I must confess that I was not a person attracted to Turkish productions at all, but lately I have been watching some series that really caught my attention, because they have different plots than what we are used to on this side of the world, but above all the historical series caught my attention, especially a series called Muhtesem Yuzyil, which translates as Magnificent Century and is divided into two parts. The first tells the life and rise to power of Sultan Suleiman and Sultana Hurrem, while the second (the one I am going to review for you today) tells us about the history and rise to power of Sultana Kosem, who is said to have become the most politically important woman in the entire Ottoman Empire.

Debo confesar que yo no era una persona a la que le atrajeran las producciones turcas, en lo absoluto, pero últimamente estuve viendo algunas series que llamaron poderosamente mi atención, debido a que son tramas diferentes a las que acostumbramos de este lado del mundo, pero sobre todo las series de corte histórico llamaron mi atención, en especial una serie llamada Muhtesem Yuzyil, por su traducción: Siglo Magnífico y se divide en dos partes, La primera cuenta la vida y ascenso al poder del Sultán Suleimán y la Sultana Hurrem, mientras que la segunda (la que voy a reseñar para ustedes hoy) nos cuenta acerca de la historia y ascenso al poder de la Sultana Kosem, quien se dice que llegó a ser la mujer políticamente más importante de todo el imperio otomano.

Anastasia was a young Venetian girl who was kidnapped from her own home by orders of Sultana Safiye, to give her as a gift to her grandson Sultan Ahmed Khan, the girl resists as much as she can and tries by all means to return home to her family, but all her efforts were in vain, seeing that the situation would not change and that the sultan treats her with respect and affection little by little she falls in love with him, but she never forgets that Sultana Safiye kidnapped her and that she was also in charge of hurting her family, so she swears revenge. Little by little and thanks to her intelligence Anastasia climbs the ranks in the harem until she becomes not only the Sultan's favorite concubine but also a powerful woman whose name changed to Kosem (it was customary in the harem to change the names of the women who arrived) and becomes the mother of several princes, so with her power she achieves her longed-for revenge, but when the Sultan dies a real battle begins between princes to see who remains in command of the Ottoman Empire, while Kosem will have to serve as a mediator and often go further.

Anastasia era una jovencita veneciana que fue secuestrada de su propio hogar por órdenes de la sultana Safiye, para entregársela como regalo a su nieto el sultán Ahmed Khan, la chica se resiste lo más que puede e intenta por todos los medios regresar a su hogar junto a su familia, pero todos sus esfuerzos fueron en vano, al ver que la situación no cambiaría y que el sultán la trata con respeto y cariño poco a poco se va enamorando de él, pero nunca olvida que la Sultana Safiye la secuestro y que además se encargó de lastimar a su familia, así que jura venganza. Poco a poco y gracias a su inteligencia Anastasia escala posición en el harem hasta convertirse no solo en la concubina favorita del Sultán sino en una mujer de poder cuyo nombre cambió a Kosem (era costumbre en el harem cambiar los nombres de las mujeres que llegaban) y se convierte en madre de varios príncipes, así que con su poder logra su ansiada venganza, pero cuando el Sultán muere comienza una verdadera batalla entre príncipes para ver quien se queda con el mando del imperio otomano, mientras que Kosem tendrá que servir de mediadora y muchas veces ir más allá.

There are so many things I liked here but I'd like to start with the story, it's very engaging from minute 0, each chapter is full of action and conspiracies, it's hard to get bored, the viewer is always constantly alert to the uncertainty that one of their favorite characters could be killed, however I must admit that halfway through the series the pace of the story drops drastically and even becomes tedious. On the other hand, the wardrobe, although it is historically incorrect in the case of women because it is very Western, we cannot deny that it is beautiful, and in the case of Sultana Safiye it is justified and in fact it is noticeable that she is completely Western, but she loved the culture and customs of England and was in fact friends with the Tudors, especially Anne Boleyn.

The settings and part of the soundtrack are the same as those of Muhtesem Yuzyil (Sultan Suleiman and Sultana Kosen) since the idea is precisely to give continuity to that story, to tell what happened to his offspring, but in particular, one song that I really like from the soundtrack is that of Sultana Kosem, it is in Greek and it is a lullaby that she used to sing.

The performances were superb, wonderful, but the one I liked the most was Beren Saat's, whom I also saw star in "What's Fatmagul's Fault?" and "Forbidden Love." I loved it because even though she looked very young to play the role of the mother of almost adult princes, she knew how to play her role very well, she gave a lot of solemnity but at the same time tenderness to her gestures and looks. For example, there is a scene that, particularly affected me a lot as a mother, and it is the scene where she finds her son Mehmet dead by order of her other son Osman, in the scene we can see two important and terrible stages: denial and despair, it hurts a lot to see it, her reaction resonates deeply with the audience, her tears and screams seem like the authentic ones of a mother who has had her heart broken in two.

Las actuaciones fueron soberbias, maravillosas, pero la que más me gustó fue la de Beren Saat, a quien también vi protagonizar "¿Qué culpa tiene Fatmagul? y "Amor Prohibido" Me encantó porque a pesar de que se veía muy joven para interpretar el papel de madre de príncipes casi adultos, ella supo muy bien interpretar su rol, le dio mucha solemnidad pero al mismo tiempo ternura a sus gestos y miradas. Por ejemplo hay una escena que, particularmente a mi me afectó mucho como madre, y es la escena donde encuentra a su hijo Mehmet muerto por orden de su otro hijo Osmán, en la escena podemos ver dos etapas importantes y terribles: negación y desesperación, duele mucho verla, su reacción cala muy hondo en la audiencia, sus lágrimas y gritos parecen los auténticos de una madre a la que le han roto el corazón en dos.

I honestly take my hat off to this and most Turkish productions. The effort they put into their work is evident. Every team—actors, costume designers, lighting, set design, and direction—does a magnificent job. That's why I'd sincerely like to recommend this series. Thank you so much for your attention.