The story is exactly same as the series. Massimo is married to Antonia for over 15 years, But a chance meeting with young and vivacious gay painter Michele changes his life. He gets into affair with him and eventually falling in love. But the day he decides to tell the truth to his wife, he gets killed in a car accident. Through a painting in his office, his wife Antonia finds out that he was having an affair. When she meets Michele, she is shocked to see that Michele is a man. After initial awkwardness, Antonia is welcomes to Michele's home and his group of friends: a lesbian couple, a gay couple, an aging single gay man, a trans woman, a single woman who falls for every man, a young boy who is totally smitten by Michele and most importantly Serra, a Turkish immigrant who moved here ages ago. In the series, we do get to see the stories of these friends in a lot more details unlike in the film to the extent that pretty much every group gets an episode of their own. But the primary story still remains that Michele and Antonia are struggling to figure out how they fit in each other's life. They even feel a weird attraction to each other ending in a kiss where they think that they are kissing Massimo through the other person. In fact, they even get jealous when Antonia sees Michele with other men , and similarly when Serra's nephew Asaf shows interest in Antonia. When Antonia finds out that she is actually pregnant with Massimo's baby, she decides to start a new life and moves to Istanbul with Asaf hoping for a clean start, putting her friendship (or whatever you wanna call her relationship with Michele at risk). But eventually the friend can't stay away from each other and the series beautifully ends in Istanbul.
As I had mentioned in the review of the film as well, this series is a study of love in all forms and relationships. Two people who don't belong in each other's life in any way possible, not only end up meeting in the most unexpected circumstances, but even end up enriching each other’s lives and the lives of everyone around them. We knew in the film that we had some amazing characters as friends and now n the show we get to see their life stories in a lot more details. We see the crumbling relationship of the lesbian couple, We see how the trans girl came to be and her struggles with her family, we see how the single woman finally finds true love, how the gay couple decide to finally take the plunge and go for civil union. But he mystery of Serra, the Turkish woman, is not revealed until the very end and to be honest I think I understand why. Something about her back story and the way it is tied with immense maturity and respect in the very last episode had me almost choked up. None of the other character stories stayed with me as much as her's did.
But, these good things aside, I have to admit that first 2 episodes in, I found the show extremely extremely slow. It was literally dragging and all my enthusiasm of watching one of my favorite films into a web series was soon starting to fade away. I wondered, how the show will continue for 8 episodes at this pace. I think its only by the end of 4th episode, it had me completely hooked. Sadly, not people may have patience like me to give the show the chance to stick around this long. I did because I knew the story and I am a fan.
As in the film, Michele's apartment is the safe haven for everyone and the friends have created a truly unique family, something that I really wish I had. The friends are in each other's business all the time and judging each other constantly, but the actors do a good job of coming on their own and giving their best to these stories. I enjoyed them all , although in my opinion, the lesbian story went for too long. Also we did not get to see any details to the old single gay man and it feels he was the only one left in a lurch. Of course Antonia and Michele's story is the centerpiece and their chemistry from strangers, to not knowing what to do with each story, to slowly finding common grounds and even love and respect for each other is all beautifully portrayed. As actors they both do an incredible job, although I don't know why, but I wish a different actor was chosen for Michele. This guy was hot but somehow I wasn't as emotionally invested in him. Maybe because the character never shows the real sorrow and pain that he is going through after Massimo's death. He says a lot but never shows and that didn't work for me at all.
Finally to end, the series has some of the best music and songs. I didn't understand lyrics of any of those. But songs in Italian, Turkish, Spanish and even English were so musically perfect that despite not undertaking the language, they just reflected the pain, love, sorrow and celebration. And that one last episode in Istanbul was like the icing on the cake. My friends know how Istanbul is my absolutely favorite places and having lived there for a few years, the last episode made me miss so many things. So, of course , I have a soft corner for it. So, all in al, if you are a fan of the original film or even if you are not, you have watch this show for the great variety that it covers. It’s really a story of how mutually each and every one of the character grapples with love through death, infidelity, bigotry, politics, and time. You will find first few episodes really slow, but hold on and eventually it will do the trick and hopefully you will end up loving this like I did. (And btw, how beautiful is the poster of the series!! I love it !) (8.5/10)
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