A wise woman once said, There is no greater bond than that between sisters. Those words couldn't be truer for Star TV's Sevgili Geçmiş. Friday (October 25) saw the official premiere for the much-buzzed about Sevgili Geçmiş (Dear Past) and its truly no surprise why, as the premiere surely delivered a majorly compelling drama.
Sevgili Geçmiş follows the story of three sisters, who grew up unaware of each other's existence. One day, İpek [Sevda Erginci], one of the three sisters receives a mysterious letter, alerting her to the fact that she has two others sisters – one named Deren [Melis Sezen], the other named Çilem [Elifcan Ongurlar]. An excited İpek who has since her childhood longed for siblings, immediately writes letters to her sisters, inviting them to her upcoming nuptials to one Tekin Bey [Yurdaer Okur].
Çilem is the first of the two sisters to receive her letter, well not exactly. Çilem lives with her very best friend named Azra [Özge Özacar]. While Çilem is out worrying about the implications of her confirmed pregnancy, Azra discovers the letter from İpek at their doorstep and subsequently reads it, after informing Çilem of its existence.
This letter couldn’t have come at a better time for Azra as things in her life had just gone up in flames, after the folks in her music band involved her in a theft, she had no pre-existing knowledge of. A letter in hand offering a potential escape, a ruthless rich man on the other hand, ready to turn the world upside down to find Azra and his stolen belongings.
Then came Deren’s turn to receive her own letter. Unlike Azra, Deren immediately brushed the letter off as a fraud - no surprise there. Why? Unlike her other sisters, Deren was adopted into a wealthy family, hence her upper-class habits. Additionally, she graduated top of her class in a prestigious medical school.
After ripping up İpek’s letter, Deren takes up the ‘joke’ of the letter with her [adopted] family, unbeknownst to her, what they’d reveal next will change her life forever.
İpek! İpek! İpek! Through the episode, every scene in which the character İpek interacted with other characters, it was clear she was a ray of sunshine – loved very much by everyone in her neighbourhood.
Imagine our surprise upon learning the man she would be marry physically abuses her every chance he gets. Unfortunately, domestic abuse is not new, especially in Turkish dramas, but it surely still has the same effect every time, scene after scene.
Tekin, İpek’s then soon-to-be husband, is about twice her age, and per the brief flashbacks we saw, he had his eyes set on her since she was just a little girl [pislik gibi]. Speaking of when she was little, it turns out Tekin was partly to blame for the death of İpek’s [adoptive] father as his move to their town, resulted in the loss of all the properties owned by İpek’s father. You’re probably wondering now why İpek agreed to marry him. Keep reading…
As circumstances would have it, Deren and Çilem [well Azra] both needed time away to clear their heads, thus, they both depart Izmir, marking the turning-point of their lives as they know it.
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While the wedding plans unfold, Azra Çilem is the first to meet with İpek. Having just suffered another round of Tekin’s abuse, seeing Azra Çilem for the first time brought a massive smile to İpek’s face. In that instant, of meeting who she thought was her real sister, all her worries temporarily washed away.
Now that she had met her, İpek wanted to know every little detail of Azra Çilem’s life growing up. While the two “sisters” bond, a distraught Deren makes an appearance after being rescued from a terrible accident, by Burak (Kenan Soykan). On meeting her two “sisters,” it was clear Deren grew up very differently from them. For one, İpek wanted to share a hug with Deren like she did when she met Azra Çilem but Deren was quick to put out her hand, asking for a hand-shake instead. For Deren, this was a journey of quick discovery, not in any way meant to be permanent. Little did she know.
Shortly after the sisters get acquainted, İpek’s adoptive mom was quick to point out to them the scars of İpek’s body, thanks to Tekin. For İpek, these scars just meant she was one step closer to getting everything that was taken from her father years earlier. For her mom and her “sisters” on the other hand, this was a hell-no to her marrying Tekin. After much back and forth, İpek does not back down – her wedding to Tekin must happen, come hell, come high water.
In the midst of all the chaos, the real Çilem is discovered by the aforementioned rich man whom Azra and her folks had stolen from. Since he couldn’t get his hands on Azra, Çilem became the object of his victimization, as she endlessly claimed not to know about Azra’s whereabouts – a matter of fact, as just the night before when Azra, who was already on the run, had called to give Çilem a very important message, Çilem’s fiancé had picked up the call and warned Azra thoroughly to stay away from Çilem. A warning Azra may have taken in reverse, as she ended up in a whole new town, pretending to be the long lost Çilem.
With all preparations now completed and the day of the wedding finally here, İpek marries Tekin in a flower-filled ceremony in the garden of his mansion. Of course, a wedding is the time to have fun – well, at least for everyone but Tekin. In celebration of her “sister’s” wedding, Azra Çilem serenades İpek and the other guests at the wedding with a beautiful Turkish song, a celebration that is soon cut short by Tekin’s furious stares.
As if there wasn’t enough chaos already, Tekin’s son Seçkin (Sinan Malik) makes an appearance. His existence of course came as a surprise to İpek but that wasn’t the biggest shocker of the night…
Nonetheless, it was clear in the few minutes of his appearance that Seçkin was no fan of his father’s. Per our conclusion from the short conversation between the father and the son, Tekin had likely killed Seçkin’s mother [aka she was a victim of his domestic abuse as well] and attained all of her wealth after she passed.
Though his own background remains a mystery, Seçkin’s backstory is sure to be explored through the continuation of the series.
With the wedding now concluded, guests begin to leave. This only means one thing – more room for Tekin to become the monster that he is and torment İpek. Only this time, it’s different. A married İpek fights back - retaliating when slapped by Tekin.
A drunk Tekin immediately begins to make threats, serious threats, threatening to kill İpek if she reveals to anyone what happens in their home, outside of their home. A scared İpek immediately begins to run for her life, unlike before, she’s found hope and shelter in her sisters. Securely but temporarily locked up in a bathroom in the mansion, İpek immediately calls her sisters to come rescue her from a very furious Tekin. Though they had really just met, Azra Çilem and Deren do not hesitate to return to the mansion to help İpek.
This is pretty much where all hell - literally - breaks loose. In between wanting to rescue İpek from Tekin’s tight grip, Deren accidentally pushes him, accidentally tossing him off the balcony just above the stairs of the mansion. Panic ensues as Deren and her sisters think she had killed him. Not so fast – Tekin awakens and begin strangling Deren. Things soon come to a sudden halt, when a scrambling Azra Çilem hits Tekin in the head with the nearest object she could fine, resulting in his demise. Suddenly, in the course of a couple of days, these three go from not knowing of each other’s existence, to being at the centre of a murder cover-up together. 
As with every murder plot, especially with first-timers, the evidence of the crime is all over the place.
How will İpek explain the disappearance of Tekin? How will these sisters, who only just met, keep a secret so big? What will happen when the real Çilem begins her own journey to discovering her family? Which of the three “sisters” will be the first to crack?
Tune in to Star TV every Friday at 22:00pm Turkey Time for more of Sevgili Geçmiş.
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Side Note: We learned that the title of the show is based on a really life superwoman – who after years of putting up with her husband’s abuse, killed him in self-defence. During one of her court dates, she was seen wearing a shirt that read - "Dear past, thanks for all the lessons. Dear future, I am ready" – Read about Cilem Dogan.