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:
- 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.
- 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 Kuş, Sen 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!
