Sen Çal Kapimi Episode 27 Review

Episode 27 has turned the page into a new chapter, both in the story of Sen Çal Kapimi and in the writing direction of the show. We were treated to a true display of romantic comedy this week and the love story has finally progressed to the reconciliation phase. This episode was very enjoyable and makes me hopeful that, for as many episodes as we have left, we will get to see our lovers together and happy and defeating any challenges coming their way together.

The new writing team seems to be getting their feet under them and finding a story direction that is not only palpable to the audience but has them enraptured. In general, I firmly believe that a story shouldn’t be told strictly to make an audience happy. However, having come in well into the narrative I think it’s important to judge where the story is, what the audience has already suffered through and take that into account. If you don’t you run the risk of turning the audience off and losing them altogether. I think we saw this in the reaction to episode 25, the episode was poorly received because it appears as though the new writing team was introducing a whole host of new characters who would serve to keep Eda and Serkan apart for several more episodes. But we had already had 12 weeks of separation and we were nearing the end of our patience for it, so the collective fandom was not onboard with the likelihood of weeks and weeks more of no forward movement in the relationship between Eda and Serkan. Now, this is all speculation on my part, maybe this is how they had always planned these last few episodes to run, but it doesn’t seem likely that they would introduce three adversarial characters and not plan for them to do what they are supposed to do, keep the lovers apart. 

However, this week was our reconciliation. It was spectacularly done in that we not only got Eda asking Serkan to marry her on the plane, but later Serkan setting up a romantic scene in a smoky piano bar to ask her too. I have such appreciation that these two characters are equals and he wasn’t trying to one up her but he wanted his story to tell to their kids too. The set of these characters as full partners and equals is one of the many reasons they have resonated with people all over the world. This isn’t the story of a wealthy business man who comes to love the poor but good hearted woman, which is a dizi staple. This is the story of two damaged people finding their heart and soul in one another and working out their differences and finding their strengths to build a life together. 

What I loved 

How do I express my joy at finally having Serkan and Eda together without any secrets left between them. They have found their way back together after some fairly serious impediments and even some current challenges in the form of Babanne. Eda in particular had a lot to overcome to be able to throw caution to the wind and claim Serkan as her love. She has the worry of what her grandmother may do in retaliation and also her promise to her aunt to contend with. But she rightly decides that she is stronger with Serkan, he deserves to know how much she loves him, and her happiness is something worth fighting for. She decides on the big gesture of meeting him on the plane and presenting the rings to him. He is surprised and thrilled that she is willing to come to him in such a way. This whole episode was Serkan displaying all the love in his heart for Eda and Kerem did a masterful job in showing this with body language and facial expressions. I think it speaks to the chemistry and compatibly of Kerem Bürsin and Hande Erçel as actors how they can believably portray two people desperately in love even when they don’t say anything. Their rapport is sexy, but also funny, teasing and smart.

They end up not going to Paris, and have to go back to the office, where Engin, Ferit and Ceren are and where Engin is freaking out about kidnapped Piril, who fortunately shows up not long after. This gives Serkan the idea to tell everyone about their engagement. It’s so cute that he can’t wait to tell everyone the news. Their friends are thrilled for them and there are hugs and kisses all around. Next, they drop the bomb on Babanne who declares that they will pay for this choice. She also seems to be staring at Eda’s ring and it’s been established that the Yildirim family has a jewelry empire so is Eda’s ring, that Serkan picked out for her, one of their creations? That would be a great nod to destiny. 

They then head to Ayfer’s but she has already hypnotized poor Melo into spilling the beans about the trip and Eda proposing. Ayfer can’t believe it and calls Aydan who comes right over. Turns out neither parent is happy about the news, Ayfer because the of the Alptekin’s involvement in the death of Eda’s parents and Aydan because Eda’s grandmother is out to ruin all the Bolats unless Eda and Serkan stay away from each other. I’m beginning to think that Ayfer lives in her own little world because when Eda and Serkan arrive she is convinced that they are broken up, even though they are standing together with their arms wrapped around each other.

She has also been under the impression all these weeks that their hasn’t been anything going on between Eda and Serkan. Ayfer in the first part of the series was shown to have some sort of intuitive gift, she smelled a rat with Kaan right away, but she missed the undying love between her niece and Serkan? This character inconsistency is one of the many things that are maddening about this character right now. Aydan’s reaction I understand better, she’s scared that Eda’s grandmother will hurt her son, so if it comes down to choosing Serkan’s safety or his happiness she’s choosing to protect him, no matter how much she loves Eda and would actually like to see the two of them married. 

All the scenes of Eda and Serkan were so great, all the kisses, handholding, soft touches were so long in coming. Especially for Serkan, he is a man who has been holding back for so long and now he wants to express his love in any way he can, including making plans to shout it from the Eiffel Tower. He got to express it very eloquently in his proposal to Eda at the empty club and it’s one of the many times I wish I spoke Turkish to fully appreciate his words. 

The engagement party and the henna night were both very fun and funny and a great change from all the angsty stuff we have had in previous weeks. I loved seeing the Kizlar all together again (I'm glad Fifi is back and I wish they would give her a storyline) and that they are including both Leyla and Piril in their activities now. 

The other main thing I loved this week and the thing I am willing to give the new writers ALL THE KUDOS for was the comedy. This was an incredibly funny episode. They harnessed the comedy chops of all of their players to the ever-loving benefit to the audience. This cast is not only incredible talented but are each individually very funny, we have seen that in all the backstage content we have got from them. They were allowed to show this off in a way they haven’t before, so in a week where we got two marriage proposals I would still say this was the funniest episode they’ve ever done. The scenes with Engin and Piril’s dad, Erdem and Tahir’s new friendship, unpacking all the dowery items were all very funny. However, the best scene was the one of Chef Alexander arriving at the engagement party to ask Ayfer to come and work for him but what everyone else interprets as him asking for Ayfer’s hand in marriage. Apparently a lot of this scene wasn’t scripted, it was ad-libbed by the cast and you can tell by the amount of character breaks and sly laughing that is caught on camera. Cagri Citanak in particular is seen cracking up in the background and even Kerem seems to be laughing a couple of times. This is precious, not only in the fact that the writers and director trusted the cast enough to just let them go, recognizing they would likely give something as funny or funnier that would be written, but also in the demonstration of the camaraderie and talent of the entire cast. 

What I liked

Secondary romances

I’m finding Ceren and Ferit as a couple very cute and I like that they are unproblematic and sweet together now that Selin is out of the picture. They were not a couple I could have foreseen at the beginning of the show, but they work and I’m interested to see where they go.

Engin and Piril will always be a bit baffling to me, but I think they are meant be used more for comedy than for romance in SÇK. I guess Piril’s dad is former mafia and is testing Engin to make sure he is deserving of Piril, this is much less scary than I thought it might be and ended up being very funny thankfully.

Tahir seems to truly like Melo, I was worried at first it was a ploy by Babanne to get information to use against Eda. I love that Melo is not interested and has no problem in letting Tahir know, the surprised high-five that Fifi gave her after she tore a strip off Tahir was hilarious.

Ayfer/Aydan/Alex

Unfortunately this is still a thing, but their interactions were much less cringe-y this week and Alex was even a bit of a hero in convincing the mothers that Eda and Serkan’s love is true and they shouldn’t stand in the way. He was also very funny in the misunderstanding at the engagement party so kudos to actor Hakan Karahan for being able to improv so well with the rest of the cast.

Erdem

This was one of the only, if not the only episode where I actually liked Erdem. Don’t get me wrong, I think Sarp Bozkurt is fantastic and he is very funny in real life, but I generally find Erdem to be incredibly annoying. I like that he has a new friend and they two of them are fun together in an odd couple kind of a way. 

What I dislike

So very little I didn’t like this week. 

Balca is the weakest link in the story at the moment. Her continued belief that she is destined to be with Serkan is pathetic and her lack of charisma to carry off the demented psychopath role just makes her scenes a drain on the story. As I said last week, in order for this kind of character to work they need to be a true villain, we need to be afraid of what they might do. That is not being delivered here with Balca, she is just annoying and not dynamic enough to carry any weight. I’m assuming that she won’t be around for very much longer and her character really was a misfire. The same could be said for the Prince, I was hopeful until the end of the episode that they had just sent him back home without any fanfare, with the kidnapping he’s reared his head again but I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t actually see him onscreen in the resolution of the kidnapping.  

Ayfer is the other issue, although she seemed to come around by the end of the episode. She knows what her mother is like, and yet does nothing to shield Eda, knows that Eda loves Serkan but refuses to acknowledge it, she knows what her brother went through but tries to do the same to Eda. Her character needs a bit of rehab. 

What needs to happen next

• I would definitely love weeks and weeks of happy Eda and Serkan doing happy couple things with their friends. We have had more than enough angst in the series to warrant several episode of funny and happy scenes and I don’t think the ratings would suffer if they gave the audience that
• I’m assuming by the fragman that the kidnapping of Eda is resolved quickly, I would love to see over protective and out of his mind with worry Serkan with that
• I couldn’t decide if Balca knew that the drink was drugged because she is also working with the Prince or she just pretended to pass out, but regardless she needs to go
• I would actually be onboard for a Melo/Tahir romance especially if he helps to defeat Babanne because of it

So, one of the best episodes of Sen Çal Kapimi in a long time and possibly the funniest one to date. I loved the serious romantic scenes but also really loved the comedy as it was organic to the characters and not too over-the-top or slapstick. I would be 100% on board if the writers decided to buck the usual trend of not allowing the characters to be happy for too long and let these gorgeous, lovable people be happy until the end of the series.