Monday, November 29, 2021

Random Dizi Ramblings: Aşk Mantık İntikam, Sen Çal Kapımı, Secret Babies, and Time Jumps

Happy Monday! I have so many dizi thoughts running through my head, and I just need to get them down. Who knows? Maybe there's someone out there thinking about the same things. Or maybe this will just be cathartic for me. Either way, these words need to be said! (Also, I'd like to take back 95% of what I said when I wrote about Aşk Mantık İntikam before. I had no idea what was in store ...)

Lately, my biggest dizi obsession has been Aşk Mantık İntikam. I started watching after about eight episodes had aired, and I was quickly all in. The leads have some of the most insane chemistry I've ever seen, and the show - about a couple (Esra and Ozan) reuniting two years after their divorce - was so fun to watch. And then it all fell apart. Ozan proposed to his friend Çağla out of anger after misunderstanding something Esra said. Then he married Çağla out of pity with the understanding that they would quietly divorce. Çağla developed psychological problems, slept with her ex, accidentally injured Esra but then left her for dead, sabotaged Ozan's company, sexually assaulted an incredibly drunk and unable to consent Ozan and lied to him about what happened, and is currently passing off the child she is pregnant with as Ozan's when it's really her ex's. 

Now there's a time jump and a secret baby (Esra and Ozan slept together one time, which in diziland pretty much always will result in pregnancy). While I hate what the show has become (and it probably should've just ended with a different ending to episode 10), I have a little hope. Why? Because I've seen this movie before, and it ended well. 

Let's look at Sen Çal Kapımı. This show started as a romcom, but then it became ... something practically unrecognizable. The episodes in the SÇK 30's were, simply put, awful. Serkan's amnesia went on far too long, Selin pretended to be pregnant with Serkan's baby, Eda was tricked into marrying Deniz, there was an incredibly strange and never completely explained murder mystery episode, and Serkan got a brain tumor. I - and many others - only continued watching because of Hande Erçel and Kerem Bürsin. And then season one ended, the original writer came back, and season two brought back that SÇK magic.

Season two of SÇK started five years after the end of season one ... and featured a secret baby. I had my doubts heading into it, but Kiraz (the secret baby) was the best thing to happen to the show. The season was all about Serkan finding out that Kiraz was his, Serkan and Eda reuniting, and the Bolats finding their happily ever after. I loved every second of it. I know some people believe you need to have a villain to keep the story going (this is apparently the theory the AMİ writers are going with), but a show without a villain can be so fun to watch ... and it's much less stressful! Serkan and Eda still faced conflict, but there was no Selin in the way. The potential other love interests (Burak and Deniz) were so not even remote possibilities that it was laughable. And watching Serkan with his daughter was just so heart warming. 

The difference here is that I have great faith in SÇK scriptwriter Ayşe's writing*, while I don't trust the AMİ writers as far as I can throw them. Could it be wonderful to watch Ozan getting to know his son with Esra? Of course. But the rumors say that Ozan has been raising Çağla's child. Years have passed, and none of Çağla's lies have come out? Ridiculous. Also, I hate that Ozan missed out on Esra's pregnancy. This is speculation, of course, and maybe production is running a long con and none of these rumors will be true. Maybe the time jump is a way to get Çağla off the show (or, you know, she could just enter a mental hospital ...). The trailer that was released today shows Ozan meeting Esra's son ... who calls Çinar "daddy." This little twist actually gives me a little more hope, as it logically means one of two things:

  1. Ozan has no contact with Çağla. Çağla and Çinar have been thick as thieves, so if Çinar is raising Esra's child, Çağla would know about it. And she certainly wouldn't keep that a secret from Ozan (though she would definitely frame it up as "Çinar and Esra's" child.
  2. It's a ruse, and Çinar and Esra haven't been together all this time, but Çinar is helping Esra save face and not be labeled an unwed mother when she returns to Turkey.

Of course, AMİ writers have never been driven by logic, so it could be that somehow Esra and Çinar really have been raising Ozan's son together while Ozan is raising Çağla's daughter, and Ozan has been kept in the dark for years. But, sensical or not, I'm curious to see where this will go.

Ultimately, since the writers/production/FOX were unwilling to actually have any of Çağla's deeds come to light, a time jump is the best option. The audience will only stay around for so long, and this viewer was certainly ready to jump ship. With a time jump, things can be reset (and hopefully they will be). I'll even be OK with a shift to Çinar being the villain ... just please, please, please don't let it remain the Çağla show.

I guess we'll see what happens when the new episode airs Friday. FOX has been canceling shows left and right, so I'd imagine they'd like to keep AMİ around for a while ... but what do I know? I just hope that, whenever the axe finally falls, Esra and Ozan get an actual happy ending, and Çağla doesn't get a redemption arc**.

*I will watch anything Ayşe writes. It's magical. See: Erkenci KuşSen Çal Kapımı

**This is one of my biggest beefs with dizis. The villains hardly ever face any real repercussions. Çağla needs to do some prison time.

If you're watching Aşk Mantık İntikam, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Let's chat in the comments!

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Kara Para Aşk (Black Money Love): Bölüm 1 (2014)


Series Summary (from Fun Network):
 Omer is a police officer. After the death of his fiancée he suffers great pain. Sibel, Omer's fiancée's, body was found on the top of a cliff, in a car next to a fairly old, rich business man. After the shock of her sudden death and the accusations of his love cheating on him, Omar realizes that there is more behind her suspicious murder.

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Aşk 101: Bölüm 1 (2020)



Series Summary (from Netflix):
 While trying to make their teacher fall for a basketball coach, four misfits and a model student find friendship, love, and the courage to be themselves.

I'm watching this because at this point, it's like "why not?" when I hear about a dizi. I actually watched the first episode long ago, as I stumbled across it on Netflix, but it didn't grab me. After more than a year of being fully immersed in dizi culture, I was ready to give it another shot.

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Episode Reaction: Aşk Mantık İntikam Bölüm 10

I know ... I haven't even written about Aşk Mantık İntikam's first episode yet. But I had to get these thoughts down now, and this seemed like the perfect place to do it!

I just finished the episode that sent the fandom into a meltdown. And while I can understand why people are upset, also, I kind of feel like we've seen this movie before, and we survived. I can't imagine that the Ozan-Çağla relationship will be nearly as maddening as amnesiac Serkan and Selin in Sen Çal Kapımı. I realize that SÇK left some fans with a bit of dizi PTSD, but I figure if I can survive the SÇK 30's, I can survive anything diziland wants to throw at me! (It probably helps that I'm so wholly satisfied with SÇK season 2...) Also, I happen to love fighting Ozan and Esra, so bring on the hurt, angst, and yelling.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Erkenci Kuş: Bölüm 1 (2018)


Series Summary (from IMDb):
Sanem, a young girl with aspirations of becoming a writer, is forced by her parents to choose between an arranged marriage and finding a proper job. Rushing into a new job at an advertising company, she soon falls for her boss, Can.

I watched this because I stumbled across this gif in a "sweet and clean" romance group I'm in on Facebook.

Monday, August 23, 2021

I'm Back!

Hi, friends! This blog has been dormant for seven years. Honestly, I never expected to post on it again. And then ... I found the dizi, and a whole new (and wholly wonderful) world of television opened up to me.

I wrote a post on my other blog about how much I'm loving dizis, but I thought that constantly posting about them might be too much for my regular readers, who come for book recommendations, not dizi gushing! So I'll be posting here every so often. My initial thought is to keep the old format and review the first bölüm (episode) of several dizis, and then also write season and/or series reviews. Who knows, maybe you'll catch the dizi bug and find your next favorite show!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Friday Night Lights: 1.1 "Pilot"

Series Summary (from IMDb): The trials and tribulations of small town Texas football players, their friends, family, and coaching staff. (I love how succinct it is!)

I'm watching this because: I've heard so many good things about this show—from critics, from my sister, from friends. I purchased the series for about $40 from Amazon a couple years ago, and I watched the first episode about four times at different times, but it just never grabbed me ... until now. After I finished The West Wing (one of the most addictive and satisfying viewing experiences of my life), I decided to give Friday Night Lights another go.

Recap: The pilot episode follows the week leading up to the Dillon Panthers' first game of the season. Football is life in Dillon, and the football players are revered. New head coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) is under extreme pressure to deliver a win—and perhaps a state championship. Starting quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) is the team's star, and he's looking forward to guaranteed college scholarships ... until he is gravely injured in the season opener. Backup Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) saves the game with a last-second Hail Mary.

Reactions: For whatever reason, the fifth time's the charm. Even though I basically knew what would happen, thanks to my previous four viewings of the pilot over the past two years, I was riveted to the screen, and I immediately watched the next two episodes, as well. I love, love, love Coach & Tami Taylor (Connie Britton), I think Saracen is adorable, and, for the first time ever, I get why Taylor Kitsch (as bad boy Tim Riggins) was supposed to be the "next big thing."

Keep watching? No question. I'm completely smitten!

Watch it on Amazon or Netflix.
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