Plot Summary
The intrigue and mysteries deepen this week as does the relationship of Mahur and Celal. The focus is on who knows what, why Mahur’s mother is trying to warn her, and how is Savaş tied up in everything. It seems like a lot of what we might have originally assumed were coincidences are not, but are in fact part of a larger issue between Savaş and the Turels.
Celal survives Ozan attempt to kill/wound him and tries to hunt him down. He is ultimately unsuccessful and this does make Ozan look very guilty. Celal does not however tell any of the Turels about what he witnessed between Ozan and Savaş, playing things very close to the vest.
Mahur has a friend's exhibit to go to, she checks in there during the day and Savaş makes sure that Celal knows they are being followed. That evening at the event, Savaş is present and he and Celal have a confrontation and Celal demands he leaves. As the exhibit goes on, a video of Mahur’s mother takes over the feed and she’s telling Mahur that her father made some mistakes and tells her that she’s living a lie. Mahur breaks down and Celal gets her out of there. In the parking lot, she’s a bit hysterical and he calms her down by embracing her and telling her that he won’t leave her, he will be with her every step.
The next day in court, Mahur retracts her statement about seeing Savaş kill the prosecutor. She’s done this so she can get her mother’s video from him. Before going into court, Celal had said to her to do what she thinks is right. Afterward, she asks him if he knows why she did what she did and he says he thinks he can guess. She wants him to understand her because he’s the only person she can trust. He tells her he does understand but she’s done the wrong thing.
Celal finds Ozan hiding out in a hotel and takes him to a safe house his associate has set up. He threatens him until Ozan tells him what he knows and admits that he’s having an affair with Ilhan’s wife Dilşad. Celal realizes that Ozan isn’t the guilty family member who was involved with the shooting of his daughter.
Savaş has become infatuated with Mahur and thinks that she likes him too. His right-hand man tries to dissuade him but he seems convinced. He invites Mahur to an old factory to retrieve the video and sets up with Aziz to lure Celal there so he can ambush and kill him in front of Mahur. When she arrives, he offers her the choice, the video, and Celal dies or saves Celal and he destroys the video.
Episode Analysis
The Plot
Another great episode but we are no further in understanding the mysteries that surround the Turel family. In fact, it seems like there multiple mysteries going on involving them, Savaş and whomever he works for, and the shooting of Celal’s daughter. It seems likely that we will have multiple red herrings, like Ozan was in this episode, that will lead us to believe one thing or suspect one person and then it will turn out not to be true. The premise of the show really is: trust no one.
Savaş is trying to lure Mahur in, but he answers to someone, is that person also interested in Mahur? Why does everyone want Celal out of the picture? Do they realize there’s more to him than being a bodyguard? Savaş at least knows that Celal has people working with him.
This week, like last, was more about establishing the relationships amongst the players and less about divulging any of the major plot points or really giving us any further knowledge about what is happening.
The Players
Celal spends most of the episode trying to chase people down, mostly Mahur but also Ozan. He is still a mystery to the audience as we don’t yet know who he really is, who he is answering to, or how much of his life’s story we can believe. He is building his relationship with Mahur; is this part of the plan or an unexpected side effect of spending so much time together. He shows himself to be a man who values honour, he calls Ozan a traitor for betraying his friend Ilhan and working with Savaş. Is this kind of assignment/mission something that he has done before or is he doing it only to find out what happened to Zeliş? We have seen him stumble with his cover story so do we think that this is not his usual job? Is he a police officer or special armed forces, is the army background his cover story or his real life? And what is up with deer? He is watching a nature program about deer when Mahur calls at night, will this just be a red herring and we will never find out why the fascination with deer/stags?
We are also treated to several interactions between him and Savaş and they are just delightfully snarky together. When they meet up at the art exhibit, Savaş compliments his suit and addresses him as ‘Mr. Bond.’ Celal responds by giving him his name, ‘Kun, Celal Kun.’ The interactions between these two actors are so great, Burak Deniz isn’t a particularly physically imposing man but he plays Maraşlı with an air of real menace and we believe that he is dangerous. Saygın Soysal as Savaş is much more physically scary. He’s tall and spectre-like, so between them, it’s two alpha cats dueling to see who can claim dominance. They have great chemistry as actors. It’s obvious that Savaş is used to people being terrified of him and Celal just isn’t and it’s throwing Savaş off. Celal hangs up on him, threatens him with a gun to his abdomen, and is generally unafraid of what Savaş might do. This creates an interesting dynamic and one not often seen, where the bad guy is crazy and ruthless and the good guy isn’t at all fazed by that.
Who knew sociopaths could be so funny?
Mahur has a death wish or is so distraught by her mother’s death and witnessing a murder that she isn’t thinking straight. She takes unbelievable risks and it’s hard sometimes to sympathize or understand her. She has to know that Savaş would kill her without a thought but she thinks she can get what she needs from him with no consequences? It doesn’t make sense, yet, why she is so reckless. She seems to rely on Celal but doesn’t take him on her more dangerous outings. Is there something more to this or is she just delusional and overconfident? She is also stirring up problems with her father. If she was really smart, she might do a little digging in the family before she talks to him and makes him suspicious.
Aziz proved that he has something to hide and also that he will go to great lengths to preserve the secret(s). He gives up Celal to Savaş to be ambushed and killed in order to get his wife’s video for himself. Interesting to know who Savaş was lying to, Aziz or Mahur, as he promised them both the video. Maybe he wasn’t going to give it to either of them, maybe he doesn’t have any more of it than what he showed at the exhibit.
Ilhan currently seems to be simply a cuckolded husband and a bad businessman, not a killer. Dilşad is having an affair with Ozan, and it seems to have been going on for a while, and she feeds Ozan information about what is going on in the family.
Necati is reeling from Aziz being willing to leave him behind in a burning car. He is devastated and seems to drink more than usual this week. He has declared himself a misanthrope but loves Mahur and Ilhan. He has a nice interaction with Mahur and gives her some comfort. He seems to be the least likely suspect to be the family member who threatened to kill Mahur, but we cannot discount him. As Celal says, ‘trust no one.’ He doesn’t seem to have any motive or part in the family secrets but we have a lot more story that is going to be told undoubtedly.
Firuzan is fake and fooling no one but Aziz. Is she just a woman out to marry a rich man or is she somehow involved in the family secrets too?
The Romance
There is some sort of romance on the horizon for Celal and Mahur, at least we are being set up to think so. However, Celal is an old-fashioned, traditional man and he is undercover so the likelihood of it actually turning into a relationship any time soon seems unlikely. There are definite sparks between them and they have that opposite attracts thing going on. It was lovely that she wanted to call him when she couldn’t sleep because she likes his voice.
She questions him a lot this episode, about himself, his relationship with Zelis' mother, and whether he loved her. She also asks if he thinks that her mother and Omer were in love, and he answers ' a man reads poetry to a woman he is in love with'. She says 'you read poetry to me', and he says that it's not the same.
It seems to be their thing now to sit in the car until the song they were listening to is over. She has a fond smile on her face as she indulges him in this whim. This week's song was Aglasam Mi by Koro.
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The Comedy
Some great one-liners and funny setups this week, who knew a murder mystery show would be so funny.
Some favourites:
- Necati tells Mahur that one of the worst sexually transmitted diseases is family.
- Savaş’ ‘Mr Bond’ line to Maraşlı and his response.
- When Savaş’ request to Aziz is met with silence he says ‘I can’t hear you, are you going through a tunnel?’
- Mahur angrily tells Celal not to treat her like a child he responds ‘as if there is a difference’.
- Savaş insists to his henchman that Mahur likes him or why else would she come to see him, the henchman responds ‘Well, we did threaten her.’
- Necati describing the clichéd story of a bodyguard dressed up in a suit taking the beautiful woman out for the evening was very funny and he told it beautifully. Celal and Mahur even have a lingering stare until she breaks the spell by demanding why he hasn’t got a black suit on. He tells her that Zeliş picked out the suit and he wears what she likes and she likes him in dark grey.
This Week’s Crazy Theory
This week, building on the theme of ‘trust no one’ I’m proposing a really outside the box theory. This is strictly me speculating, and I have virtually nothing to back this up, but, what if it’s Mahur who is orchestrating this entire scenario? She was kept away from her mother when her mother was dying. Perhaps when she returned to Istanbul, she played all her mother’s tapes, including the one played at the exhibit this week, finds out about the family secrets, and decides to take revenge on some or all of her family. I have no idea how Savaş fits into the situation but it would explain why she isn’t scared enough of him and does all these reckless-seeming things. Maybe they aren’t reckless but calculated. If we are going to suspect everyone we can’t count out the young, apparently innocent Mahur. It would be a fun twist to the story.
