That sounds good. Let's give it a go.

I see that it is an ongoing show, not like the ones we've been watching which have a definite end of the story. That is good news I think as we don't have to worry about what happened with Serhat. IMDB shows 105 episodes presently.

3-

I wanted to tell you about what I learned of the North Africa campaign in WWII. Rommel was the "desert fox", so called for his cunning and almost prescient strategy and tactics. Of course, we all know how much more advanced were the German tank designs of the time. Britain had a few strong tanks, but not nearly enough of them. The Brits liked the Sherman tanks when they first got them, until they used them in battle. The armor was simply insufficient when struck with the large German tank rounds. Only the Russian T34 tank (it's light tanks were worse than any tank designs in the war) could go toe to toe with the Panzers. And they were no match for the later German tanks, especially the Tiger and King Tiger tanks. So Rommel had the superior equipment advantage. But it was his ability to be in the right place at the right time that gave him his reputation. By the time Churchill decided to send Montgomery to Africa the Germans had pushed up to a 40 mile wide gap, which if they had crossed it, would have opened the way for them to reach Cairo and all that middle east oil. They could have linked up with the German army in lower Russia from below. It would have been a different war entirely.

The geography is crucial to this story. Below the 40 mile gap was the Qatarra depression, impassible to tanks. Above it was El Alamein. In the gap there were two kinds of surface: hard rocky soil perfect for tanks, and sandy soil that would bog down the tanks. Remember this geography for later in the story.

The Germans had a crack signals team, about 100 men, in North Africa. They were good at deciphering British radio traffic and codes. And in Cairo there were many nationalists, and one of them was a popular belly dancer. Whatever she found out she passed on to a German spy posing as a British major. He spent counterfeit British pounds at the clubs. The bellydancer seduced a real British major and he wound up giving her information, wittingly or not I don't know. The Brits raided the spy's place and found his equipment, and a novel in English, purchased in Portugal. It was found the German embassy there had purchased 14 copies of that novel in English. So the Germans were using a book code. The Brits busted their own major and gave him a choice. He could allow himself to be captured or face treason. The Brits gave him a fake map, made to look very old and authentic, which showed the areas of the desert with hard sand and soft sand in the 40 mile gap, but some of the area shown as hard was really soft sand. The major drove toward the Germans and into a mine field, killing him. The Germans got the map which they sent to Rommel.

They also sent in an Australian team which captured or killed the German wireless signals crack team. They also had a copy of that novel. Both copies the British now had would fall open to the same page. Now they could crack the book code. And by this time the Brits already had Ultra, they had cracked the enigma cypher and could read German radio traffic in real time.

They suckered Rommel to break through their front lines into the 40 mile gap, then opened up on him with guns already sighted in and hidden. Rommel then turned his tanks toward the south where he believed there was hard packed rocky soil and his tanks got stuck in sand up to their sides. Then the Brits opened up on them, using air power as well and destroyed a big part of Rommel's tanks there.

By this time the base at Malta, and the intelligence from Ultra, allowed the Brits to sink almost all supply ships to North Africa which were supplying Rommel with fuel and ammo. So he had to fight defensively.

There is another story of the use of deception the Brits used to trick Rommel in another battle in which they broke out of el Alamein and began chasing Rommel back toward the west. It is interesting as well.

I didn't know any of that - it is frightening when you think what could have happened and how so many brave and clever people were instrumental in averting a catastrophe not only for us but for the rest of the world. I have watched one episode of Behzat.C - they are longer episodes than usual - he comes across as almost unhinged in his personality - this first episode was quite complicated - with a lot of interdepartmental conflict - it is setting up the rest of the show of course. The guy called Ghost is familiar to me -( also the female prosecutor who reminds me of a scrubbed up Figleaf.) - I can't think from where - I am starting episode 2 now - I think like most shows it takes a while to get into.

I read a bit more about the show. It looks like each season is a stand alone thing, which a separate main plot to each, so we won't get screwed as we did with Serhat, Ertan, et al.

Behzat doesn't care much for his superiors, or the law in some cases. So he has stayed at the same position while his contemporaries have risen up in rank. Divorced, he is mistrustful of women in general. He and his team sometimes get involved in other cases they uncover as they pursue their main objective. There were some other details but they were spoilers I won't tell you now. I shouldn't have read that piece. I like to see if I can figure out what is coming on my own.

Almost nobody had heard of that stuff for a long time after the war. Anything to do with intelligence work they like to keep hidden away. Churchill wouldn't ever talk about breaking the enigma code or how they got that stuff. I guess when technology changes enough to make some aspects outdated they might feel it is finally safe to reveal, but some of the methods may still apply to modern warfare. I doubt people use book codes now. Encyphering is done electronically now with computers. But I bet some people still use old codes. If they are used well enough, nobody would even think they were reading something with an embedded message.

Given the apps that can decode most anything these days - it may be a good idea to use the old methods sometimes. I knew I had seen the guy called Ghost - he was Doc (Nasmi) in Kacak.

When the Brits and Americans teamed up to build a kind of computer for Bletchley Park, actually they were making something of Alan Turing's design I think, Turing devised a method for homing in on the code to help save time. He said instead of trying to determine the correct settings on the engima the Germans were using (an impossible task since the possible combinations were so huge there was no name for a number that large) he thought of using the machine to rule out wrong settings. Even using this method would take a very long time which was why they needed the electronic "calculating bomb". It was clever thinking. It was possible to rule out whole "trees" of possibilities and whittle down the problem to a more manageable one.

2-

About the show. I read it has been censored and may be banned in Turkey now. Why?

"On the show, unmarried couples debate moving in together. Behzat and his compatriots drink and smoke. And they curse — a lot."

That is from the article on why it got fined. I didn't want to pay for another article which says new seasons are being made but will not be shown in Turkey. I don't know if they show more than the first three seasons, or if the government there just decided to crack down on them more.

3- This show should be fun. Behzat is a bit volatile and a bit rough with suspects who have a criminal record. I can imagine him telling Ghost to stop off and puck up a bag of dry ice, knitting needles, and a brick hammer.

ghost: "Why?"

Behzat "I need to question a suspect".

I like that girl Eda on this show.

It's a little slow compared to some other shows - but I hope when it gets into it's stride it'll speed up. It's probably just me because I am a very impatient person. Eda is OK - but that nightclub singer he is shacking up with looks old enough to be his mother - she looks a right blowsy hussy. And that Sule - the wacky woman from the hospital is already getting on my nerves. The team is pretty much OK - they gel together. His brother is madder than Behzat is - they both need anger management classes. I have no idea why this was banned in Turkey - maybe it will become evident in later episodes - they refer to him being politically incorrect so maybe that is a reason. Given the Turkish shows we have watched already - people smoke and drink and gamble - they live together without being married - the women dress and act like whores - they beat each other up and kill each other - I don't see this show as being any different. Maybe it's because the police are shown to be so violent - Harun is trying to break Selim's arm even as we speak. I have the feeling though that there will be some anti governmental themes in shows to come.

I think you probably nailed it. I bet the show got too topical with stuff the government there didn't like being examined. They probably had episodes which mimic'ed some real life political stuff and the government didn't like it, but they didn't want to say that was why, so they attacked it from a morals angle.

I like Ghost better than Doc in the other show. Ghost seems more like a normal person whereas Doc was a bit too goofy, like Dadayli. Harun and Behzat both seem to feel fine getting rough with criminals or suspects who seem dirty.

I don't know why Eda struck me, something about her eyes I like. But Harun is already after her, plus that other guy, and I don't even speak the language. Guess I will keep looking.

2-

I see what you mean about the brother. He has no business criticizing Behzat for "acting like a psycho". It he got any angrier his blood pressure might blow out an artery.

Have you noticed the gibes about Turkey in this? There have been some references about not speaking Turkish in it - which I found strange - also I can't remember the exact phrase when they were speaking to a guy who had something to do with the opera - but it was something like - we are in Turkey - you only have to look the wrong way - something like that. I think there are two things that strike you about Eda - both of them trying to bust out of that blue blouse !! That bunny doubled it's size in one episode!! I have a feeling of dread whenever they show animals - something bad always happens to them. I hope they don't do that in this show. Now Vulture has confessed to Ghost why he is depressed - how are they going to resolve that I wonder. Ghost is certainly more effective in this show - he seems like a capable human being - not a fumbler like he was in Kacak.

The episodes are over an hour and a half each, which is a bit long I think. I am a bit tired this evening also. I have dozed a little bit I think. It's not late yet and I am already very tired. I do hope the pace picks up a bit. Perhaps they are just developing characters in the first few. I'm finding it hard to stay focused on the show right now. I've never heard of people having to tip a doorman to get into a bingo hall before. Episode 3. That former cop is wearing a fake beard now. He seems to prefer killing with a knife while wearing a fancy glove. Behzat is hooked up with old nightclub woman, and I would think he could do better. I have missed the Turkey references so far. Sule is being intentionally childish. Maybe that's why she was in the nuthouse; she can't be serious so they tossed her in there. I wonder how she got out, cause she isn't any better on the outside. I didn't see the ibt where Vulture says he is depressed, or why.

I am only on the end of episode 2. These episodes are too long - most normal episodes are about 45/50 minutes - I am finding this slow - I'll give it five episodes to be fair - but if it doesn't get more pacey and involving maybe we should watch something else.