Maraşlı: Episode 3 Review

Plot Summary 

The third episode of Maraşli opens with flashbacks to scenes from the previous two episodes and we then have the Grey Room agents asking Celal if he has ever been in love. The non-linear storytelling used in the series compels the audience to really pay attention, or risk losing the thread of the story. Again, it is unclear as to when these interviews/prep sessions are in the timeline, are they before he meets Mahur, after he meets her, both? It’s unclear. And why would two government agents/police officers be interested in whether he’s been in love? Is this a warning not to develop feelings for Mahur?

We progress to the conversation at the very end of the last episode when Celal warns Mahur that it’s someone in her family that wants to kill her. She thinks that he is crazy and leaves him standing there. 

That night she can’t stop thinking about it so goes to Celal’s house to talk to him again. She still doesn’t believe him, but he tells her that Savaş will be set free. When she is leaving, he realizes that she is still being followed and stops her car and gets in. Celal directs her and they stop and Celal once again beats up and disarms the thugs. Turns out it's Savaş lawyer and two goons who want to make sure that she didn’t make any copies of the pictures. She hadn’t. He takes her home and warns her again to be careful but she still can’t believe that anyone in her family could want to kill her. 

The next morning, Mahur is watching videos of her mother and it seems as if her mother is trying to tell her something important but her brother interrupts on-screen and her mother doesn’t get a chance to say anything. She mouths something to the camera but not understanding Turkish I have no idea what it was and it isn’t clear if Mahur did either. 

She meets up with Celal in the morning. She is understandably skeptical about him stating that someone in her family is in on the plot to have her killed and asks him why he would think such a thing. He tells her that Savaş mentioned to him about Celal having been in Afghanistan and that he had told her family about being there in his military service. She scoffs and says that Savaş could have learned that from somewhere else, but he tells her that he has never even been to Afghanistan, he lied to the family. She thinks that it isn’t enough evidence to prove that her family could be working with Savaş and goes home. 

Savaş is released from jail because the photo evidence has gone missing and Savaş now wants Mahur to withdraw her testimony that she saw him kill the prosecutor. She tells him she will not do that and he threatens her again. Once Celal learns that Savaş is out of jail, he decides that he needs to take custody of Mahur. She isn’t on board with this idea and tries to escape out of the car. He chases her down on foot and tackles her and we have the first of several charged scenes between them as he lays on top of her. He finally has to chloroform her to subdue her and drives them to a remote house in the mountains. 

They spend the night with Mahur trying to escape a couple of times without much luck but she eventually contacts her father who piles into a car with her brothers and Ozan to go and get her. Savaş learns of her whereabouts from someone in the family and heads out to get to Mahur before her family can. They all end up meeting on the road to the mountain house and Savaş takes control of the situation. He takes Ozan and Mahur’s father car to lure Mahur out and puts Aziz. Ilhan and Necati into one of their cars, zip-tied to door handles and sets it on fire. 

The last scene is of Ozan leading Mahur to Savaş, willingly or unwillingly, it’s unclear at this point, and Savaş extending his hand to her while Celal in the house is shooting the henchmen with a sniper rifle. 

Episode Analysis

Another fantastic episode although a little slower than the two previous ones. There was more focus on character and relationship development, specifically Mahur and Celal, and less focus on furthering the story. The bond is slowly being created between them as Mahur starts to become suspicious of everyone in her family. There is definitely a bigger picture here, bigger than her having witnessed a murder and the murderer wanting to eliminate a witness. If her family is involved what is the story there and where else will this lead? If Celal is indeed meant to infiltrate the Türel family and has been trained to do so, that all happened before Mahur took the pictures of the murder so what else is happening. Who are the shady Grey Room people?

Celal is still having Stag dreams, this time there a mural of one on a wall, he draws his weapon even though it is only a drawing. Is this a memory or a trigger that the shady Grey Room people have implanted in his brain? I’m still not convinced that Celal is doing all this voluntarily. He has said a few times that people must remain true themselves. 

They only ask him about love in this episode and he says that he has never been in love, even though he was married, and acknowledges that love changes a person. He says ‘she’s not for me’ to the woman in the Grey Room and she replies “then you mustn’t fall in love”. It seems obvious then that Mahur has been the target for Celal to get close to and I am looking forward to the explanation of how Mahur was maneuvered towards Celal as the meeting in the bookstore seemed so random and he wasn’t very pleasant or welcoming to her. 

It seems like Celal has a team as there is someone watching his house for him and his housekeeper is in the know and unafraid. It makes it seem less and less likely that Mahur just happened to stumble into his bookshop. 

Mahur is stubborn and pigheaded but it makes sense that she is totally skeptical of what Celal is trying to tell her about her family. Firstly, it would be hard for very many of us to imagine someone in our own family wanting us dead, secondly, Celal doesn’t have any concrete evidence to show her, thirdly, him kidnapping her doesn’t instill confidence. She a tough cookie though and almost gets away from him and comes very close to shooting him so, although sometimes she grates on ones’ nerves, we have to admire her grit. 

What is the story about why Mahur was kept away from her mother until after she died? I can see them keeping her illness a secret so that she would stay at school but if her death is imminent it seems cruel to not allow her to come and says goodbye to her mother. Was there something else going on that the family didn’t want her to know about?

Romantic elements

There is an obvious physical attraction between Celal and Mahur and this episode has several incidences of a growing allure. Is this why the Grey Room people are interrogating Celal about love are they afraid that he will fall in love with Mahur and jeopardize the mission? He is very respectful of her and doesn’t make any moves on her but there is a connection and she acknowledges by repeatedly asking him why he is trying to look after her and keep her safe. She can’t figure out why she is important to him. 

She falls ill and he takes care of her and tries to reduce her fever by bathing her with cold water. She is a bit delirious and has dreams of her mother. He makes tea for her and even reads her a poem. She leans on him for comfort and asks him to stay with her because she doesn’t want to be alone. 

Cinematography, Symbolism and Music

Maraşli is a beautifully shot series. This is Director Arda Sarigün first primary director gig after cutting his teeth as a second unit director on such series as Çarpişma and Icerde amongst others. He and the director of photography Hakan Okumus (Merhamet, Muhteem Yüzyil: Kösem) bring an atmospheric tenseness to the story. Especially in this episode, they frame shots to both draw you into the story and then out again as they intercut the scenes of Celal and Mahur in the mountains with shots in the Grey Room and the character’s dreams. It is occasionally challenging to know if what we are watching is happening in real-time or is a flashback or a flash-forward. This lends itself to the feeling of being off-kilter as the characters, most especially Mahur, must also be feeling. Non-linear storytelling is a great device but it has to be done well or you risk turning the audience off because things are too hard to follow. So far, Maraşli keeps everything flowing and as the audience, we are hooked on the mystery and all the layers of intrigue. 

Our Stag is still present and in this dream, Celal is very wary of it. Could it be trigger implanted or is it just a memory? Our mountain man brings Mahur to a house in the mountains. Is this a safe house or his house, is he unconsciously trying to bring her closer to him?

Great use of music in this episode and it stood out more than in the two previous episodes. Particularly the duet between Cem Adrian and Sebnem Ferah was outstanding in the scene when Celal is tending to Mahur during her fever.

Who’s suspicious

All the members of the family display some level of shadiness so let’s look at each of them.

Ozan

Is seen surreptitiously texting someone in the car on the way to get Mahur and Savaş chooses him to come along to pick up Mahur. He is knocked out by Savaş’ right-hand man but this could be misdirected. 

Ilhan 

Has put the company into a lot of debt, could he be really strapped for money and have fallen in with a bad crowd? He does pull a gun on Savaş and threaten to kill him and save his sister but again could this just be a bit of theatre? 

Necati

On the surface, he seems to be very fond of Mahur but expresses to their maid that he actually hates everyone. Is he this much of a misanthrope to be okay with killing his sister and what would be his motive for working with Savaş? He also seems much more coherent compared to previous episodes, is his alcoholic act beginning to slip?

Dilşad

She is overheard talking to someone on the phone about the men in the family going to pick up Mahur.

Firuzan and Aziz

Neither seems to have the motive or inclination to be the person in the family behind the threat to Mahur but that could change over time. 

Final Thoughts

Another outstanding episode and the series is receiving a lot of positive feedback and increased ratings, all well deserved. Maraşli seems to be one of those rare gems where all the elements of a hit series are present, tremendous actors, amazing story, and filmmakers adept at creating the kind of atmosphere and visuals necessary to hook the audience in and keep their interest. Tell your friends, tell your family, this really is the series to watch for 2021.

*Rumi- Başak Yarınlar