Caray, Caray!

Lejos & Golden

Thanks for answering my question, novelera, Anastasia, and Babachita.

Anastasia, it was my suggestion for viewing Golden. Sorry about that, I’ll accept the blame. It’s a worldwide hit based on the strength of the cast and the exceptional chemistry of the lead actors. It just finished a successful run Spain. Afra and Mert (Seyfer) created iconic, award-winning characters in diziland. I understand that YMMV. I appreciate that you tried to follow with recaps.

There are a lot of parallels between Golden and Lejos. Transgenerational trauma. Systems of oppression are in play. Listen to the original theme song in Lejos again. The lyrics are devastating. They play the instrumental every time there’s a scene of women suffering.

novelera, I agree there are disturbing elements in Golden. There’s no way to defend tyrant Halis, abuser Kazim, enabler Hattuc, or the vile tag team of Ifakat and Zerrin. I also dislike the verbal and physical abuse Seyran continually heaps on Ferit.

If we are talking about misogyny, we don’t need a man to do the job in either dizi. Here, a woman is a wolf to another woman. That always disturbs me. I’ll put Sadakat at the top of the list in Lejos. As K mentioned, she shot Alya and killed Mine. She was going to kill a patient and frame Alya. She literally got away with murder because Alya was guilted/forced into backing off. The love of her life, Cihan, “thinks that’s okay”. Ifakat and Zerrin fill the bill in Golden. Hattuc is a close second to them.

I loved CihAl’s chemistry in the first season but I’m getting bored with the separation, longing looks, and declarations of endless love. Maybe we see a hug. Little Deniz gets on my nerves. Telemundo does us a disservice by cutting some of the nicest scenes with Muzaffer, Ummu, Pakize and Kadir and not giving us the Turkish soundtrack.

Babachita, I see the same things in Golden as you do. I agree, “If you get hooked on some of the characters, it’s usually worth watching.” I’ll extend that to liking to the actors, too. It makes it easier to gloss over some of the bad or ridiculous stuff. Example: I’m likely to give some grace to Sahin because I like him and I like the actor. I thought he was very good in Aile.

I’ve already finished Golden. So why do I continue to watch Lejos? I’m still interested in the setting, the language, and the customs and traditions of this region. The actors are doing a commendable job with the difficult material. [I know, Boran.] I’m curious to see how this will resolve, although there’s a third season and I fear they will mess it up. In my opinion, this happened with Hercai and Golden.

Ha, maybe they will bring Meryem back to keep CihAl separated. I hope they don’t kill any of the good guys. Most of all I like that we have great recappers and an active discussion. If it weren’t for the patio, I’d ditch the Spanish and crush all the Turkish eps.

It’s good to hear differing opinions. It’s food for thought. I would not expect anyone to continue watching, reading, or commenting if they find something too boring or too upsetting. I’ll continue to recap Lejos. I’ll continue to recap Golden to the end of the season. Let it serve as a record for anyone who might want to see it in the future. We did that with KPA.

 

Lejos related

Since we all are bothered by Boran, I decided to do some research on the actor, Burç Kümbetlioğlu. He was in a couple of episodes of “Bahar”! I checked it out. He was not a stick of wood, but nothing remarkable. He played a bad guy, an abuser. And the woman he was abusing was played by the same actor that plays Nare in Lejos! He also locked Bahar in a storage room when there was a fire in the hospital.

 

lejos, Monday 14th, part 1

Rehash of Boran being weird, as always, and Sadakat berating one her kids (Boran this time), as always. But this is mostly about Ecmel and her hatred of him. Then there’s the thing about the text that Boran gets that she responds to and then deletes. She’s pretty good with tech for a small, conservative town matriarch. And she loads up a gun because she’s good with those too.

Oh my gosh. Kadir and Pakize. These two are adorable. They both look great. He’s all nervous and brings her flowers. Alya greets them, Cihan and the rest of the family (the good parts) show up. Deniz is there too. Alya explains to the kid that they are going to talk to her parents and he should go to his room to draw. He actually leaves! Then there’s a dramatic knock on the door and Ummu and Muzaffer enter, look around and wonder why everyone looks so happy. Alya sends Pakize to make Turkish coffee and Nare goes to help. There is small talk for a bit and Muzaffer looks very suspicious while Kadir smiles like an idiot. A cute idiot. Coffee comes out. Muza asks Ummu if she knows what’s going on and he’s going to be annoyed if she knows something. She promises she knows nothing. Kadir drinks up and almost chokes on the amount of salt Pakize put in it, as we now know these ceremonies go. NOW Muza understands and demands to know why there’s salt in that drink. Yelling. Cihan calms everyone down, as he always does. Muza asks him to please not do this, but too late. Cihan does the deed and asks for Pakize’s hand on behalf of Kadir. Muza says no way will he give his daughter to this lazy bum. Poor Kadir. He looks so hurt. The rest of the family defends him and talks of the love these two have for each other. Even Ummu speaks up for Kadir. Muza finally explains that he can’t approve because these two can’t be happy, and everyone is like “What?”. He spills that the whole reason is that he saw in a dream that if they get married, they won’t be happy. He dreams of it every night and knows that the Creator is sending him a message. Well at least he has a good reason for destroying the happiness of these kids. He refuses to budge, and the other guys take him out. “What are we going to do?”, asks Pakize to Kadir.

Muzaffer and Ummu drive off, leaving Kaya there, so he has to hitch a ride with Sahin. Kadir asks what to do now, and all Cihan can come up with is to pray hard that the dreams stop. The kids offer to clean up all the food that- again – no one ate, but Alya sends them off. Alya and Cihan talk about Muzaffer’s stubbornness. Alya suggests he just loves his daughter and doesn’t want to let her go, and Cihan says maybe it’ll be the same when they have a daughter. That horrible theme song plays while Alya mentions some event at the hospital. She’s getting some award and Cihan assures her it’s because of everything she does for the hospital and not just because she’s married to the owner of the hospital. Smiles between them until she decides she should check on the boy. Booo.

Scary music plays as Sadakat gets all gussied up to go murder Ecmel. She does look great for a crazy, vengeful murderer lady. She goes out to the car, tells the driver she’s going to drive, and takes off alone. Nare and Fidan are leaving at the same time from their home and Fidan offers to drive her. Nare turns her down, but definitely not because she doesn’t trust Fidan’s driving. She tells Tia Fidan to buckle up or something and then gets to work another way. Subtle, Nare.

Sadakat meets up with Ecmel and the snipping starts right away. It goes back and forth a bit until Sadakat pulls out the gun and tells him to say goodbye. Ecmel begs her not to do it. Commercial break. Odds that he’ll actually get shot are low.
 

lejos, Monday 14th, part 2

Fidan is driving somewhere, so happy about being able to drive, but then some vehicle comes out of nowhere just as she’s driving by Ecmel and Sadakat and she swerves, running over Ecmel! Sadly, he lives and then whines about being hit even though she saved his life by hitting him. She gets out of the car and Sadakat puts the gun away, deciding against murder. For now. She says something about third times a charm, so this must be attempted murder time two. She does offer that if Ecmel tries to press charges against Fidan, she’ll testify that he jumped in front of her car. Ha! She leaves, and Ecmel whines more to Fidan. She is irritated, and not interested in his nonsense tells him Sadakat didn’t put a hole in his head and her car didn’t hurt him much. She leaves.

Sadakat sits in the car for a bit, irritated that she didn’t get to shoot Ecmel. As soon as she gets out of the car, Boran gripes about where she was, isn’t Deniz coming tonight, etc. He wants to go to the big event tonight like the big boy that he is, and she insists that he not do anything that will embarrass the family or hurt the hospital, thus guaranteeing that he’ll embarrass the family and hurt the hospital.

Alya and Cihan meet up and chat. Alya thinks it will be weird if they arrive at the event together, being all not married anymore on account of not-really-dead Boran. He agrees, but says he’ll be by her side until everything is resolved. I don’t think he means literally by her side, because of all the weirdness. They part.

Event time! It looks like it’s taking place in a giant, painted white cave. Nare is organizing last minute details. Dr. Y goes to her to apologize and says he needed to ask her about the order of things tonight. Then he tells her she looks beautiful tonight, making her look obviously uncomfortable. And this is when Sahin enters the space, looks over to Nare and Dr. Y, and Dr. Y notes that it’s happened again (Sahin catching them talking). Dr. Y apologizes to Sahin and Sahin snipes about them daring to speak to each other again. Ugh. Nare has better things to do and leaves Sahin, who them asks Kaya where Zerrin is. She shows up with Fidan and Kaya shows them to their table. He and Zerrin exchanges glances. Sahin is still being a butthead and Fidan notices the tension. Kaya, Zerrin, and Fidan talk about Demir and sticking together if he shows up.

Then Boran gets there with his mommy and they are greeted by Cihan. I really do love Sadakat’s scarf collection. She’s pulled out a fancy one tonight for the special event. But then she ruins he lovely look by demanding that Kaya leave Zerrin and sit by her. Eye roll. But she does complement Nare on the look of the event so that’s nice. Maybe the first nice thing she’s said to her daughter. Alya enters and is watched by the brothers. Cihan stands up for her while Boran mostly glares. We get a view of her name card for some reason. Boran starts to get up but is stopped by Sadakat who grabs him by the arm. Dramatic music plays while Alya leaves to go to her table next to theirs. While Cihan watches her, and Boran glares at Cihan. Then Boran continues to glare at her as she sits next to Dr. Y. Apparently, the coma really worked those glaring muscles.
 

lejos, Monday 14th, part 3

Nare introduces Dr. Yalcin (Dr. Y). He talks about it’s 27-year history, the personnel, etc. Boring stuff. And when we get back to the event, people are doing that circle dance- the halay (thank you captions). But not Cihan and Alya. They are making googly eyes at each other across the room like teenagers and smiling, until they notice Boran noticing them. Sadakat, sitting between them, just sighs. And because that’s not enough drama, Demir has to show up. He sees Zerrin doing the halay next to Kaya. She sees him and walks away from the circle, claiming she felt dizzy. Fidan takes her home. I can’t tell if Demir is smirking about making her leave or annoyed that she dared to have fun. Awards are finally given out, first to Alya. Everyone except Boran claps. Alya walks up to the stage, while Nare invites Cihan up to present the award. Sadakat has to stop Boran again from getting up. She warns him that everyone from the hospital is there. Cihan speechifies a bit and hands her the award without getting too close to her. It’s all going well until Boran gets up and loudly demands that Cihan shouldn’t be the one handing out the award. He yells that Alya is HIS wife. Ugh. Get this guy some help, preferably at an in-person facility. In Bulgaria maybe.

End.

K

 

"SENOR10"
K, Jarifa, Dondi356, SpanProf, Halimacandy & Darcy: Howdy from the Alamo City CarayCaray Family. Here's my super-short recap of last night's episode.

*Ulysses notices that Felina is suffering from respiratory issues (courtesy of the Slippery Soviet)

*Dalila plotting to avenge Armando & Julieta.

*Los Casillas plotting their next strategic steps against Cifuentes & Alfaro, etc.,

*Over at the casino, Reynaldo & Amanda doing Reynaldo & Amanda things.

*Gullible David still head over heels with Hothead Diana.

*Castillo & Constanza engaging in a steamy sex escapade LOL.

 

lejos

Thanks, K. You are the queen (I think you're female) of snark. So many great lines! "because she's good with those too".

I kept laughing every time they showed Kadir's grin. And speaking of Kadir and Pakize's dilemma, some Turks do get married without parental approval. Look at Nare and Sahin.

Sadakat drives! IIRC she had a driver for her other murder attempts. Yep, the odds are very low Ecmel will get shot. I expected him to grab the gun since she should have pulled the trigger right after she got out of the car. Gunshots work fine from 10 feet away, Sada. I was sighing at the trope where some dizi/TN character points a gun and yammers on for a while, usually guaranteeing they'll be foiled.

Laughed at "decides against murder, for now".

ITA! Hurry up Bulgarians! Boran is a waste of space. Loved "glaring muscles" from his coma.

I was yelling at my TV. Yalcin, get away from Nare! They've way overdone this jealous Sahin routine.

They are also overdoing Demir showing up everywhere, trying to look menacing and then grinning when something bad happens. Yep, annoyed that she dared to have fun sounds about right.
 

Lejos

Your recap was a hoot, K. Great stuff! I loved it!

Aw, Kadir was so endearing. What’s up with the salt in the coffee?

Why did Alya get an award? She’s hardly at work. Dr Yalcin should get it. At least he’s on the job all the time.

Wouldn’t you know when Fiden goes joyriding, in that whole vast landscape she turns into the extract spot where Sadakat and Ecmel are and for bonus points plows right into him.

II agree about Sadakat’s scarf. In fact, she’s always looking elegant the way she styles them. Mostly I don’t care for the headscarf as a look, but she makes me wonder if one wouldn’t be worth a try. It would be nice not to have to mess with my hair.

Nare on the other hand should never wear one. What a fabulous head of hair she has!

Maggie


 

OT

Babachita, I really enjoyed your comments over the weekend about dizis. Interesting! I’m new to them. Do I understand correctly that they come on just once a week in Tükiye? I would love that. It’s a commitment to watch every weeknight. Last night at the Emmys shows I’d never even heard of got awards. I’d like to try them, but when? I’m watching Tan Cerca de Ti at 8;00. The two shows jam up my weeknights. And then PBS has its Sunday lineup.

Maggie
 

Lejos

I finally found the Albora konak. It’s in Narli and apparently is attracting a lot of tourists.

Maggie
 

Lejos

Too funny: when I looked up Narli in Google Maps and zoomed in, it labeled Albora Konak like a an attraction or a business!

Maggie
 

lejos

Maggie- The salt in the coffee is part of this "asking permission to wed" ceremony. Dondi can explain it better, but I think it's a way for the future groom to show how much he loves his bride if he'll drink the terrible salted Coffee. And Kadir loves Pakize very much. The boy would drink anything she puts in front of him.

I looked up Narli and the konak is labeled "Albora Konak" on google. :) And now I want to go, even though the area doesn't look all that interesting from the satellite view. But I would love to pick up some scarves. I wanted to go for a turban and caftan look when I get old enough to pull it off, but don't think I can do turbans. Scarves though? Sure! They'd look better than the usual scrunchie.

K
 

OT

Maggie, I believe they show one full Turkish length episode every week. It’s two hours or so, so folks watch it like watching a movie. Then everyone can talk about it all week until the following week. This goes on for the season. Then there is a break of a few months until the next season. I sometimes watch Turkish-length episodes (Eng or Span caps), and they seem to be planned almost like a movie, with a plot that develops and ends with a climax. When they are cut to less than an hour, the action can seem abrupt and choppy (literally) as a result.

I love the headscarves etc! Beautiful clothing.

Babachita
 

lejos

Brilliant recap, K. We need some humor to go with this dizi.

So sorry for Kadir and Pakize. I wonder if there’s something more than a dream that’s bothering Muzaffer. Kadir got all dressed up. He changed out of his usual striped shirt. He had that shirt buttoned all the way up to his neck.

Kız isteme is the marriage proposal. The bride makes the coffee to show she has proper skills. Salty coffee is a test of the groom’s character. He’s supposed to drink without a flinch. Kadir sure loves Pakize. Turks say, “I would drink poison if it was from your hands.” Cihan said this to Alya this in a recent episode.

Yes, I was surprised to see Sada drive, too. She chose a beautiful black scarf for the occasion. Fidan is a one-woman comedy show. I lol’d when she drove and hit Ecmel.

Yalcin is smart enough to be a doctor but he’s a bumbler around Nare. He looks guilty every time Sahin shows up. What is Sahin supposed to think? They better not break up their marriage over this dopey doctor.

We’re all rooting for the Bulgarians!

 

lejos

Martes – Part 1 of 4

We again get to watch Boran ruin Alya’s award ceremony by making it all about himself. He shouts that she’s his wife and he should be the one presenting the award. Cihan gets back to the podium, congratulates Alya and manages to get everyone in the room to applaud (eventually).

Cihan goes after Boran. While Sadakat, Sahin and Kaya look on, Cihan gives him a devastating openhanded slap. While Sada keeps ordering Cihan to stop, Cihan begins to beat the crap out of Boran. Hasan and Erol try to stop him. He only stops punching when Alya intervenes. She then drags Cihan out. The ubiquitous Demir opines that they deserve it. Let them eat each other alive. Cue the maniacal laugh.

Gurgun tends to Boran while Kaya asks why in the world he did that. Boran says that Cihan will pay for this. Kaya tells him he deserved the beating. And get it through your head. Alya will never return to you. Looking mutinous, Boran says that, if she’s not with him, then neither will she be with Cihan.

Sadakat prays. She tells Allah that her sons have become enemies. She begs for peace and unity in her family. [This from a woman who shot Alya, who’s presumably part of the family. I can almost hear Allah snort.]

Cihan is brooding at the farmhouse. Alya comes out in PJs and puts ointment on his knuckles. Cihan says that he doesn’t know how long he can put up with Boran. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t separated us. Alya looks sad and wonders how things might have turned out if Cihan hadn’t stopped her from leaving when she tried to do so. Cihan tells her not to think of that. He could stand losing everything, but not her. He leans in as if for a kiss. Alya stops him, saying she fears she won’t be able to control herself. [I think I read something once saying that, in addition to the censors, some Turkish married actors resist a lot of onscreen passion.]

Alya calls Boran. He can’t believe it. She begs him to stop this shameful behavior. She says she won’t ever return to him. Then you won’t be with Cihan either. I won’t give you a divorce. And you can’t marry Cihan. You were the one who asked us to marry. Damn you! OK, if you’re being this way, I’ll give the video to my lawyer. You have that video? Yes, I’ll bring it to court, and we’ll be divorced in one session. Boran then has a tantrum, breaking things in his room.

The next day Boran shows up at the hospital. Alya’s with a patient, and he waits outside. He tells her he wants to talk. Nare walks up and sees him grabbing Alya’s arm. Alya tells Nare she can handle this. Big mistake letting him into the office, Alya. Nare calls Cihan.
 

lejos

Martes – Part 2 of 4

In Alya’s office Boran sees an incoming call from Cihan and guesses that Nare called him. Can’t I speak with my wife? You really have that video? Of course. I saw it, and I know it by heart. And there’s the part where you say Cihan should marry me. Boran tells her she’s NOT going to turn that video over to the court. If you’d have accepted a formal divorce, I wouldn’t have done so. But I’ll do it. He flies off the handle like always and grabs her.

Alya is trying to get out of there when Boran grabs some surgical kind of scissors, points them at Alya, and says she won’t use that video. Alya orders him to leave. He gets crazy eyes and says that, if she uses that video in court, he’ll kill himself. [Sounds good to me. I’m tired of waiting for the Bulgarians.] Alya gets the scissors away from Boran. They struggle. He grabs her arm, pulls it forward and stabs himself (but not in the heart). Alya pulls out the scissors and has the bloody thing in her hand when Cihan rushes in.

Come on, writers! They go with Boran asking why she did it and Cihan and Nare staring. They seem to be trying to make us wonder if they believe Boran instead of Alya. After a loooong time Alya says she didn’t hurt him. She puts pressure on his wound, begging Cihan and Nare to believe her. He’s carted off on a gurney.

Alya explains how it happened. That Boran said he’d kill himself if she divorced him. He grabbed the scissors and threatened her with them. She grabbed them away. Then he grabbed her hand and pushed the scissors into himself. Cihan asks her about the video. He then says that Boran got her to stab him as blackmail. And this is dishonorable.

We see the Yonca staff gossiping in the corridor. Cihan asks Kadir to call Erol and ask him to come. He also asks Muzaffer to tell the gossiping employees to get to work. The cops show up pretty quickly. One of them interviews Cihan. He’s visibly angry and says that Boran set a trap for Alya. He gets testy and says that Alya took those scissors so Boran wouldn’t hurt himself, but Boran is trying to get her blamed. Erol realizes that Cihan did himself no favors. We don’t see Alya’s statement.

Yalcin tells Cihan that Boran is saying that Alya hurt him. Cihan pushes past him into the room where they’ve been treating Boran. Cihan is calmer. He says that he thinks Boran must have a bit of humanity left. Enough. Tell the truth. Sadakat bursts in, followed by Sahin and Kaya. Boran tells Sada that Alya wanted to kill him. Sada looks puzzled. Sahin says she wouldn’t do such a thing. Cihan says he’d curse Boran completely if his mother weren’t there. A cop clears them all out.