Sen Çal Kapımı: Episode 36 & 37 Review

Do you remember what it feels like when you bump into an old friend, that warm fuzzy feeling of reconnecting and remember all the things you love about them? That what watching episode 37 was for me. I had liked episode 35, but mostly because the amnesia plot was finally over, but I truly loved episode 37 for the content and the return to the origin of most of our characters. 

This show certainly has had its ups and downs, no question. But episode 37 delivered in a way the series hasn’t in a very long time. Not a perfect episode, but we got to see the true, strong, epic love between Serkan and Eda for the first time in almost two months. In a love story that is an interminable amount of time. 

The other return were scenes that fit together to make an actual plot. There have been some great Serkan and Eda scenes over the last several episodes however they were either stand-alone scenes that had nothing to do with the plot or they were immediately nullified in the next scene, think of the great scene with them at the fireplace in 31 but the next scene was Serkan giving an engagement ring to Selin. I don’t know what the magic formula was for 37, whether it was the outgoing writers deciding to show what they really could do before they left or if it was the return of the second set of writers who had a hand in the direction of this episode. Regardless, we seem to be on a good track, and at least Serkan has fully come back to himself.

What I loved 

While I do not love the Selin pregnancy plotline I do love that it was the catalyst for Eda to draw her lines and say enough is enough. This poor woman has been through the wringer emotionally and this finally stab to the heart was her breaking point. I loved how they demonstrated just what a good person she is by having her choose to end her relationship with the man she loves for the sake of a child. We can argue the correctness of this action but she shows her compassion and her strength in walking away. I think though that she also left because her heart can’t take any more blows, the knowledge that Serkan was intimate with Selin and will have a child with him is too much for her to take. This is what she thinks, I am completely certain that he did not sleep with Selin. 

The Serkan who loves Eda above anything else and who would do anything to make her happy is back. In contrast to both amnesia Serkan and the Serkan we saw last week, this Serkan is the one that we and Eda love the most. Compared to last week when he just wanted to forget the past and move on, this Serkan realizes that there are some deep wounds to be healed and that even though he has all his memories back everything isn’t back to normal. This Serkan also remembers what a jerk he was to her when he didn’t remember and is willing to go after her, show her he loves her and wants them to process all their trauma together. Oh, how I have missed this man. He had a hard time trying to figure out why Eda was pulling away from him but he kept trying, even after he found out about Selin’s pregnancy the only thing he wanted was to figure out a way forward with Eda. It is a welcome return for this version of Serkan. The scene with him reading The Little Prince to her and she asked him to tell her about their future was so beautiful and was as romantic as the scene in episode 12 when they finally express their love for one another. We have been desperate for anything resembling scenes from early SCK and this was as close as we are likely to get. 

Melo has always been there for Eda but it was nice to have Ceren back and have the girl gang working together to help Eda. I can’t help but think that if Fifi was around none of the Selin nonsense would have been allowed to carry on (is it too much to hope that now that we know Ramo is ending will we get Fifi back before SÇK is over?). The kizlar are there for Eda to try and figure out if Selin is lying and when they find out that she isn’t, they are there to support Eda. It is so nice to have them supporting each other again. I have said it often, the love that these younger women have shared has been one of the highlights of this series for me.

Serkan and Eda spent a lot of time together and actually had one on one conversations. They need to have many hours more but it was a start. I understand that them not talking was a plot device to keep them apart but it has dragged the story on to almost the breaking point. All the scenes they shared, other than the pizza-making scene which was cute but a bit nonsensical, all the shared scenes allowed them some true reconciliation and also moved the plot forward. In previous episodes, yes they would share the screen but it didn’t mean anything to the story, even scenes like Serkan helping her with the terrariums or them trapped together in a cabin were great because that what the audience wanted but didn’t progress the story. I understand that they were trying to show that Serkan was falling in love with her again but they didn’t work because there was no follow through on those scenes or he would be nasty to her again in the very next scene, You can’t say that you are showing him falling in love with her again if you then have the character inexplicably tell her that she would be the worst thing he could remember. 

This the worst failing of this whole amnesia plot, the lack of Serkan demonstrably showing that he is falling in love again. In 37 he tells her that he fell in love with her again but we didn’t really see it happen. We were never privy to Serkan’s thoughts about this until episode 35 which was way too late to keep the audience engaged in the plot. As much as I hate an amnesia plot if it had been done with a little more deftness it would have been much more interesting and palatable for the audience. Where we the scenes of him wracking his brain to remember? Where were the scenes of him questioning his friends and family about Eda and his life with her? Where were the vivid dreams that he can’t explain but that leave him breathless when he wakes up? Why was he so nasty to her? Where was the dawning realization that Selin might not have been 100% truthful when she described his relationship with Eda? So, much was missed that would have shown us the progress in him overcoming his memory loss and finding that he loves her again. 

We got a contrite Serkan, who isn’t to blame for his amnesia but is responsible for all the things he did and said that hurt Eda afterward. He recognized, with a bit of nudging from his friends, that Eda was traumatized still and it would take a bit for her to recover. How great was it when Sayfi reminded him that he had been engaged to marry someone else? This is what we were wanting especially after last week when he apologized but then wanted her to just be over it, I swear if he said ‘sakin o’ one more time to her! It isn’t enough to just say sorry and move on we want the work it takes to come back to each other fully.

The soulmates feeling each other at the airport was ever so cheesy but I loved it. Eda could feel Serkan’s acute distress and came running. They are connected still by their invisible handcuffs and Eda knew that he needed her. From the fragman, it seems like she stays, and hopefully, nothing is wrong with Serkan. 

What I liked

I’m interested in Kemal and his previous relationship with Aydan. He seems like an interesting character and I am still convinced he will turn out to be Serkan’s father. 

Aydan, Ayfer, and Seyfi have turned into the threesome I had always hoped they would be. It’s too bad it comes so late in the series when Aydan and Ayfer both have been selfish, foolish characters. I cannot forget Aydan leaving Serkan in Selin’s clutches and not telling Eda that he was alive, her character can never recover from that, and Ayfer has been almost completely absent from her niece’s life falling apart. This, coupled with the terrible plotline with Chef Alex, has almost completely ruined these two characters for a lot of the audience including me, so it is hard to be happy about them finally putting the three characters together in a friendship that should have been so great. However, this being tv all the terrible things they have done will likely be glossed over or forgotten. 

What I disliked

Well, not surprising Selin’s pregnancy is what I dislike the most. Another cliched soap opera trope to keep the lovers apart, tamam. This is bad enough in itself but it also alludes to two terrible scenarios, Serkan and Selin having slept together in Slovenia when he wasn’t in his right mind, or Selin lying to everyone and the baby is Deniz’s. I am convinced that it’s the latter that is the truth, Selin is gaslighting Serkan into thinking that something happened between them that he doesn’t remember. This is just adding fuel to the dumpster fire that is Selin’s character at the moment. She knows that she and Serkan can never be together now that he has come back to himself so this is her last shot at making Eda miserable, that’s what it amounts to. She can’t have Serkan so she doesn’t want the two of them to be happy either, the problem for her now is Deniz, is he likely to let his child think that Serkan is his or her father? I don’t think so. Plus, if he is truly trying to win Eda’s forgiveness what better way than to tell her the truth about Selin.

Even if Deniz is willing to go along with Selin’s plan our man Ferit still has the pictures of Selin and Deniz kissing and that at least would make Serkan demand a paternity test. So, she really can’t sell this lie for very long, but I can see that she thinks this is her last opportunity to break Eda and Serkan. This has got to be the thing that finally makes Serkan cut her out of his life, right? 

Please tell me they are not cooking up a romance between Erdem and Leyla? This doesn't need to happen and they are funnier as co-conspirators and friends, Leyla deserves better.

Thoughts on episode 36

While not a terrible episode it lacked most of the elements that we were clamouring for in the show. Serkan’s apology for how he behaved was lacklustre and brief, Selin didn’t get the comeuppance she deserved and Serkan mostly just gave her a pass and wanted her to keep working at Art Life, Deniz got away with just one punch and it wasn’t by Eda, and the ending was horrible. 

We got some sweet Eda and Serkan scenes, including a Dirty Dancing lift that was cute but oh so corny. Serkan told her he would make things up to her but fell a lot short in the episode. He told her that Selin would be remaining in the company and was surprised that she was upset about that. If he said ‘sakin ol’ to her one more time, I swear. He needs to be a lot more contrite about how he treated her even if he has the excuse of amnesia. 

Eda is again separated from the man she loves through the devious machinations of an evil character. It’s too much. We deserve some happiness on the show that lasts for longer than half an episode. This unrelenting pain and angst are tiresome and I will never understand why show writers feel that happy couples don’t make good television. 

I don’t know what Bige Önal’s situation is and whether she will be staying on the show or not, but it seems like Sarp Can Köroglu is staying on. So, how much further they will take them trying to come between Serkan and Eda remains to be seen. 

What needs to happen next

• We need forward momentum from here, the writers are not allowed to backtrack us to a place where Serkan and Eda are not together
• Selin’s game needs to be found out sooner rather than later, and Eda and Serkan need to confront her. I was thinking that maybe why the writers have been treating her with kid gloves is because actress Bige Önal just lost her father and who wants to be the one to yell and scream at her after that, so we may not get the full comeuppance that we would have hoped for otherwise
• They alluded in the fragman to Serkan’s brother, could we be finally getting the full backstory on Alp? Please, please, lütfën

So, hopefully, this episode ushers in the full return of the elements of Sen Çal Kapimi that we have always loved, the epic love of Serkan and Eda, the amazing friendships of the kizlar, the unique parental roles, the romantic storytelling, and enough comedy to keep us smiling. It has been a tough couple of months as an SÇK fan, and although I am nervous as we have been fooled before, I am hopeful that we are heading in a good direction with good storytelling ahead.