think he is right. Sharia holds itself as the supreme law, above whatever laws are established in the country they reside in. So essentially these people are outlaws who want to take over the country. They have no business living here or anywhere else which isn't a Muslim country. They come here claiming to be refugees running for their lives and then want to establish the exact same legal system they just escaped from. On the one hand they say they want the freedoms and protection and opportunities availed in America, and then they try to turn it into the same kind of shithole they just escaped. We've had "honor killings" here of the same sort you described. They put their daughters into western schools in western countries, and then they say they are shamed because their daughter learned western ways, and they kill her for it. That should be a capital offense. Electric chair, lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, makes no difference to me, just get it done. If they're willing to die for their cause, we should certainly kill them for it. And let it be women who pull the switches, the levers, and the triggers. That's my position on it.

But this show is interesting. On some levels I think it is funny. Fatmama's husband told their daughter Natiddle she couldn't take some food to her male friend so early in the morning because it might disgrace her, look inappropriate. I understand it but it still seems bizarre. Turkey doesn't seem as bad as many countries. The women wear western clothing and can drive cars, can go shopping on their own, and so on.

There have been many twists and turns and developments in the plot so I won't go into them until you talk about them.

2- Yes, it is soapy, but it has more action and intrigue than a normal soap opera, I think. I never watched more than an episode or two of any of the soap operas we have here in America. I guess they are addictive because so many of them have held up so well for so long. I recall a football player in college talking about how he got hooked on a soap opera. He was saying 'I know how it sounds, but you don't understand. This show is interesting and I have to know what happens in the story so I have to keep watching.' Some of these shows have been running for decades here. Days of Our Lives is one I remember from childhood. I guess there must be something to them, they have a formula that hooks people.

This one has a lot of different story arcs running at the same time, switching from one to another, and there are interesting developments in each episode that keep you hooked. I understand what that football player was talking about, I think. But I like the format where the show leads to a conclusion, not the kind that run on forever and ever.

Tell me which episode you're watching next when you write. I am going to run some errands today and work on a project or two.

I am on Ep 10 - as expected the "nobody must know you are alive" rule has been broken and Burkat and Nisan now know he is Efe. Nisan is threatening to spill the beans ( always a woman is the Judas) and Efe is chasing her in a car. Efe is an idiot - he turns up at his own funeral for goodness sake and Burkat sees him - he stands by the grave afterwards and Fatma sees him - they seem to shrug it off - oh, it must be my grief and my imagination. Kadim has found his wife living with Resnat the cop. He almost gets caught by the cop you just knew was going to have a slightly bigger part than the rest of them - but he - as usual escapes. It is amazing how Burkat can see Ismail in a dispute with an unknown guy in the street and immediately jump to the conclusion that this is the guy who killed Efe. Also the belongings that were returned must have included rather expensive clothes and shoes besides cufflinks - so there was a "mix-up" - what two men of the same size and weight just happened to be killed at the same time? Efe's stepfather seems to have a conscience and goes to the police - from the way they were very careful to avoid photographing who he was talking to you just knew it was Resnat. I am still not clear why they want to kill Efe - he lost his memory - he knows nothing. And Nisan - she who wants to divorce Mete and move to London - who can't forgive him - who knows he was cheating on her with her best friend - who didn't want a child with her - now suddenly she is crazy with grief for him? Seda is now smirking because she is pregnant - to be continued.....

As best as I could make out, they didn't know Efe had lost his memory and figure he was a threat to them if he ever figured out who gave the order to kill his dad. And once they see Mete talking to Kadim, they have to worry about him as well, but they can't easily kill Mete. Yes, he takes extreme chances of being seen, pretty dumb really. But we are supposed to see this as an expression of the level of his passion and love for his foster family. Fatma cries, and Efe looks skyward with that pained, "why God? I don't know if I can handle this sorrow" expression on his face. At least he could have borrowed one of Philip Jennings wigs as a disguise. Nobody could have recognized him then.

Kadim is pretty good at evading capture, even if it means he must run after getting shot. Resnat is the dirty chief of police who seems to be a subordinate to Nisan's dirty father, who is a partner in the company Mete works for, I think his name is Yokub or Yakup or something like that. He is really the one who ordered Efe and Mete's father killed, and the one who sent the killer after Efe who killed Mete by mistake. Efe's father in law, Mazhar, is also a partner but he didn't know about the hit until after the fact. Yakup kept it a secret. Yakup is a manipulator and a violent and dirty player but he is also good at keeping his image clean, and throwing suspicion on others. Once he finds out about Seda he hates her. Yakup is very protective of his daughter Nisan. But he has another daughter he doesn't know about yet. I will tell you that much. You'll have to wait to find out about that for a while. Nisan has known the dirty police chief Resnat since she was a girl as a friend of her father, of the family. She thinks that cop and her dad are honest, good, people.

Efe's foster dad is a real piece of crap, drunken gambler who thinks almost totally about himself. He is a sluggard who doesn't work. He relied upon Efe to make money fishing to support the family. Fatma got stuck with a bad one.