I finished episode 115 of Diriliş Ertuğrul...
Can I... should I just leave it at that? Because right now, everything is perfect (as much as can be with this show, anyway).
I've spoiled myself pretty hard on the events that are still to come, and I don't really like any of them. I don't like the narrative strings that are still left open, and how they are resolved. Season 4 ends unsatisfactorily, I know that because of Halime and Noyan and because I found out that Gündoğdu & Selçan only return to the tribe at a much, much later time. I had been looking forward to that, but it seems like it's not going to happen anytime reasonably soon.
Saadettin is dead, and with him having been THE best, major villain of the entire show, it feels fitting to call the story done.
The reason why I'm hesitating is, I guess, because the conclusion of that arc came a lot faster to me now than I had anticipated. I was feeling comfortable knowing that there was an entire season left to watch for me... and if I quit now, then, well, I will lose these characters *now*. I wasn't really prepared for that.
I mean, I guess their best days are behind them anyway, because of Aslihan's death and Aykiz' and Doğan's, to be honest. Ertuğrul is in a good place right now - enemy victoriously defeated, fortunes restored, he won Günalp Bey over, he's got the Sultan's permission to move to his final historical destination of Söğüt, and he's got his third kid on the way which is the fulfillment of their spiritual promise and again ties into factual historical events.
I suppose the show remains a little *too* historical for an action entertainment audience, so it doesn't really care about where it places good emotional tie-offs. So much is still left unfinished.
Unfortunately, I also had to watch the last few episodes on the cut-version tabii channel which features the choppy, shortened episodes, because the og no longer offers live English subtitles. I was fine with that occasionally happening during the middle, but to have the "final" episodes of such an important arc only available in skimpy, rushed, edited pacing hurts. I'm not ready to part with Halime, Bamsi, Hafsa, Ahmet, Turgut, or Günalp. I'm not ready to leave Abdurrahman injured and Artuk Bey without purpose (he still has beef with Tekfur Kritos and Marya imho). I had hoped to see Melikşah Alp rise to importance.
Most of all, I am not ready to part with this fine, good-looking, charismatic and upstanding moral leader, excellent swordfighter, accomplished horseman, brave encourager, illiterate-until-mid-season-3-and-the-first-thing-he-reads-is-a-secret-message-tattooed-on-someone's-shaven-head, fellow leftie and loving father that is Ertuğrul, whose decade-spanning tale has been accompanying me for almost a year now. I really love his microexpressions, from annoyance to surprise, and the way he never gives up and always returns victoriously to his home. King David type stuff. I like him, I'll miss him.
I'll also miss the notions of Spring I always associated with him and the show on their best days, and I'll dearly miss the Turkish language itself.
@tabbznotya-blog do you think this a good spot to call it a day if I do not wish to be disappointed? Are there specific scenes that could still be rewarding to watch? Ooooof. What a day, and a time to be alive.
