Broken Pieces, Turkish Series, a detailed summary and review by Cecile Rischmann

A wealthy family and a poor one have something in common; their surname starts with the letter G and is almost identical. Gulseren Gulpinar from a poor neighbourhood is heavily pregnant and doing some fruit and vegetable shopping. A car hits her, and she is rushed to the nearest hospital. She delivers a baby girl, Hazal.

Dilara Gurpinar, the wife of a wealthy businessman, Cihan Gurpinar, also gives birth on the same day to a baby girl, Cansu. The babies are swapped accidentally in the ICU and given to their mothers.

Fifteen years later

Hazal Gulpinar grows up to be a vain, selfish, arrogant girl who always seeks to be noticed. From the very first scene, she is discontented with her poor surrounding, runaway father (Ozkan), poverty-stricken neighbourhood and her hardworking mother, who never seemed to have enough money to satisfy this girl. Hazal is spoilt rotten by her aunty from the paternal side (Keriman), who makes life very difficult for Gulseren.

Cansu Gurpinar, on the other hand, is a beautiful, soft-spoken girl who has excellent character and always wants to please her parents. Although she gets along famously with her father, Cihan, she cannot satisfy her mother’s strive for perfection. One day, disturbed beyond her ability to cope, she leaves the stadium where she is an equestrian and runs out without looking and is knocked down. She is rushed to the hospital. While taking her blood test, Cihan and Dilara discover she is not their child.

All hell breaks loose, and they discuss the matter in high tension. Cansu overhears them. She cannot accept that her parents are not really her parents and that her attractive brother (Ozan) is not really blood-related. She is determined to trace her biological mother.

Hazal Gulpinar is trouble with capital T and loves hanging out where the rich kids frequent. She pretends she is one of them and tries to blend in. A boy takes her out for the night, and Hazal is frightened and makes such a scene that he drops her off on the road in the dead of night and roars away in his flashy car.

When Hazal doesn’t return home, Gulseren goes in the pouring rain hunting for her daughter after learning from Hazal’s friend that they had been in a particular restaurant. Gulseren comes to Cihan’s restaurant, and since they don’t allow her in, she flings a stone and breaks a vitrine. Cihan sees the distressed woman and goes forward to help and learns that her daughter was frequenting this restaurant before she disappeared. He drives the beautiful Gulseren until they locate a trembling Hazal taking shelter by a bus stand. Gulseren thanks Cihan, and he drops them off at their house.

Cansu Gurpinar manages to get the address of her biological mother through the hospital records and follows Gulseren around. At first, Gulseren is kind, but when Cansu becomes her shadow, she tells her to go away and leave her alone. Instead, Cansu tries to forge a relationship.

Hazal Gulpinar continues her trouble-making journey and barely bothers with Gulseren and her money problems. Keriman tries to do her bit for Hazal, but the girl wants more and more. Ozkan returns from prison and tries to woo Gulseren, encouraged by his sister Keriman, but Gulseren has an aversion to him. She also remembers that her ex-husband did nothing for her and her child and left them with his sister, who tortured Gulseren physically, mentally and emotionally.

In the meantime, Dilara and Cihan are having issues and heading for divorce. When Cansu is discovered making a breakthrough with her biological mother, Dilara is upset and searches for her biological daughter Hazal. Hazal is in seventh heaven as she is taken to the best boutiques and bought beautiful clothes, shoes and accessories. She loves her rich entourage and the beautiful car in which she is driven around. Hazal is most excited to discover that Dilara is her biological mother. There isn’t a doubt she will go and live in that mansion with her rich folks and abandon her poor mother.

Cihan feels bad for Gulseren, who loves Hazal to bits. He tries to tell Hazal that she must also consider her mother’s feelings, but Hazal is adamant. She cuts off ties with her family and adopts an affluent lifestyle. She is now sent to private school and has rich, cultured friends. She is glowing.

Cansu is more often with Gulseren and consoles her with her presence. She even hits it off with her runaway father, Ozkan, and both are sharing a meal in a run-down joint. Cansu hates what Hazal is doing to her folks, and her love for Gulseren makes Dilara jealous.

Dilara does not vibe with Hazal, and she finds her superficial and puts her in her place. The maids, Cihan’s father Rahmi Gurpinar, and Ozan (her brother) cannot stand Hazal. She lords it over and makes them feel she is the boss. She even ignores the poor aunt Keriman who gave her all she had to keep her happy and smiling.

Cihan feels that Cansu cannot live with Gulseren in that poor, run-down apartment, so he gets a fully-furnished apartment in a residential area and has Cansu and Gulseren living there. Gulseren’s ex-husband Ozkan tries to get Gulseren back and is fiercely jealous of Cihan’s wealthy lifestyle. Dilara is extremely upset with the happening; not only has she lost her favourite daughter, Cansu, she is now losing her ex-husband to Gulseren. He is practically living at her place under the pretext of meeting with Cansu.

Hazal is trying hard to win her mother’s affections, but she is snubbed at each point. Dilara cannot tolerate her behaviour with the staff and everyone else. She doesn’t know what to do with Hazal, and it comes to a point where she regrets having made a move to get her. She teams up with Cihan’s gambler father Rahmi (whose debts she pays off), and they try to hoodwink Gulseren. Poor Gulseren falls for it. Cihan comes to her aid and confronts Dilara about her folly. He tells her she is not the person she used to be. She will never get him back because he is in love with Gulseren.

Cihan courts Gulseren with love and adoration, and Cansu is ecstatic with the reunion. Hazal detests her mother for what she is doing and refuses to speak, leave alone meet her. Gulseren’s ex-husband is enraged too. On the day of their marriage, Gulseren is shot. The bullet is for Cihan’s son Ozan (who had an affair with a married woman, and Dilara paid her to leave him). The husband comes to avenge him. The bullet hits Gulseren. She dies. Cihan turns crazy.

Cansu is broken inside. When she was getting to know her mother, fate took her away. She returns to the mansion, much to Hazal’s distress. Competition starts, and both girls are strong contenders; however, Cansu is natural and is loved genuinely, whereas Hazal pretends and wins friendship. Ozan cannot tolerate Hazal, but he loves Cansu to bits.

Dilara teams up with female Attorney Candan, and the two take over Cihan’s company, thanks to Candan’s ex-husband Yildirim (Cihan’s most trusted attorney), who Candan hoodwinks. Candan also hooks up with Gulseren’s ex-husband Ozkan and the two share intimacies.

Dilara has a sister Asuman who suddenly lands up and makes life difficult for Dilara. She pretends to love Dilara, but Dilara has sized her up a long time ago and knows her inside. In the meantime, Hazal is getting along famously with the aunt. Asuman has one best friend, Candan; the two have been in touch for years. When Dilara and Candan fall out, Asuman and Candan’s friendship gets deeper. Candan is now having an affair with a tycoon, Harun, who has returned to Turkey to avenge Cihan.

Harun’s sister had been in love with Cihan, and Harun was a secret lover of Dilara in the past. But because they weren’t doing so well, Dilara’s folks got her married to Cihan. So, Harun’s sister takes her life. Harun is in Turkey and is BIG trouble for Cihan. They are both famous businessmen, the only difference being Harun is in the money laundering business since his partner is Damir, a mafia boss.

Harun courts Dilara in style, and she flips for him. He treats her like a princess and is desperately in love with Dilara. Dilara, however, is torn between Cihan (ex-husband) and Harun. Dilara becomes pregnant, and Harun marries her. Dilara’s sister Asuman discovers a secret that turns Gurpinar’s family upside down. Cihan and Dilara’s attractive problematic son, Ozan, is actually Harun’s son, not Cihan’s! But the bigger surprise comes when Cihan admits to knowing before he had married Dilara. Dilara is shocked and embarrassed about having lied to Cihan. Ozan hates Cihan for not revealing this earlier and pretending to be his father. Harun is trying to win Ozan to no avail.

Cihan, in the meantime, stays close to Dilara when she has an accident and is in a coma because her son Ozan plays “difficile”. Dilara loses memory and thinks Cihan is her husband and Cansu, her daughter. She doesn’t remember Harun or Hazal. Asuman tries for Harun, but apart from helping her financially, he is not interested in Asuman. Hazal and Harun bond.

Dilara’s biological father has been searching for her for decades and finally finds out that his daughter is the beautiful Dilara Gurpinar. By this time, Cihan has fallen for a psychiatrist, and she is accidentally killed when she comes in the way of a fight between Cihan and his father, Rahmi. Cihan is totally shattered and believes he is a misfortune to the womenfolk.

Dilara is at first very rude to her father and thinks his return is linked to her wealth. But her poor father is a sick man, and it is his last wish to be reunited with his daughter. Dilara’s father-in-law Rahmi had befriended him in the past, and so did Asuman and Candan; the latter tried to get him to claim Dilara so that Asuman could steal the wealth. But Dilara’s father refused.

Cansu falls in love and runs away with Deniz (a poor boy with big dreams living with his sick mother), and they marry. They are ecstatically happy. Deniz discovers his father is a gangster, and because of him, his mother dies. Although his father reunites and loves him, Deniz wants nothing to do with him. The father feels let down. In a confrontation with the police, the father dies. Deniz inherits his wealth but doesn’t want it. Cihan is impressed with Deniz’s capacity for learning and gives him a lead position in the company.

Cansu falls in love with a baby in an orphanage, but before she can go for it, it is too late. Another couple adopts the baby. Dilara pays one million to the greedy adoptive parents and gets the baby for Cansu. When Cansu is diagnosed with Parkinson’s, she cannot take care of the baby but loves it so much that she cannot be apart.

Deniz longs for a child of their own, but Cansu cannot conceive and is 24/7 occupied with the adopted baby. Worse still, she loses control of her faculties, and the baby is almost drowned on one occasion. On another, she is strolling with the pram when she is seized with trembling. She lets go of the pram, and it is almost crushed by ongoing traffic. Deniz calls Social Service, reveals the inside story, and gets the baby taken away. The biological parents are penalised for selling the child, and Cansu is distressed and divorces Deniz.

Harun and Cihan are meeting for forced business collaboration with Mafia boss Damir. Damir’s presence is a threat to the Gurpinar family, for he has kidnapped Dilara and Harun’s little son Alan and promises to do more as Harun tries to cut ties with him.

On the day of the signing, Damir excuses himself under the pretext of fetching a pen, and the entire conference is attacked by gunshots. Harun protects his biological son Ozan and dies in the gunfire. Ozan regrets not having accepted Harun as his father. As Harun’s rightful heir, Ozan is Damir’s partner. Ozan has no idea that Damir is behind the killing of his father as Damir has covered his tracks well and cleared all spies, and police allies, who were on the point of discovering his business. One of those spies was Hazal’s love.

Damir is introduced to Hazal by Asuman at a nightclub, and Damir is so fascinated that he barely knows what he’s doing. He forgets all he’s done to Hazal’s family and courts Hazal with cars, paintings, etc. Hazal is captivated by him and the fact that he is a tycoon. Cihan and Dilara come to know too late, and by that time, Hazal is adamant about marrying Damir. She has no idea the kind of man he is, nor does she want to know. On their wedding day, Dilara shoots Damir, nearly killing him. Her father-in-law, Rahmi, takes the blame and goes to prison.

Dilara’s biological father almost commits suicide, and Rahmi saves him. He promises to get Dilara and him together. Finally, the opportunity arrives when Rahmi takes the sentence due to Dilara and goes to prison. Dilara feels obligated when Rahmi requests she meets her dad. Dilara not only meets her dad but brings him home and introduces him to her family.

Cansu is cured of Parkinson’s after her treatment. Hazal meets up with Damir, and the two spend a night together. She and Damir enjoy some intense romance. She is packing to elope with him.

Ozan gets into one scandal after the other, the last one almost costing him imprisonment. His so-called friend had links to Damir, and Ozan had been set up. The girl with him is killed in her sleep. Ozan calls Cihan for help, and Cihan finds a way to bail him out. Ozan discovers that his biological father Harun’s death was not a freak accident; Damir arranged it. Asuman also tells Dilara that Damir was linked to the killings. Asuman has this privileged information because she is dating Damir’s right hand. Hazal faints in shock.

The police take Damir in.
Dilara and Cihan are getting married again. On their wedding day, Damir has bailed himself out and has set up his men around Cihan’s place. Cihan had once told Damir that if Damir marries Hazal, he must die, or Cihan must die. But as long as Cihan was alive, he would never let his daughter marry Damir. So, on the marriage day, Cihan has his men overtake Damir’s men and kill them.

Damir is in his office, confident that everything is going according to plan. However, he hasn’t a clue that he is about to meet his death. Under the disguise of a waiter, a spy man brings him a drink, and as Damir is sipping it and looking out of the window, he shoots him in the head. Later, in the lift, Damir’s right hand is also killed.

The Gurpinar family and the Gulpinar family are happy. All is well.

Broken Pieces is one of the best series I have watched, and I have seen quite a few. What is fundamental for the success of a series, in my humble opinion, is that the movements should be natural. Conflicts emerge from characters without external interference. The characters are three-dimensional, meaning we have the backstory about them, not in grand doses but little revelations at the right time. We need to understand why characters behave the way they do, what motivates them, their social standing, who they frequent, what turns them into beautiful and awful beings, etc.

Broken Pieces has done their homework, gave us 97 fabulous two-hour episodes, and kept us on edge. Every actor was in their element, be it a minor or major role. They had a presence and were believable, keeping us inside the loop and not looking from the outside.

Gulseren gave an award-winning performance, and it was a pity that she died. But had she not been taken away, we’d not discovered Dilara in her splendour. Cool, elegant, sophisticated, Dilara turns heads as she walks into the room. Although a mother of three, she is slim and hot in every outfit she wears. Her frosty reception of the people she couldn’t tolerate, how she shuts them up with a glance and a few words, is admirable.

Cihan and Harun were fantastic. Both took their roles of businessmen/lover/father/ and appealed to our senses. We were involved in their characters, concerned about what happened to them and loved, applauded and hated them.

Cansu and Hazal were excellent too, but I must say, I didn’t care for Hazal much as she was self-centred. Although we have seen her background and know why she is what she is, I could not tolerate her actions. The only moment I felt her pain was when Gulseren takes away all Hazal’s designer clothes, which Dilara buys her and goes off in search of Dilara. Hazal is sitting on the doorstep of her poor neighbourhood, clinging to a shoe or top (I’m not sure) that has fallen on the road and cries. Splendid performance. She never shed a genuine tear when her mother, Gulseren, dies. But there again, she is in her character – her love for wealth and her sophisticated parents.

Ozan is fantastic looking; however, like Hazal, he was a troublemaker. At times, how he treated Cihan, Harun and Dilara made me want to knock him down.
Rahmi, Kerima, Ozkan, Engin and Kerima’s friend were great comedians. They were entertaining even in serious situations and kept us in splits.

Asuman and Candan were sensational. I loved the scene when Candan and Dilara walk into Cihan’s office in their professional get up. Their stride, confidence, and beauty were unrivalled. Hats off to the costume designer and make-up artists.

Deniz and his mother also played their part well. Deniz, the attractive and dutiful son, later father’s boy and Cihan’s son-in-law. As Cansu’s husband also, he was formidable.

Damir has played the villain in several Turkish series; however, he projected a besotted lover and a ruthless villain excellently in this one.

I’d rate Broken Pieces a 5/5.
They scored on plot development, characterisation, conflict (internal, external and interpersonal), storyline and language. The subtitling was good. The music was pleasant. Great direction and cinematography. Hats off to you all.