Alev Alev: Season 1, Episode 19 Review

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Ep 19 Cover

Summary:

Cemre returns to Çelebi's house to be near Gunesh, however, Çelebi doesn’t make it easy for her.  He gives Cemre a condition for her to stay – she has to agree to cancel the divorce.  When Cemre refuses, Çelebi promises everything will be different and he won’t treat her the same as before, however, Cemre doesn’t believe him.  He tries to explain that he was always afraid of her leaving him since he was traumatized from when he was a child, so when he feels like he’s going to be abandoned, he becomes a different person as a coping mechanism.  When Cemre still refuses to cancel the divorce, Çelebi gives her an ultimatum, she either cancels the divorce and agrees to act as his wife in public or she leaves.     

The following day, Ruya goes to Çelebi's house to see Cemre and takes the police with her convinced that she’s being held there by force.  However, Cemre tells her she’s there of her own free will and has decided to cancel her divorce.  Ruya is shocked at her decision and leaves but later, Cemre calls her to tell her she’ll explain what’s going on in more detail when she gets the opportunity. 

Later, Çelebi has his first election event and forces Cemre to attend as his wife.  While they wait to make their appearance, they have an argument when Cemre tells Çelebi that he will never change no matter what he does.  She tells him deep down he’ll always feel worthless because of what his birth mother did and all the love and attention he gets from the public will never be sufficient for him.  Celebi tells her he doesn’t want anyone else’s love except hers, but Cemre tells him she will never love him again, so he grabs her but immediately stops himself.  He accuses her of intentionally driving him crazy so she can then later play the victim.  Before they get into another intense argument, they’re interrupted to make their appearance. 

As they mingle throughout the evening, Cemre notices Ozan so she escapes for a few minutes from Çelebi to speak with him.  Ozan tells her he’s worried about her but Cemre tells him she’s fine because she has an agreement with Çelebi.  When Ozan insists on her leaving, she tells him she will leave but not without Gunesh.  Ozan attempts to tell her about the investigation into Çelebi, but Cemre refuses to listen.  She insists that he return to his life as if she never existed, but Ozan tells her it’s not possible because he can’t stop thinking about her and her safety.  She assures him that she will destroy Çelebi before she leaves their house with Gunesh.     

Once they return home, Cemre finds the door to her room locked.  Çelebi explains that she be staying with him from now on because their agreement is over after discovering that she is still planning against him to destroy him behind his back.  Apparently, he overheard her conversation with Ozan during the event.  Cemre threatens to tell everyone about how crazy and insane he really is, but Çelebi threatens her with Gunesh.  He warns her that he will do what he wants because no one has the power to stop him.  

 

The investigation into the artifacts has some developments.  Sinan informs Ozan and the group that the artifacts are worth a lot of money because they belong to the Tiberius Emperor era.  He explains there is a smuggling ring where the artifacts are transported or sold into other countries and auctioned at illegal events.  Sinan points out a similar event that occurred a few years ago that involved historical artifacts that were also stolen from a dungeon-like place that was being restored, which was approved by Çelebi.  Ruya mentions they were also restoring the building where the fire took place, so Ozan explains Çelebi is using the restoration as the cover to smuggle the artifacts.  Ozan asks Sinan how they can stop them, but Sinan tells him it’s a big organization with dangerous people, but he promises to do more research to try to give him more information and names of people who may be involved.    

Later, Ozan learns there’s a secret group of associates who work with Çelebi involved in illegal smuggling, which leads them to a family of a man who was found guilty of smuggling artifacts who worked for Dursun Yaman, Çelebi's partner.  They discover the man died a few years ago so Ozan and Ömer visit the family to try to get information.  His daughter, Begum, informs them that her father was an innocent assistant director who noticed the illegal activities during one of his inspections.  When he mentioned it to his boss, they tried to pay him off, but her father decided to report it to the police when he suffered a car accident.  She says it was too much of a coincidence that the accident occurred the same day he was going to report the illegal activity.  Eventually, he was blamed for everything by Dursun Yaman.  Ozan and Ömer ask her if she’s willing to testify, but her mother interrupts their conversation and tells them her daughter is not testifying and kick them out of her house. 

After Altan and Ozan obtain additional information on current historical renovations being handled by both Çelebi and Dursun, they plan on following their steps to catch them in the act, however, they need to know their movements.  When they attempt to contact Cemre, they discover she is not answering her phone, so Ozan communicates with her via Gunesh.  He visits her at her school where he gives her a note for Cemre, who secretly gives it to her.  The note informs her they’re making progress in their investigation into the artifacts which led them to a discovery that Çelebi is one of the key players in an illegal smuggling organization.  He asks her to find information about the partnership between Çelebi and Dursun so they can use it against him.  

Çiçek has new issues to deal with now that Tomris is in jail.  Iskender arrives at Tomris’ house after Atlas asks for him since both Tomris and Cicek aren’t home.  As Iskender spends time with Atlas, Çiçek returns and surprises them both.  She tells Atlas she received his note, so she returned for him and promises she won’t leave him again.  After Çiçek puts Atlas to bed, she finds Iskender waiting for her to find out why she didn’t leave with Ali.  She explains she returned because she couldn’t leave Atlas alone and Ali refused to understand her connection to Atlas and insisted on moving and starting their own family away from everyone.  Iskender tells her he appreciates her unselfishness and reminds her she can call him whenever she needs anything. 

The following day, Çiçek, Iskender, and Atlas spend the day at the park but when they return home, they find Ali waiting for her.  He becomes mad when he sees them all having a good time together, and before he leaves, he tells Çiçek now he understands why she didn’t want to go with him to Antalya.  He accuses her of liking Shimal’s life since she gets to wear her clothes, live in her house, and be a mom to her child and accuses her of falling in love with Iskender.  At that moment, Iskender interrupts and confronts Ali which leads to an altercation, however, Çiçek steps in and tells Iskender that Ali is not worth it.  After Ali leaves, Iskender tries to assure her that he’ll return after he calms down, but Çiçek tells him she hopes he doesn’t because the words he said to her hurt her more than her scars. 

Later, Iskender locates Ali and attempts to speak with him, but Ali fights with him instead of listening to him.  After they each throw a few punches, Iskender insists there is nothing going on between them and also insists that Çiçek is in love with him but Ali refuses to believe him.  Ali asks Iskender if he loves her, but Iskender refuses to answer and just reiterates that Çiçek loves him and leaves.

Ruya visits Çiçek, who tells her what happened with Ali.  Ruya becomes concerned when Çiçek says Ali thinks she was flirting with Iskender, so she suggests it would be better if Atlas stayed away from Iskender since he’s his mother’s killer.  Çiçek defends him and tells her Iskender becomes a completely different person when he’s with Atlas which further concerns Ruya.    

The following day, Ali visits Çiçek one more time and asks her to pick between him and Atlas.  She tells him she loves Atlas and will be his mother from now on.  When Iskender accuses her of not being the same person, she agrees that she changed after the fire because she was ready to die but she’s alive because of Atlas.  Before Ali leaves, he tells Çiçek he wishes she had died in the fire.  Later, Bulant arrives demanding to take Atlas.      

 

Ömer and Ruya also encounter some relationship issues.  One evening as Ruya and Ömer return home, they run into Zeyno so Ruya decides to talk to her.  Zeyno tells her that she has no intentions of getting in between their relationship because she will be the reason they break up.  Ruya asks her what she means by that, so Zeyno explains that Ömer is not going to like it when she attempts to take him into her world.  Later, Ömer asks Ruya what Zeyno told her that has her so preoccupied, but Ruya just tells him that she doesn’t like it that someone else knows him better than she does so she tells him they need to start sharing more details about their lives and perhaps try to new things in their respective worlds. 

The following day, Ruya takes Ömer with her to her office as she makes a quick stop to pick up some legal files and run into Serkan.  He tells them they’re on their way to dinner and ask them to join him and their legal associates for a business dinner.  Ömer refuses but Serkan insists so reluctantly Ömer agrees.  During dinner, Serkan and his friends grill Ömer about the type of antiques he sells.  Later, when two of the associates talk in the bathroom about how they can’t believe Ruya is with a guy like Ömer, they bet how long it will take for her to leave him and get with Serkan.  However, unbeknownst to them, Ömer is also in the bathroom and overhears their conversation.  They get into an altercation that moves into the restaurant and eventually in front of Ruya.

 

What I Loved:

I really loved how Gunesh is always supporting Cemre and understands the importance of keeping information secret from her father.  She acts so mature and does whatever she needs to do for her mother. 

I loved that Ms. Aysha took the time to check on Cemre, who assures her she’s doing the right thing by being by her daughter’s side to make sure she’s safe.  Ms. Aysha, who confesses her name is Hanim, finally tells Cemre her story that she also divorced her abusive husband and ran away with her daughter, and were forced to live in shelters because her husband promised he would kill her.  She explains she was finally able to get an apartment, but one day when she came home, she found a note from her husband telling her to go to a location to get her daughter.  When she got there, she found her daughter dead.  Ms. Hanim confesses she’s been carrying 6 bullets for the past 17 years, five for her ex-husband and one for herself.  She tells Cemre to do what she has to do until she’s ready to leave Çelebi's house with her daughter safely.  After Ms. Hanim leaves, Cemre gets worried about her so she calls Uzun to help keep an eye on her.

 

What I Disliked:

Ali was such a nice guy in the beginning but then turned out to be a horrible human being.  I hated when he made Çiçek decide between him and Atlas.  I also hated when he told her he wished she had died in the fire.  He refuses to understand Çiçek's situation otherwise he would be more compassionate and realize that she has gone through a traumatic event that changed her both physically and mentally.     

I disliked Serkan judging Ömer when he doesn’t even know him.  I think he’s just jealous because he sees that Ruya is really in love with him.  I also didn’t like how his friends were all obviously trying to put down Ömer, but he didn’t let their cheap comments affect him.  He obviously understood what was happening and didn’t care.    

 

My Thoughts:

I’m glad that Çiçek finally stood up for herself with Ali who kept giving her ultimatums.  It was so unfair to expect her to just leave Atlas after everything they have both been through since the fire.  Even after Çiçek explained that she sees herself in Atlas, Ali was still not understanding.  She was right – he doesn’t know her and doesn’t deserve her.  I also loved the scene where Çiçek explains to Ruya what she’s been dealing with and emphasizes to her that she needs her to understand her not protect her since Ruya thinks she still has to continue to protect her friend.  I don’t think Ruya has acknowledged that Çiçek has changed and isn’t the naïve girl anymore.  We haven’t really seen them interact a lot lately, but I hope that changes because they will definitely need each other to lean on as they encounter more relationship issues. 

Although I really liked seeing Atlas happy and spending time with his two favorite people, I’m not a fan of the pairing of Iskender and Çiçek.  I will never forget the fact that he left her and Ruya in the fire AND that he was responsible for the fire.  Also, Iskender is not mentally stable.  He just spent the night with his friend Arzu so that will only add more drama to his list since it’s obvious that Arzu truly loves him.  

I really loved the scene at the end with the lanterns that Ozan used to demonstrate to Cemre that he’s always thinking about her, it was such a beautiful gesture, just like Ozan.  But when Cemre also lit a lantern and Ozan saw it, it just melted my heart because he understood that she too was thinking about him.          

Last Updated: Mar 25, 2021 21:08 pm (UTC) Filed Under:
Author
Dee Lo ~ Guest Contributor
I love Turkish dizis. Huge fan of Tolga Sarıtaş and Ayça Ayşin Turan.