Almila Ada as Cennet
We're repeatedly sold the idea that mothers are superbeings who can do no wrong and if they do, it isn't their fault because hey, they're mothers and mothers, like Mary, are untouchables.
But that's not the narrative on Telemundo's new series Cennet - The Power of Destiny which premieres this Monday 23 October at 21h00.
It's based on the South Korean series Tears of Heaven, it's Telemundo's first Turkish novela and there's a bad, mad mamma at the centre of things.
Not Cennet - she's lovely and brave and desperate for the motherly love she missed out on.
Her mother abandoned her as a baby and she was raised by her grandmother. She had a close childhood friend who filled that emotional void but she was dealt a double blow when he vanished from her life after an accident.
Flashforward to now >> and Cennet has managed to overcome her poor background. She's worked hard to become the top architecture student in her class and once she graduates, her school friend Melisa's mother offers her a fantastic job at her firm.
Yay for Cennet BUT... this takes her full circle, into the cruel animosity of the person who rejected her:
Cennet and Melisa's mother Arzu, played by Esra Ronabar
Selim, played by Berk Atan
First Cennet meets Selim at this firm and they discover that they're the childhood friends who lost each other.
They get close and rekindle their connection but this makes Arzu prickle with jealous spikes because she wants Selim for Melisa.
Then she sees a birthmark on Cennet's neck, identical to that of the baby she abandoned over 20 years ago.
And then she loses it. She becomes obsessed with the idea that Cennet's appearance is no coincidence and she has no maternal affection for her whatsoever.
She comes up with a plan to get rid of her from her life and gets out of control.
Which raises the question of why a mother would embrace one child yet reject another.
Must have something to do with the father surely?
You'll find the first teasers for it here:
Cennet - The Power of Destiny Teasers - October 2023
And a trailer: