Sen Çal Kapımı -Are You Ready For The Second Season?
“I simply regard romantic comedies as a subgenre of sci-fi, in which the world created therein has different rules than my regular human world.”
― Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
Almost everyone who is watching Sen Çal Kapımı was overjoyed to hear that the show is getting a second season. This joy was multiplied by the confirmation by the two leads (HanKer) that in fact have become a real life couple *maşallah my babies*. The news was delivered just the way SÇK fans like, by small clues and finally by a hand in hand paparazzi photo taken at the Maldives airport.
As the new season approaches we have been informed that the writer of the new season is going to be Ayşe Üner Kutlu who is the creator of the story. I must say, Ayşe’s return caused us fans some worries because she is known for writing more separate scenes than together. In fact when the teaser dropped, it seemed like the confirmation of our worries.
When the teaser dropped some of the fans including me didn’t really take it so well. In the teaser Serkan and Eda, whom we expected to be together by now, are separated for 5 years and Eda seems to have a daughter that she has been hiding from Serkan all those years. As always, being a massive fandom, the fans have different opinions on this storyline. Some say, it will be interesting to see them dealing with this and they adore the new addition to their love life in the form of a daughter. Some blame Eda for hiding her daughter from Serkan. Some blame Serkan, for having done something that drew Eda away.
No matter which group you are a part of, the main idea of this article came from the reluctance and uneasiness some of us feel for the new season. Some say they will wait for it to end to watch it, to spare themselves the agony of having to live watch EdSer struggle again. Yes, this is something we have watched for long enough. Some seem saddened by the fact that Ayşe doesn’t seem to be capable of writing happy scenes or a happier storyline for EdSer.
In this essay my aim is to do an emotional check in and try to ease some of our pain. Those of us who are brave enough to watch the new season live, may need this. Take my hand reader, we can do it together.
1. Make Peace With The Past
The writer changes, the constant trial and error mentality of the writing teams have damaged all of us immensely. We have been through a lot. Especially Eda and later Serkan but mostly Eda have had to endure a lot. The premise of the show, which had started completely as a romantic comedy has been changed to a soap opera where villains like Balca and later Selin and Deniz took a lot of screen time. We also sensed that the writers or the production had no vision for the show but they seemed to be just looking for solutions to keep the show running.
When the show halted at episode 39 some viewers thought it should really have ended there. I would have preferred it too but when I think of it, having a second season, a shorter season to give the show an ending it deserves is a better idea. When Ayşe was leaving the writing team Asena tweeted she hoped Ayşe would write the ending, so it seems like things are going according to her plans. Ayşe is the one who created the story and it seems right that she’s the one who ends it.
I must say, apart from the storyline about Serkan’s family being the cause of Eda’s parents’ death, Ayşe didn’t give us agonizing plots like Balca or the memory loss. This is one of the reasons I’m not that worried about the new season. Since we have a new season ahead of us, my suggestion would be to make peace with the events and characters of season 1. Let’s leave it to the characters to carry resentment for the stuff that happened then. Let us just accept the past as is. Some good things, some bad things but they’re all in the past now. No need to dwell on them trying to make sense of them now. Because frankly some of it didn’t make sense. That’s one of the reasons at first I was really worried about the new season.
However when I understood that the reason I couldn’t enjoy the teaser was my resentment for the past season, I decided to try to watch it again as something new and this time I did enjoy it. My anger for past episodes was shadowing my judgement.
Here’s the perfect poem I found for our EdSer who are yet not equipped with the skills of communication and who both think sacrifice means getting yourself out of the picture. Yet consequences keep bringing them together to test them again and again. Will they succeed this time?
Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part;
Nay, I have done, you get no more of me,
And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart
That thus so cleanly I myself can free;
Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again,
Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retain.
Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,
When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And Innocence is closing up his eyes,
Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou mightst him yet recover.“Since There’s No Help,” by Michael Drayton (1563–1631)
2. Restore Confidence In EdSer’s Love
One of the things that a lot of fans have constantly pointed out is how toxic EdSer love has been made to seem. Apart from all the horrendous things they have been tested with, their reactions to what happens has not been as mature as we hoped. Some even called their relationship toxic, which I can totally understand. A relationship where the man always seems to be too naive against other women who are clearly trying to seduce him, a relationship where the man is always the one who is being fought over by women, a relationship that crumbles and falls at every hardship they face is indeed not the ideal.
How the show dealt with memory loss is very immature and not believable, I’m planning on writing my own version of how it should have been and hope to write and post it. It’s not a fanfic, sorry, but I just think they wasted all those references they scattered around and I’d like to show how they could be used by adding some of my own. Anyway, I’m only telling you this because I still believe the EdSer love can be enjoyed. I still believe we can be inspired by what we will see on our screen on the second season.
Ayşe is capable and HanKer is more than capable of giving us the EdSer we missed. What I loved in the first 12 episodes was how different they were from each other. Because that allowed them to complete each other. I think that by starting the season on a different time than where we left off is to show us EdSer in a new light, one we haven’t seen them before.
When I first watched the teaser, I was furious. I thought to myself, why the hell are they not together? Why the hell Ayşe can’t write a happy couple together? That’s what I want to see. That’s what I deserve after 39 episodes. But I also know, their love will prevail. As I kept watching the teaser, it grew on me, I liked the interaction and their inner voices. I like the fact that they keep finding their way back to each other. Some love stories are like that, especially in real life. They keep separating but they also keep coming back to each other and one day they decide to settle. We all know it’s gonna be that way for EdSer too.
3. Keep An Open Mind For The Kid Storyline
I feel like I haven’t really been mature enough for the kid storyline in the beginning. Most of us felt robbed because we wanted to see Eda and Serkan share those special moments of pregnancy and child birth. First, remember that the teaser is just a teaser, we have yet to learn a lot of things about this kid plot and we are mostly speculating on it.
Second, in my private life, I respect people’s decisions, so why should a character deserve any less. Even if Eda decided to have the baby on her own or from someone else, these things happen in life. You get separated, you meet someone else, you separate from him and then get back to your ex and you live happily ever after. Does it make that love story unworthy of our watch time? I think our approach to love stories should not be that narrow minded. So, if Eda and Serkan separated and got back together again and in the mean time if they have been with other people does that make their love a lie? No!
Why did we find the kid storyline so cruel? For all we know, she could even be adopted. I know there are fans who really wanted to see Eda pregnant and Serkan caring for her and being worried about the baby etc. I would like that too but let’s give SÇK a chance to show us a different story which is honestly something we don’t see much on TV. A single mom and and an estranged father and them falling back in love. I actually like the idea. Why not? Let’s normalize complicated relationships. Let’s keep an open mind.
4. Stop Mourning Over The Characters Who Left
Kızlar is no more. According to the news Melisa Döngel has left the show. So what has remained is Melo and Eda. Çağrı Çıtanak has also left the show, which means no more Ferit. I have read somewhere İlkyaz Arslan as Leyla is also leaving. After Sitare Akbaş left we already knew the girls wouldn’t really survive that long. Now that the show had a time jump, we will probably be introduced to new characters.
Many characters have been ruined for us through the course of the show. The writers that came after Ayşe, couldn’t really get the essence of most of them. I’m actually hopeful that Ayşe will fix that because character study is one of her stronger assets. The character I want Ayşe to fix the most is Serkan though. Because he had been very confusing for us. Especially the writing team who shall not be named destroyed his character for some of us (me). Thankfully Kerim and his team brought him back from there only to give him a brain tumor. I’m hoping Ayşe will bring him back to the sensitive robot as we loved and adored him.
As for every other character who left, I’m not sorry at all. I’m only a bit sad Çağrı didn’t get more screen time because he had a lot more to offer to the show and the story. Sen Çal Kapımı was unable to make the best of its characters, again because of the writing and it should be a lesson learned for actors and writers that when shit hits the fan, there’s no way of stopping it.
5. Accept That This Is A New Story
Holding on to the past never helps. Even though we know Eda and Serkan, it would really help us to accept that this is a new story we are going to watch. We don’t have to approve how they dealt with their relationship or what decisions they made for themselves or for the kid. All we have to do is enjoy a new story unfold in front of us. If we leave our judgement behind us, our worries and fears and all that we had to watch in the first season, I think we can still enjoy starting a new adventure with EdSer.
A new adventure where they don’t have to be perfect human beings, they don’t have to do the right things, they don’t have to be saints. A new adventure where they can just be as themselves and we will still enjoy watching because we’re curious where Ayşe will take us. If we leave aside how we think this whole story should have been handled, and allow Ayşe and her team to tell us the story as if we’re listening to a friend narrate something that happened to her, maybe we can enjoy it more.
So I ask you, can you leave aside all your expectations for the new season and watch with a pair of fresh eyes? Can you let the events roll before your eyes without thinking about what happened in the first season? Can you get over your heartbreak in the past caused mostly by the memory loss, and trust that EdSer love will take us to a new dimension this time?
I plan on doing exactly that and I hope to see you there as well on June 9th. Popcorn, ice cream, tissues and margaritas ready for the last season of Sen Çal Kapımı. No matter what, we will enjoy it, together. Together, that’s where EdSer belongs. And SÇK fandom, that’s where we belong. Together.
“Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together… and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home… only to no home I’d ever known… I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like… magic.
- Sleepless in Seattle”
― Nora Ephron
Dear reader, if any of this sounded patronizing, I’m sorry. I wrote it more for myself than for you. I needed to move on to a better headspace that allows me to enjoy the new season fully. If you’re still not convinced, it’s okay. Do take a break or stop watching, whatever feels better for you at the moment. However if I have won you over and you’ll be watching, join us June 9th and promise to make a fresh start.
I hope you are having a great day, wherever you are in the world right now and I’m sending you good vibes from a sunny Istanbul day.
-Eda
