Arıza: Season 1, Episode 1 Recap

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ariza

Ariza is a drama about love and revenge in the context of the criminal underworld of Istanbul. It isdirected by Recai Karagoz and written by Ozan Aksungur.  The two main characters are Ali Riza (Ariza) Altay played by Tolga Saritas and Halide Gurkan played by Aya Aysin Turan. 

Ariza is a taxi driver who served several years in the military but was not able to continue his education due to his father’s sudden death. He is now the principal caretaker and provider to his family.  Ariza lives with his mother and sister, Nihan, who is engaged to be married to Ariza’s friend.  The family is anxiously waiting for the arrival of their other brother, Mert, who has just completed his time in the army.  Ali Riza’s family is very close and they are all very busy preparing for Nihan’s wedding. 

Halide is a doctor who works in Van and is the only living child of Hasmet Gurkan, the retired leader of one of the most powerful and feared crime family in Istanbul.  She prefers to stay away from the family business after surviving an attack eight years prior, which left her mother and two brothers dead.  During the attack, masked men shot and killed her family but miraculously spared her life.  One of the killers tore Halide's infinity necklace from her neck and kept it as a trophy.  The episode later reveals that the masked men were hitmen sent by Fuat Ersoylu, Hasmet’s “adopted son”, in an attempt to take over as leader of the Gurkan empire. And that Burak Ersoylu, Fuat’s son, is the killed who kept Halide's necklace. Burak is an obnoxious, privileged psychopath.  He loves his criminal life, especially because he manages to get away with everything because of his family connection and power. He’s obsessed with Halide and is dead set on marrying her. 

 

Synopsis:

Right from the beginning, the show grabs viewers' attention with an action scene during a stormy night showcasing Ariza’s expert fighting skills.  It ends with him pointing a gun to Burak Ersoylu’s head.  This scene is a preview of the ending. Thus, the entire episode consists of a flashback to a few days earlier. Slowly, that characters in the story become known and the events that led to the confrontation between the two men are revealed. 

The Ersoylu family is hosting Hasmet’s birthday party, where Burak plans on proposing to Halide. When Burak gets the opportunity to speak with Halide alone, he tells her that he purchased a hospital and asks her to be his partner to help him run it.  He uses the hospital as an excuse to get her to move back to Istanbul. Halide, however, rejects his heavy-handed offer. Before Burak is even able to propose to her, Halide informs him that she does not want any part of his plan. This infuriates Burak, who has a temper tantrum while speaking to his brother Murat. He then proceeds to tell Murat about his involvement in getting rid of the doctor who was interested in Halide in Van.  Unknowingly, Halide overhears his confession and confronts him.  She tells him that he’s a crazy and obsessed man, leaves the party, and gets into Ali Riza’s taxi. 

Burak reaches the taxi before it leaves and attemps forcibly to pull Halide out of the car.  Ali Riza cannot abide by the violence against Halide, and proceeds to defend her.  Burak’s bodyguards attempt to beat Ali Riza. However he takes them one by one, including Burak who is left stunned on the street as he watches the taxi leave. 

Ali Riza takes Halide to the taxi cafe since she doesn’t feel like going home yet.  She explains the situation and warns him of how dangerous Burak is.  She asks him to leave town for a few days so that Burak does not find him. Ali Riza, however, refuses to leave. He says that he is not afraid of Burak. Moreover, he cannot leave because his sister is getting married the following day.

The following day Burak is still fuming at the taxi driver and plots revenge.  Murat attempts to convince him to forget about Ali Riza but to no avail.  When a meme on social media of the fight between Ali Riza and Burak surfaces, the latter goes ballistic and orders his bodyguards to investigate the taxi driver. In this way, Burak finds out about Ali Riza’s sister’s wedding and decides to crash the party.

The fight meme goes viral causing much concern with Hasan Kirbas, Ali Riza's employer, and friend.  Familiar with the crime world, Hasan warns Ali Riza to take extra precautions, while the latter continue to dismiss any worry.  Halide too becomes aware of the meme and decides to attend the wedding to warn Ali Riza of the potential danger posed by Burak.   

Ali Riza and Halide

During the wedding, Ali Riza’s family and friends are enjoying the festivities.  Ariza is surprised when he sees Halide but is grateful for her concern.  He invites her to stay and sits her next to him and his family.  This arises Fusun Yilmaz's jealousy. She is an old friend from the neighbourhood, who is secretly in love with him.  As the family dances the traditional Lezginka dance, Ali Riza notices Burak and his men. With Halide, they approach Burak and agree to go with him to avoid a scene at the wedding.  However, Hassan notices the confrontation and gathers Ali Riza’s friends and prevents Burak from taking them anywhere. When a fight erupts between the two groups, Burak pulls out a gun to shoot Ali Riza. The bullet, however, ends up killing his sister instead.

Filled with anger and pain, Ali Riza and the family bury Nihan. The news of the shooting negatively affects the Ersoylu/Gurkan business when the police starts investigating the incident.  Fuad thus informs Hasmet and the other business partners that he will take care of the situation.  The situation makes Mithat Tekinoglu happy, since he was the one behind the meme. He is still angry at Hasmet for not choosing him as his replacement as head of the family business. Shaming Burak on social media was a clever move by Mithat to sow discord between Hasmet and Fuad and, at the same time, of taking his revenge on the latter.

In an attempt to clear his son’s name, Fuad arranges for one of their bodyguards to take the blame for the shooting. When Burak and his men are cleared of all charges, Ali Riza becomes furious at the injustice. He makes a surprise visit to Fuad’s business to inform him that Burak should accept his guilt and receive the appropriate punishment, or he will take justice into his own hands. Fuad feels humiliated that a simple taxi driver would dare making threats against him at his place of business. In the end, Fuad warns Ariza that no one can touch his son without facing ultimate punishment.

As a precaution, Fuad hides Burak in their second family home along with several bodyguards. He orders Burak to stay in the house and avoid doing anything that might escalate the situation with Ali Riza.  Burak of course doesn’t listen to his father and calls Ariza to gloat about getting away with the murder of his sister, which further infuriates Ali Riza even more. In that instant, Halide shows up to offer her condolences and regrets.  She blames herself for Nihan’s murder.  Ali Riza is too focus on revenge to listen to reason, and storms away to look got their family friend, Muzaffer Cura, who can help him obtain Burak’s location. Halide thus goes to Hassan to inform him of Ariza’s intentions. While speaking with him, she notices her infinity necklace hanging in his café. Hassan informs her that one of his men found it on the street where Ali Riza and Burak had their confrontation at the wedding. At that moment, Halide realizes that it was Burak who stole her necklace, after murdering her family.

The last scene takes us back to the beginning of the episode. Ali Riza travels to Burak's secret hideout and, after finds and after disposing of the bodyguards, he confronts an extremely scared Burak.  

 

Review:

I am a big fan of action dramas, so I really liked this episode.  If the three fight scenes in the first episode are an indication of what’s to come, then I’m really looking forward to future installments. I was, however,  a little disappointed that there were only few scenes between Ali Riza and Halide.  The few scenes they did share, however, showcased a good chemistry between the two. Since theirs will not be a “love at first sight” type of romance, I welcome the opportunity to see their relationship evolve. 

 

Last Updated: Sep 19, 2020 19:06 pm (UTC) Filed Under:
Author
Dee Lo ~ Guest Contributor
I love Turkish dizis. Huge fan of Tolga Sarıtaş and Ayça Ayşin Turan.