“Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”– Rumi
This week made me think a lot about all the different types of love that are portrayed in Sen Çal Kapimi. Being a romantic comedy, it isn’t surprising that love is the main theme, but we don’t only have romantic love. Familial love, love in friendship, unrequited love, and self-love are all represented in the various relationships that all the characters of the show experience. I have appreciated the variety and depth of the love that the characters have towards one another. It’s a hopeful message during a sad and scary time that there is love in the world and it’s there for you if you need it.
This week’s episode was both the best of times and the worst of times, to steal a bit from Dickens. We have Eda and Serkan committedly in love and we have the news of the truth of Eda’s parent’s death being told to Serkan, who is devastated. Ayse Üner Kutlu and her writing team never want her characters to get too comfortable and happy; something terrible is always right around the corner whether they realize it or not. So, the question is, can Eda and Serkan keep their love alive given that his dad is indirectly responsible for the death of her parents. Will love of family triumph over romantic love or does it have to? Can Eda keep her parents' love in her heart and still love Serkan?
What l loved
Eda and Serkan TALK to one another! They each have their own insecurities about each other and about their relationship, but they talk about these. Serkan rightly guesses that Eda is feeling insecure about his relationship with Selin and makes sure she understand that he views Selin as a friend and nothing more. They also talk about Eda leaving for Italy, she is skeptical that he will be able to go with her when the time comes for her to leave, but he tells her that he has already bought a house and rented office space in Rome. She is flabbergasted and emotional at the level of commitment that he has toward her, Serkan is determined not to lose her and is willing to make all kinds of changes to his life to accommodate her and her dreams. I think that’s something that Eda wasn’t expecting. But Serkan is experiencing true deep love for the first time in his life and he is unafraid of it, even if he may still have fears that Eda will get bored of him.
I actually enjoyed the interactions Serkan and Selin had in this episode. Selin has every right to be furious with him for playing games with her life, and I think that she must be on some level, but it seems he’s also the person she goes to for comfort. This is the crux of their relationship, their life-long friendship, so even when they are at odds or have hurt one another they still have that bond. I don’t particularly like the Selin character, I think she is mostly responsible for her own misery, but I did like the representation of the familial-like love that she and Serkan share. I’m guessing that he was never in love with her but he does love and see her as his family, as we learned this in this episode.
“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” – C.S. Lewis
I was so happy that Eda told the girls about her relationship with Serkan and they were excited and happy for her, even Fifi who has been the most negative about their fake relationship. I’ve said before how much their friendship and the strength of their bond is a joy to watch and now that the love that Eda feels for Serkan is real they are standing solidly with her. Each of Eda’s friends is unique in personality and in the qualities they possess but they are alike in their deep love of one another. These kinds of friendships are uplifting to watch.
I genuinely laughed out loud at the meeting of Aydan and Ayfer. When Aydan spilled the news that Eda and Serkan were truly together and they had a mutual freak out and doused each other in cologne, that was hilarious. I so want these two to be best friends, they are actually so similar and would be so good together. I think that Aydan was truly touched that Ayfer, knowing that Aydan can’t leave the house, came to check on her.
I really, really loved that Leyla hugged Serkan, twice! It’s magic anytime she and Serkan interact, I wish they gave her more to do, and we got some background on their history. He had checked up on her after a surgery, made sure she had good doctors and paid for her sister’s schooling anonymously, although it seems like the office knows but never said anything. Serkan really is anything but a robot but has a hard time demonstrating his emotions or his affections, up until now at least.
What I liked
Eda and Serkan’s conversations with their families informing them that they were in love and together in a relationship. Thankfully the secret of that only lasted one episode. Serkan was particularly blunt in telling his parents that this was happening and they were just going to have to get used to it.
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
The romantic getaway at a random house that Serkan owns was nice, but weirdly edited and entirely too short. I did like the musical choices and that house is amazing. The next morning was wonderful as Serkan very adamantly declared that yes he was going with her to Italy. It was the only time that they got any alone time, which seemed a bit strange, but I believe there were some production issues and maybe that’s all they could put together.
Alptekin apologized to Serkan in the hospital for making him feel as if he loved Serkan’s brother more. There’s a very deep valley between father and son but it seems like Alptekin recognizes that and is willing to make some effort to try and connect with his remaining son. It’s also nice that Alptekin and Aydan seem to be getting closer. I want to like these characters so they need to stop being bad parents and just love their son.
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”
– Albert Schweitzer
I like Ferit and Selin having it out. He told her that he overheard her talking to Serkan on the balcony at Art/Life, which kind of took the wind out of her sails as she really can’t deny that she has mistreated him. I don’t think these two should have ever been engaged, as it was a response to get back at Serkan I’m convinced, and a bad ending could be predicted. It was terrible that he left her at the wedding table, she didn’t deserve that public humiliation but he was right to leave her. I think it’s ironic that Aydan says that Eda is unpredictable and flighty but it’s Selin who got engaged to a man she didn’t love and sold away her stock in her family’s company on a whim.
Piril and Engin’s relationship seems like it’s still on, the writing for them seems so strange but I assume it’s because the actor who plays Engin had to take some time off so they wrote him as off to Qatar for business without informing Piril.
Jealous Serkan is always fun to watch, the new character, Efe, is paying some attention to Eda and Serkan definitely doesn’t like it. It wasn’t quite ‘drain the pool’ level of jealousy but Eda noticed and I always enjoy her little smirks when he’s being ridiculous.
Leyla and Melo having it out about who would be Efe’s assistant was cute.
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What I didn’t like
Aydan and Ayfer teaming up to break up Serkan and Eda. Why is this necessary in the story? There is enough stacked against them to make this particular part of the storyline redundant and annoying. Why can’t Ayfer trust Eda when she says that she will go to Italy and follow her dreams and that loving Serkan won’t derail that. I also thought it was unfair of Ayfer to tell Eda that she has to not take any compliments that Serkan makes about her work at face value. Basically, she’s implying that Serkan will tell her that her work is good only because she’s now his girlfriend. This is overly harsh and we have seen that when it comes to the work Serkan won’t accept anything less than excellent, even from her. And Aydan really needs to get over whatever it is that is keeping her from fully embracing Eda as Serkan’s love. This character has been a bit inconsistent in this. First, it was the issue with them being from different social classes, then she came to appreciate Eda, now Eda is too unpredictable to be right for Serkan. The writers need to pick a lane with Aydan and stick with it.
The introduction of the new character. Don’t get me wrong, for now, I like Efe bey. But it seems like another unnecessary addition to a story that’s already pretty busy. I’m assuming he is going to be working on behalf of Eda’s grandmother, that was her on the phone with him, right? Is he being paid by babanne? Is he a long-lost relative of Eda’s?
Both Melo and Ferit need to learn to not be so open about the information they give out. I swear neither of them has any sort of filter. At least though, it doesn’t seem to come from any sort of malice. Melo blabbed Selin’s story at the office and Ferit told the whole Eda/Serkan/Selin story to Efe. For now, Efe seems like a good guy, but he’s armed with some great information if he isn’t what he seems.
Putting aside the almost unbelievable coincidence of Alptekin’s company being the one that built the house that collapsed on Eda’s parents, the fact that it was seems like an almost insurmountable obstacle being placed between Eda and Serkan. I have faith that they can overcome it but it’s such a heavy topic for a summer rom-com. I wonder if this was the purpose of Eda haven’t been set up as such a forgiving person, to show how it is and what it takes to overcome something of this intensity and magnitude. I’ve put this is the dislike category simply because it’s going to be terrible when she finds out and I’m going to need someone to hold my hand through it.
What needs to happen next
Eda’s grandmother needs to be coming soon, right?!
We really need to get the whole story on Serkan’s brother.
I would like some more story for the kizlar, especially Fifi, all she has done lately is give Erdem the evil eye. These are such bright and engaging characters, I would really like the writers to give them something more to do.
Alptekin should be the one to explain to Eda about his responsibility in her parent's death. It shouldn’t be left up to Serkan to have to tell her. Having said that, I’m sure it will fall to Serkan to do it. This is going to be so awful, but it needs to happen right away.
This may have not been my favourite episode, there was entirely too much office/business stuff and not enough with Eda and Serkan for that, but I absolutely didn’t hate it either. From what I gather there were some production issues, and this may have been filmed the week they had that bad hail storm, so it might have been a bit more hastily put together than normal. But the writing is still strong, the characters are incredible, the cast is amazing and so engaged with the fandom, that I think we can cut them a bit of slack for some of the issues in the episode. Turkish television filming pace seems insane and I don’t know how they manage to put out a feature-length film for us every week.
We have some heavy, angsty storyline ahead of us and I am so looking forward to seeing how Ayse and the other writers pull Serkan and Eda out the other side. I believe in a happy ending for these two, it may take some time but I just don’t think they would have crafted such an amazing love story to doom it to a bad end.
I am going to give a shout out to Kerem Bürsin's performance again this week if I had only known last week what this week would hold. The final scene when he learns about his father's involvement in Eda's tragedy was soul-wrenching and Kerem played it so beautifully. This was a portrait of a man, who might very well be happy for the first time in his life, hearing that it could all be ripped away from him. He's devastated for so many different reasons. It was an amazing performance.
“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle
