Love Is Like A Fever- Looking Back At #EdSer -Part 3
My love is as a fever longing still,
For that which longer nurseth the disease;
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now Reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,
At random from the truth vainly expressed;
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.William Shakespeare — Sonnet 147
Sometimes we are consumed by love. Sometimes it is both the disease and the cure. It is literally like a fever that makes us burn in pain and doubt, but love can also ease our pain when we know and trust it.
In the episodes between 11–13 which will be discussed today, love is both the disease and the medicine or the physician as Shakespeare suggests. If you’re new to this series of articles I’m writing, don’t forget to read the first one and the second one.
If you remember, I’ve said that Edser were already in love by episode 8 but they didn’t know about each other’s feelings. Episode 11 marks the end of that era with a satisfying finale where a love confession comes through in a lovely scene.
Episode #11: Betrayal
I know it’s an unexpected subject. This is such a lovely and romantic episode from beginning to end. Where does betrayal fit into this?
First let’s talk about how this episode was structured, and the answer is masterfully. It starts with a question and an answer. Selin asks Serkan if there’s any hope that they can be together, but she doesn’t rush him for an answer. Serkan does give her an answer quite hurriedly when he unexpectedly holds Eda’s hand and looks at Selin with pride but Selin doesn’t want to see the truth, as it’s not the answer she wants to receive.
Episode 11 is a fan favorite and for good reason. Even though we have to wait for the end of the episode for the love confession, there are a lot of unforgettable scenes in this episode. Neither Eda nor Serkan can hide their feelings properly. Serkan literally has a fever and gets sick because he can’t bear the idea of Eda leaving. So the first betrayal is betraying his own truth. He can’t tell her to stay. He wants to be with her but he thinks she wants to go and that’s why he doesn’t want to tell her to stay.
That reminded me of this Shakespearean sonnet above, sometimes love is both the illness and the medicine. Just like Eda, who caused Serkan’s sickness but is also the only cure to his despair. Serkan betrayed his own truth by not confessing to Eda or by asking her to stay. He also betrayed her without wanting to, when he said “Gitme” during his fever state but didn’t remember it the next morning. Poor Eda, had nothing to do but leave.
So many different types of betrayal this episode: Ceren lying to Engin about who she was, Serkan standing Selin up at the café, Ayfer feeling betrayed by Eda because of the contract, Ayfer betraying Eda’s trust and calling Babaanne for help, Selin betraying Ferit, Aydan betraying Alptekin by playing him to get him jealous of the pottery guy, Melo and Fifi feeling betrayed because Eda hid the contract from them as well.
That’s not even all, one of the most important betrayal portrayals was Serkan’s childhood flashbacks where we see how painful it was for him that his parents failed to support him through his pain and how they betrayed him by sending him away.
It’s inevitable to hurt people we love. This episode shows it so well. We hurt them because we want to protect them from the truth (Serkan’s parents), we hurt them because we don’t want to lose them (Eda hiding the contract), we hurt them because we think we know better (Ayfer calling Babaanne), we hurt them because we want to protect ourselves (Ceren hiding her wealth), we hurt them because we’re selfish (Selin betraying Ferit). Sometimes we do this without realizing we are betraying that person.
We forget that true love needs loyalty and honesty. This was an important episode where the characters realized this. Love can burn us (like a fever) or it can heal us. It’s us who give it direction. If it is led to a good path, it can help us heal our wounds even when it is fire (fever) it can burn down and destroy our pains and anguish. If we are not honest and pure in our intentions we’ll be the one that gets burned.
Episode #12: Acceptance
If it wasn’t contaminated with the doubt of Alptekin being involved in Eda’s parents’ death, this could be one of the happiest episodes. But they had to go there and do that. I won’t forgive Ayşe for that. Now as I’m writing this awaiting episode 35, that whole case hasn’t even been discussed since Babaanne left. Obviously back then it was something that they had to add to the story to make it more dramatic which as I said is unforgivable in my books.
Finally EdSer are happy and are acting like a normal couple in this episode. They create memories which will become our happy place when they’re separated over and over again by our cruel writers. I chose acceptance for this episode not only because Eda and Serkan both confess and show their genuine love for each over this episode but also because other things that were hidden will come to the surface as well.
One of those things is Selin and Serkan speaking and Selin finally accepting EdSer relationship. Another is Ferit over-hearing this conversation and coming to terms with the fact that Selin does not love him. The end of the episode is not hard to guess after this scene.
Selin is not the only one who finds out about EdSer relationship, thanks to Erdem’s big mouth everyone in the office finds out about it too. Although I have to admit if I was working at Artlife that news would be no surprise to me. Maybe the contract a little bit but them being in love was a no brainer! Am I right? ;)
Ayfer is not stupid (she later will become when she meets Alex) so she already gets that EdSer is inseparable at this point. She just wants to make sure Eda will pursue her education, which to this day she didn’t or maybe she did but we don’t know. Writers have been busy making her fall in holes in the ground or directly in the cold Bosphorus waters. Eda is a rich and powerful woman who can’t bother to complete the last year of her university education. Or maybe she graduated on Zoom who knows at this point!
Selin accepts the fact that she can only be happy with Ferit and to make him happy she decides to sell her shares of the holding. Ferit accepts the fact that Selin will marry him not because she loves him but because she doesn’t want to end up alone. This made me think, as women, why do we (sometimes) feel like we need to accept what is being offered to us. Why do we settle with things that don’t make us completely content? In life, things we say no to are as important as the things we accept.
This episode shows us, in life and in love, we must embrace what feels right (as EdSer does) and reject what feels wrong (as Ferit does). We must let our truth be known, even when we’re ashamed of it (like Selin telling her feelings to Pırıl and Ferit to Ceren and EdSer to each other). Love, when reciprocated is the best feeling in the world, but we must remember it’s only the first step in a long journey.
Episode #13: Confessions
Episode 13 marks the beginning of a sad era. But for a generation of viewers who have seen episode 29, not that sad. Still the ending is unforgettably sad by a marvelous performance from Kerem Bürsin. This episode a lot of things are spilled out and confessed. Some of them would better be unsaid but whatever.
Episode starts with Ferit leaving Selin and the wedding. Selin is devastated and maybe this is where she starts getting into her evil Selin form, who knows. To be frank, I don’t approve of Serkan playing with her feelings just because he saw Ferit as a threat to the holding. Look at them right now, all hanging out like buddies. If I were Selin, I would be mad too. Don’t come at me, I’m not supporting Selin in what she does later on but let’s not pretend like she had no reason to become evil. Selin is no Balca, she didn’t come out of nowhere to cause trouble.
Even though I despise her now and I want her to leave as soon as possible, I still think she was the best choice as the villain. It would be better if she and Serkan didn’t come back from Slovenia as partners but they were just friends. She could still serve as a competition and threat to EdSer. Writers went to far with her story.
This episode Pırıl tells Selin she kissed Engin but he’s nowhere to be found. I have to say, I really never cared much about EnPır, I’m sorry but it never did anything for me. No depth there. Writers didn’t even try. The only episode I felt a spark was when they were in Antalya and did the Tiktok challenge. But to me that was Başak and Anıl not EnPır.
Finally this episode EdSer tell their families they’re in a relationship. I thought this was such a cool move. Keeping away from the cliche of being secret lovers and just telling everyone about their love. They also accept that they can’t be without each other and realize the depth of their feelings for each other in this episode. We understand that they will be each other’s biggest challenge but also the biggest support.
At the end of the episode Alptekin confesses to Serkan that their family is involved in the accident that caused Eda’s parents’ death. The episode ends in tears, foreshadowing, there will be more and more tears along the way.
As we leave Serkan crying his heart out, I’m gonna leave you a song that fits this sad ending perfectly. As Turkish poet Attila Ilhan said:
Because separations are also included in love
Because those who separated are still lovers.
I’m gonna have to finish this one here, it has already become a long read! I had planned on doing 5 episodes per article but the math didn’t add up! As we approach a new episode (35) this week, what are your thoughts about Selin and Deniz? I hope the writers won’t let them get away easily with what they have done. Especially Selin, should really face the consequences of her actions this time. There are many ideas about the fake marriage turning real and about it being a dream.
All I really care about at this point is to finally see a happy Eda and an EdSer reunion. I want Serkan to remember how deep his love for Eda was and I want him to make it up to Eda for treating her like sh*t. If I don’t get these, well, then I won’t get them and it won’t be the end of the world. I will be heartbroken and disappointed but SÇK has taught me to live with those.
Thank you as always for reading this far. I’m grateful for your kind words and comments on Twitter, they really mean a lot. If you’re not following me, I’m @edasavaseri there. Let me know what you think about this piece or about the current status of the show in general. Sending you good vibes from Istanbul, may you be at peace wherever you are in the world right now.
-Eda
