Sen Çal Kapimi Episode 22 Review

Well, so here we are. Changes. Lots of changes in this episode. Most notably, the introduction of a new character and the exit of some important players. 

As dizi romcom watchers, we should be familiar with the common writing tool used to extend the story and to help to keep the lovers apart for one more week. After having watched a half dozen romantic diziler, I can say that I have seen the introduction of a new character whose sole purpose is to be a rock in the path of the romantic couple multiple times. Every single show has used this, heck Kiralik Ask did it three times in its very long run. Do I love it? No. Did I expect it? Yes. Does it keep the main couple apart? Sometimes in the very short term but never in the end. Balca is simply a character construct meant to, in this case, I hope, make the main characters come to their senses about how they are just wasting time not being together. 

I don’t like any character who is two-dimensional in this way but the fun part will be to see how it plays out. Will Eda get mad? Freak out? Be calm and calculating? Serkan, I think, is going to love the jealousy, but he’d better play it cool because when Eda is pushed too hard we know she acts recklessly and he may well smirk himself right out of a reconciliation. 

We also bid farewell to a couple of original characters, Alptekin and Selin. The first wasn’t a surprise but I was sad to learn that Bige Önal was leaving as well. More on this later.

What I loved

Serkan and Eda

Serkan is now full-on into getting Eda back and has no hesitation whatsoever about making the necessary changes to be the man she needs. The difference this week compared to last is that he is also asking her to make some changes and meet him halfway on the path to reconciliation. I love this. He is confident enough now, both in his worthiness of her and in her love. He also recognizes that he deserves to be forgiven. This is a big step for our robot and one that is so great to see. Serkan has gone from being an angry, lonely man to one who is loving and kind. This is the real Serkan, the one hidden under layers of pain and trauma. Being with Eda and feeling happiness possibly for the first time since his brother’s death has brought out the old Serkan. This is why he has no problem making the changes in his behaviour that he has and why the changes will remain. This is who he truly is, Eda’s love and how that has made him feel, have unearthed the real man. So, when Balca says ‘I would never try and change you’ it doesn’t resonate because he’s only changing back into the person he was always meant to be.

As for Eda, she grapples with the notion of a changing Serkan and whether it is fair to ask him to change for her. This is why these two characters have been so popular with the audience because they are good-hearted people. Eda loves Serkan with all her heart and she truly wants what’s best for him. She doesn’t want to hurt him. He’s telling her he’s changing for her, but it’s also for him; it has to feel better for him to be the man he is now compared to how he used to be. When two people love and care for each other like these two do it is the most beautiful thing to watch. Eda’s transition is going to come when she truly trusts Serkan again. She is on the way there, but he hurt her a lot and in a very painful and humiliating way. He told her that she wasn’t important enough to give up on work for. It’s one thing to break up but to be told that you are just not important to someone is an extra hurt that she has to recover from. Plus, he lied to her repeatedly about it. It’s not easily forgotten. So I understand her reluctance to give him another chance just yet. 

But he’s more than ready to be back together and is back to teasing and playing with her. Playful and seductive Serkan is a joy and Kerem plays this so well. He kisses her again in the elevator, even after she slaps him, and when she tells him to get that smirk off his face he says he just can’t. He loves being with her and she loves it too. They spend just as much time together after they broke up as when they are together and it is obvious that they can’t stand to be apart. How many times are we at of Eda saying she’s leaving or she never wants to see his face again? A lot, that’s how many. When she suggests to him that she has brought colour to his life he tells her that she brought a whole rainbow of colour. This brings a smile to her face and he asks her if she liked him saying that? She says yes. I really, really loved all their interactions this week, these two characters adore each other and love being together. I don’t even care that they are not officially back together at this point, the way they are together is so great to watch.

She gets Balca hired to prove that she’s not jealous of her, oh Eda this impulsiveness gets you every time. To be fair, Balca does do a good job, but oversteps in so many different ways. Eda is busy helping Aydan win the club presidency and of course Serkan has to go with her. They end up at a pottery studio to try and get a vote from a member. And straight out of the movie ‘Ghost’ they are all wrapped up in each other at the pottery wheel. Serkan Bolat in all his buttoned-up glory getting his hands dirty with his girl. This was a very sexy scene and I loved it however, this does not make up for the lack of a real conversation that needs to happen between Serkan and Eda.

This is my complaint about how things are going with them. They are not actually talking about what’s going on with them with each other. Serkan is talking to Engin (and Sirius) and Eda is talking to the kizlar but they are not talking to each other. This new contract of Eda’s and the ‘punishment’ of Serkan’s three wishes are cute but not a good substitute for a meaningful conversation. I actually wish they would have a good, old-fashioned, screaming fight and layout all their grievances and hurts, only then, can they truly move forward. However, the terms of the contract that Eda put together prohibit them from talking about anything but work. Someone needs to burn that contract.

What I liked

Aydan transitioning to wholeheartedly supporting Eda and Serkan. She’s taking back her life and she’s full onboard for the Eda Serkan romance. 

The secondary romances moved forward. Engin and Piril got engaged in the most awkward way possible, which is par for the course for this romance. They are getting cuter together but it’s still a weird one. Ferit and Ceren seem to make some small amount of headway in their romance and I think it will run smoother with Selin out of the picture entirely. Erdem and Leyla ‘broke up’ which was funny but I still don’t like Erdem.

Ferit came clean to Serkan and apologized, and the new Serkan forgave him right away. I do hope there is a friendship brewing here but at least we can expect them to be cordial to one another. Ferit is an interestingly written character, he is the epitome of a beta male which suits Serkan’s alpha male tendencies. 

All the guys showing up at Serkan’s was hilarious as were his reactions to them just hanging out at his home. This is a man who used to make his girlfriend (Selin) and his mother make appointments to come and see him and now his friends (and Erdem) feel comfortable enough to just drop by. He shoos them out because he’s hoping Eda will show up but I hoping for more scenes with all the boys hanging out in the future.

What I didn’t like

Alptekin

Serkan’s dad shows up to ask for a divorce from Aydan which is what she wants and he tells her that they can have everything, he just wants his personal effects. I felt a bit sad for Aydan as she states that her 30-year marriage is over in 30 seconds, but she is much better off without him. He then goes to Serkan’s office to talk to him but the conversation is just basically Serkan telling him that he doesn’t want Alptekin in his life anymore. Alptekin says that he hopes Serkan forgives him someday and that if he ever needs anything Alptekin will be there. I find that hard to believe since it hasn’t been true up until now in Serkan’s life. That is the end of the character and he goes out without much fuss. This was not the ending I was hoping or expecting for Alptekin. He has so much to answer for and just gets to leave. No, hayir, there should have a least been some consequences for his cowardly, craven behaviour. 

Selin

Selin too departed the show this week. This is a bigger loss to the story and for me, it was an unsatisfactory goodbye to a pivotal character.

She also gets to depart without any consequences for her actions, although she will have to live the rest of her life knowing that the man she loves never loved her back, so that’s something, I guess.

She comes clean to Serkan about the contract leak because Efe has backed her into a corner and wants her shares of the holding. I was unhappy that she got to lay out the whole story to Serkan while Eda, Ferit and Ceren just stood there, because of course, she made out that the three of them were just as much to blame as her which isn’t true. She tells him she will transfer her shares to him. She overhears Balca telling her friend how handsome Serkan is and decides to set Balca on the path to being an impediment to Serkan and Eda. Selin tells her all the details of Serkan’s life that will help her win him over. It’s Selin’s last revenge against Serkan and Eda. 

I’m sorry to see this character go and I really was hoping for some sort of redemption for Selin. She has been such an important character, if it wasn’t for her it’s likely Serkan and Eda would have never gotten together as the original contract was put in place because of her. I understand if it was the actress who wanted to go as her character was descending into the cliched ‘scorned woman’. However, the one consistent criticism I have for the writing of the show is the villains and their downfalls. Kaan, Efe, Alptekin and now Selin all just kind of went out with a whimper. Selin makes her goodbyes and the other characters simply acknowledge that she’s leaving. Good villains deserve a great exit, a big fight, getting arrested, falling off a cliff, something more dramatic than ‘see ya’. Think of Aylin getting arrested in Erkenci Kus, crying and screaming as she’s loaded into a police car, that was so satisfying, this was just meh.

Balca

I feel sorry for this actress coming in, she has to know that the audience is automatically going to hate her. The character is simply a plot device to be an impediment to Serkan and Eda. She has decided, because her horoscope said she would be with a man with the initials S.B., that Serkan Bolat is the man for her. Oye vey. She overs steps her boundaries and comes to Serkan’s late at night for ‘work’ and gets herself invited in for dinner. New Serkan allows this and Eda shows up to see him holding her hand for some reason. Again, a predictable plotline at this point in romcom storytelling, a misunderstanding and a delusional woman who has set her sights on the male lead. We are just going to have to grin and live through this part. I’m hoping we are going to at least get feisty Eda out of it. 

What needs to happen next

• Babanne is coming!!! After weeks of anticipating this character, she is finally here! Will she be a dragon lady? More sympathetic? I’m very excited to see what they do with her character 
• Eda and Serkan need to start talking, enough with the ‘contract’ and the wishes
• Now that Aydan is fully team Eda, Ayfer needs to come to love Serkan
• I’m thinking that they are keying up a romance between Ayfer and Chef Alexander

So, all in all, a great episode for Eda and Serkan, some plots points I wish they had handled differently, and a new character for us to hate. I’m perfectly fine with Balca if they play it for the comedy (Eda being jealous but pretending not to be) rather than for the angst. I can’t believe that Eda would ever consider that Serkan would have feelings for or want anyone else but her. He has been consistent in telling her that she is the only woman he has ever loved and I can’t see that Balca could do anything that could shake her faith in him in that regard. Her issues with him are about trusting him with her heart not in not having faith in his feelings for her, he broke up with her while being in love with her. A subtle difference that needs to be overcome by talking to each other!