Pera Palas’ta Gece Yarısı, Season 1
- by Elif Usman, directed by Emre Şahin and Nisan Dağ
- TV Episode
- Mystery and Crime
- Adults
- Definite Time Travel
- Turkish
- Pera Palas’ta Gece Yarısı [Midnight at Pera Palace], Season 1 by Elif Usman, directed by Emre Şahin and Nisan Dağ (Netflix, worldwide, 3 March 2022) [8 episodes].
While researching an article about the 130th anniversary of Istanbul’s Pera Palace Hotel, dedicated journalist Esra Koksuz finds herself at the hotel back in 1919, investigating the murder of her own doppelgänger and racing to stop the murder of Turkey’s founder.
—Michael Main
Mustafa Kemal 16 Mayıs günü o gemiye sağ salim binemezse Kurtsuluşı Savaşı başlamayacak. Cumhuriyet kurulmayacak. Türkiye diye bir ülke olmayacak.
translate
If Mustafa Kamal doesn’t board that ship on May the 16th, the War of Independence won’t begin, the Republic won’t be founded, and Turkey will never come to be!
Tags
(17)
- Time Periods
- Circa AD 1900 to 1929: destination times: mainly 1919 and 1917
- Circa AD 1940 to 1949: Esra’s trip to the George-dictator world of 1942
- Circa AD 1970 to 1999: ending time of the story:1995
- Circa AD 2000 to 2099: start time of the story: 2022 (130th anniversary of the Pera Palace Hotel, built in 1892)
- Timeline Models
- Delayed Change to a Timeline: Esra’s budding romance with Halit threatens to stop Ahmet’s birth, which is indicated in the story by Ahmet’s fingers turning black. “Your pressence here endangers my existence, and this finger is only the beginning.” (s01e01)
- Multiple Naive Timelines
- Time Travel Methods
- Time Portal: The Pera Palace contains (or actively opens) portals to other times.
- Time Talismans: The Pera Palace opens a portal only when the traveler is holding the right key.
- Themes
- Anachronistic Music, Dance, and Other Creations: Esra sings “Oops, I Did It Again” by Britney Spears
- Meeting or Viewing Ancestors or Descendants: Ahmed meets his parents; Leyla may be Esra’s ancestor.
- Newspaper or Other Publication Aids in Finding the Date: (s01e01) and elsewhere
- People from Different Times Look Exactly Alike: Esra and Peride
- Real-World Tags
- Agatha Christie: (s01e01)
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
- Ottoman Empire: near the end of the empire
- Turkish War of Independence: Most of the story takes place just before the Revolution.
- Groupings
- Pete Manx and the Time Chair: “Oh, pardon, excuse me, what year is this?” (s01e06)
Variants
(1)
- Pera Palas’ta Gece Yarısı [Midnight at Pera Palace], Season 1 by Elif Usman, directed by Emre Şahin and Nisan Dağ (Netflix, worldwide, 3 March 2022) [8 episodes].
Charles King (based on a work by)
Previous Works
inspired by the nonfiction book Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul by Charles King (2014)