#ertugrul

Ertugrul is constantly lingering in the background. I'm obsessed with his peace. I don't know how to explain what I mean. But he has a peace of mind which I believe transcends his acting role, and it's marvelous. Want. Many men in his culture seem to have a peace fully mythical to westernized culture. However, I don't want to see this peace in men possibly at the cost of 'putting women in their place' or whatever, which is definitely something that's also happening in this culture at the same time, and I am admittedly at a loss as to how these two things do or don't relate. Is it this, or is it something else? I want men to have peace at being men. But I don't want to pay the price for that as a woman. Halime, his wife, doesn't have "women's peace", so this can't be it. I know I'm wrong in my thinking / assumptions here, but I can't seem to find what's right...

The woman that Shallan is. I read her and I'm screaming like "oh, what a WOMAN she is!" See, to become a trickster after abuse and to always make contingency plans and to see this as your 'fun' exploring because you have no identity and are looking for yourself... and yet this being the very same traits / behavior that actually make her competent and smart and intuitively talented and worth loving because she is who she is... and it didn't mute her shine... she is herself despite herself... and she is loved for herself... oh Idk. Adolin sees HER under the shadows and illusions like it's as easy as breathing. I... want that... for myself... and I KNOW from firsthand experience how rare it is. Shallan has a woman's peace. Anywho, WELL WRITTEN WOMEN. I'm a woman and even I can't do it. Much to learn here. Much.

Toothless also in the back of my mind. More than Hiccup these days. I think about what he does for Hiccup, the role he takes. This... unconditional defense, the listening, the physical protecting, the sass and absolutely telling him when he thinks something is bullshit instead of leaving him guessing. The intuitive syncing, the effortless single step. Dare I hope for ease

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.

Ertugrul and Günalp are developing a friendship that reminds me of Sinbad and Proteus... they are nothing alike, want opposite things and should be rivals... yet they are both brave and can recognize the Good the other is trying to do, and they're attempting to work together despite being pitched against each other by everything from background to goals to the orders they are given. Impressive.

Mahperi Hatun, the old snake, is going to realize in a short while that Ertugrul is no threat to her, I think - and while she will always put her son first, she will understand that Ertugrul is trying to support her - not for her son of course, but for the Sultanate. Ertugrul himself on the other hand must realize that he can stretch a hand out to her, that it's no bad thing for her to want her son to sit on the throne, and that her known and guaranteed loyalties will contribute to a secure state.

This is a kind of dynamic where everyone is being a little selfish but they haven't arrived at the conclusion yet that they are not in conflict with each other - that they can have everything - a solid state AND what everyone wants for themselves. It's a win-win situation but they still think that the others are going to diminish what they personally want to achieve.

But he really just pulled a full Kevin Costner shooting his friends down from the gallows

Aslıhan, meanwhile, living the dream of her crowning as the Mother of the Tent, finally allowed to take on the role of the leader of her people:

I am still fairly certain that Ertugrul Bey, the main dude who got his own show, the father of the Ottoman Empire, can't read or write. It's been 54 episodes and almost 2 seasons and this is the most fascinating subplot that I'm invested in: Can he, or can he not?

Whenever he is handed a royal deed or an edict, even one of great importance for his future, he doesn't double-check to see what it says, he just tucks it into his belt. There seems to be 100% good faith in its validity or just plain unawareness about the fact that someone could be faking the message or be using it to harm him. He could be carrying his own death sentence and not know it.

Whenever a letter arrives, he confidently hands it to his palace-educated wife, to the religious leaders among his tribe, to the doctor, or to his ex-spy older brother, going: "So, what does it say?" And you see, it's done subtly, like there is no insecurity for him about this, he does not seem to recognize that there is immense power in the written word, he just could be handing this to someone as a plot device. Especially for Halime, his boring wife, who I suspect is supposed to depict the perfect demure Muslim woman, this is a welcome micro-characterization.

Only recently, a merchant pointed out to Ertugrul how important education is when you're trying to found an empire, to which his response was: Yes, good, thank you for mentioning that, this wasn't on my radar. In consequence, children are seen attending school, and one of Ertugrul's warriors and closest friends joins to become literate. There didn't seem to exist a school before that, only oral storytelling and practical teachings!

Ertugrul is occasionally seen hovering over maps, but those maps mostly show terrain, and Ertugrul knows terrain like the back of his hand. He's able to lay the perfect ambush and think strategically via visual clues... but he's never seen reading words!