Even though the first season premiered this May, a second season was immediately produced for the Turkish Netflix series The Tailor and released this July. The series shines when focused on the clothes – the rock-n-roll rush of fashion week, the classically orchestrated imagined new creation, and the steamy blindfolded bridal fitting are lush spectacles that make the show look so stunning. And as the abused Esvet cares for Peyami’s father, the equally abused Mustafa, there’s an interesting theme of wealthy families that would do anything to cloak any secrets that would ruin their family’s reputation. However, it’s the clumsy handling of Mustafa’s illness and the inaccurate casting that drag the story down. The Tailor replaced nuanced depictions with too much stylish spectacle.
A famous tailor begins to sew a wedding dress for his best friend’s fiancée – but all three have dark secrets that will soon upend their lives.
After the grandfather that raised him died, famous tailor Peyami returns to Istanbul with his biggest secret: his mentally ill father Mustafa. However, trying to escape his erratic friend Dimitri is Peyami’s client and bride-to-be Esvet.
As Mustafa has a developmental disorder, and progressions in understanding these disorders are fairly modern, the way Peyami’s grandmother raised Mustafa is still evil, but possibly of its time. Peyami is clearly disturbed by this, relying on his craft as an emotional outlet when the matriarch of the family enforces her abusive policies. When Peyami realizes the truth about Esvet, there’s a hope that he would try to stop her upcoming arranged marriage as Esvet cares for his father with a kindness unknown to his family. There’s a hope that Peyami would ditch the erratic Dimitri as a friend. However, with the two seasons so far, there have been no moves to focus on this. The series focuses more on the soapy dramatics of the show’s love triangle, rather than breaking the generational abuse underlying this family drama.
If the show focused on its generational trauma, rather than the soapy dramatics, this series could have meant something more, you know?
