dawnunderground

If we are just looking at it from his character's POV, there is one pretty big story thread I think they need to adress. One thing we did learn about him is how protective he is of Çigdem, and his voluntary departure right in the middle of the escalating tensions would seem a bit odd. This is like, what - the 4th family gathering recently that has ended in gunfire or an explosion. Poor Hande. Lady, if you don't follow through on breaking up with Ferhat after this, you need to at least stop going to his family events, c'mon now. They could revoke some parole or something I guess, send him back to prison. Or kill him during the gunfight. Presumably offscreen, but it's not impossible to shoot around his absence, and even give him (what in my opinion would be an unsatisfying) death. Çigdem could leave, as her storyline could also be over at this point. Which would solve the whole "but why would he leave her in danger voluntarily" problem. If she goes, so could her parents. . And if they go, I don't see them keeping Derman either. Now, if they just don't care about his character at this point, you could also keep all of those characters. They wouldn't themselves really be changed by his absence. The mom would maybe mention him, and even miss him, but that's really about it. And no one else, outside Ferhat has a very strong connection to him either. Bozo presumably trusts him enough he was fine plotting with him, but Bozo and trust are so whacky that it could have just been a gamble on Bozo's end, and not saying something particular about their relationship. But more importantly to me, what could this mean for the opening scene? Are we getting a time skip to cover his absence from the aftermath of the gun going off? Or just some careful filming around the room to hide that he isn't there, with a passing mention of his fate afterwards? Curious to find out! As an aside, I will say, if Azize leaves I will be upset. I know she kinda faded into the background once she teamed up with them, mainly being a Hülya wrangler, but I was still hoping for more with her. They've got an interesting set up with her and Mother Gülsüm becoming closer, and she could even have an interesting dynamic with Ceylan if they wanted to pursue it. Knocking on wood that they do have more planned for her, and that the thing with her son isn't the end of her story.

So good. First off, I think this was the first episode that felt it actually was written by the writers of HS - I was just talking about how only one of three is credited here, and it really has felt like 1/3 of the staff came over. And then we get an episode that was firing on all cylinders! Basically perfect from start to finish, used every character to the fullest, the dialogue was just zinger after zinger, every relationship felt relevant and like it was going somewhere, and it set up the best early episode foreshadowing withe soccer match going south due to ethics to come back around in the life or death stakes at the end. That ending. Just, so happy right now. They even gave Yilmaz Kartel a giant bird of prey to use in place of a spy drone, which is something I didn't even know I needed until I saw it. My only note, and it's honestly so tiny it feels a bit nitpicky to mention it, but I'm going to anyway - I do wish that Kaan had been more of a character than "Ismail's son." It still landed emotionally, but I just would have loved if we knew that guy more, saw his bonds with the other characters, then watched him struggle with choosing his dad's safety, and then died for it. But overall, it still worked fantastically. So I'm chalking that up to a personal preference. Only real prediction I have right now is: If we see Ismail again, - will Bozo's betrayal policy be the thing that drives him to betray him? How delicious if so. They have left a door open with Kaan excuse me, Volkan (feels like they are messing with us with the names at times) having that father son envy with Ismail's relationship with other Kaan. Just saying, Ismail in a very easy to manipulate place, and we have yet to see Volkan live up the implied threat he is. Anyway, might have more specifics to say later, but just enjoying the buzz of such excellent episode. And one that was 2 hours and 37 minutes long at that! Incredible.

I'll do my best to enjoy it for what it is, as there are still small moments here and there that are interesting enough, but it's feeling more and more likely that I won't tune in for a second season unless there's a big dynamic shift before the season ends.