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the-loststone · 1 year

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Söz Review

So I decided to actually write a review for Söz, because I'm so obsessed with the show and my last review was getting too long. Please be aware that there will be spoilers, though I'll try to avoid them.

Acting

Let me start by saying the cast was excellent. Yes there were some moments of stiff acting and some occasions where it was obvious a fight scene was staged, but overall it was perfect. The emotion the actors were able to convey was perfect. The chemistry between them, whether romantic partners, family, enemies, or brotherhood, they had great chemistry between each other.

Music and Cinematography

The music in this show is banging. There are several soundtracks that I've downloaded. The cast also has several scenes throughout the show where they sing and play instruments, and it's always lovely and serves to add depth to scenes and characters. The cinematography too was very professional. Very well done.

Plot

Going into this show, it's not hard to miss the fact that it's military propaganda. Not going to lie, I didn't care. I've seen shows with more. If you've ever watched a Chinese military drama, you'll see that this is pretty tame. There is a lot of patriotism in this show, where Turkiye is standing alone against the rest of the world. I love a good patriotic show that shows a love for country and culture. They did a good job of not saying what country they are fighting, or where the terrorists come from, so it's not like they're insulting anyone. It's very much good versus evil, especially in the first two seasons. In the third season, we get to see some shades of grey, when Yavuz is playing the spy and committing illegal deeds for his country. But even then he's still firmly established as the good guy who never hurts innocents.

Seasons 1 & 2

I cried so much in the season 2 finale. The last two episodes had me sobbing. And this is after Fatma and Hafiz. I couldn't handle my tears when it came to Bahar.

They do a really good of establishing the characters. From the start, when we are introduced to Yavus, we know that he is smart and quick, and a good shot. He is immediately introduced as a hero, and then a tragic figure when they fridged his fiance. But we also learn that he is kind and a good man, and in the moments before she died, that he very much loved Merve. From then we are immersed in his grief for the majority of season 1. But we also get to know his sense of duty and purpose to his country which drives him. I don't think I've seen a character I admire more. Yavuz was perfectly characterized by Tolga Saritas. The perfect big brother to his team. An exemplary leader.

We get to know the team from there, the seven central characters: Hafiz, Ates, Avci, Ceylak, Kesanli, Asik, Erdem. I have never seen a more supportive brotherhood. A good thing about this show being military propaganda is that they don't give the soldiers any evil storylines. These are good boys. They respect their superiors, their parents, their loved ones... It's a group of good men. Hafiz is the prophet, he's pious, and wholesome, and wise. Then there's Ates, our intelligence agent and master of disguise. He's the womanizer of the group. Then theres Avci, our hunter, and the last man to make me cry in season 3. Then there's Ceylak, our rookie, with an innocent quality that remains throughout the show which his team members try to keep alive. They treat him like the baby, he's their baby. Then Kesanli, our wild card. He's the cutest and gentlest boy who loves to play Cupid. Finally, of those under Yavuz's command, we have Asik, our medic with a beautiful voice. Lastly, we have their general, Erdem. If Yavuz is their big brother, Erdem is their father.

Then we have the girls. Bahar is our female lead, a doctor, empathetic, kind, soft. When we meet her, we immediately get the sense that she wants more from her life, that she wants to do more but she doesn't know how. Meeting Yavuz and going to the military base and meeting the people there gives her a new purpose. She launches into it without looking back. And it's admirable that she knows what she wants and goes after it immediately. She wasn't thrown off or hesitant. She didn't fear rejection, but waited for acceptance. Her story largely revolved around informing the audience of abuses people suffer, such as domestic violence, drugs, etc. Her relationship with Yavuz was not a major focus for either of them, but they gravitated towards one another naturally. I honestly do think that they were a great couple. They had physical attraction to one another, then were friends throughout season 1, then during season 2 they finally get together in the business transaction marriage trope, and fall in love throughout their time together.

Then we have Eylem, who we are introduced to as a reporter who turns out to be a spy. Lovely Eylem who starts out as a pain in Avci and the rest of the team's butt and then turns into their love/best friend. She is the bada** girl who can shoot a gun and take care of herself.

Then we have Su, Guler, and Nazli, all of whom, like Bahar, are mainly used to show aspects of war and civilian life that are impacted by terror. We get to see their love stories unfold which are cute and fluffy for the most part, although Nazli's got much more drama.

Season 1 and 2 were my favorite. It had it's flaws but I didn't really pay much attention to those because they were largely overshadowed by how good it.

Season 3

This season was my least favorite. But that's because the first two seasons left such a high bar. Season 3 was still excellent, but there were more noticeable problems. The first problem, is that Yavuz was isolated from his team. I'm not saying I didn't love him being a spy and taking on the bad guys all lone wolf. But I love him when he's leading a team, and you can tell that's what he loves doing. His scenes with the other team members when they go to him for advice are my favorite. He's their leader, and it's very obvious that's where he feels the safest and the most stable. They bring him security and sanity. By himself, he's still awesome and charming, but with his team you can tell he's unconquerable.

The second thing I didn't love was the virus plot. I get that it was designed to bring him and Darya close and have them share this secret, and about her making him want to live. But I wasn't such a fan. When they first brought it up, and he was suicidal and wanted to die, I thought that was a great line to follow up on, but then it became so much about the love line between him and Darya and giving Darya a reason to interfere in his life that I was iffy about it. This is not about Darya bashing, I just wish it wasn't a plot line. Although, I will attribute the bad decisions Yavuz makes this season to being in delirious pain from the virus. While they don't really show it, it's established that he's in constant nerve pain and is losing his senses, so I'll say that the bad judgment he shows on the occasions where there are any are due to the virus. Because I'll be honest, there were some occasions where my only response to something Yavuz said was "Ugh. you dumb bitch." I'll let you figure out which moments those are. I'm not one to blame the woman for the man being stupid, so I won't blame Darya, I'll blame the virus.

The third thing, not to sound judgmental, is Darya. It's not that I didn't like her. As a love interest, if it was just about her inspiring him to live, I would be okay with it. But with the whole, she's chasing after him to find out whether he's a criminal and not giving up about it even when they are in a relationship, I just thought was... uggh. A lot of her reactions to him are based off intuition and not actual evidence (and she does that a lot in other respects as well) and intuition is good and all, but having him followed, or questioning people he talked to and what not just hit me wrong I guess. I didn't love it. And while she wasn't wrong, it all felt very distrustful and problematic for a future relationship. I mean, she was so determined for him to be guilty. Even when the evidence was showing that he wasn't (which obviously he was guilty, but she didn't have evidence to prove it) she kept chasing it, even while she was in a relationship with him. DON'T BE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM IF YOU'RE GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY TO PROVE THEIR GUILT! Don't go saying I love you to someone and I want to be with you while going out of your way to send them to prison. And I know she gets over it but I mean, why start the relationship like that. They could have started later, they should have started later. There was no reason they had to be in a relationship right away. I'm sorry but I'm very upset about this. Why does she deliberately sabotage her own relationship. It's not even about how she was right, she knew there was a possibility of other reasons, but she ignored them. She didn't want to believe anything other than guilt. Now I'm not saying Darya should be deprived of her own story and agency. I guess I'm just saying, I wish they hadn't rushed the story line with them. They could have gotten together much later than they did, it would have been better for them and for the audience, who was still mourning Bahar.

The fourth were the villains. Season 2 Derman was much more villainous in my opinion. He committed much more heinous crimes and managed to kill many more people. That said, Linda was a fucking nightmare. I was so frustrated with her the entire time. So she did make a wonderful villain. I did enjoy that there was a bigger cast of villains the third season, and that they were getting picked off one by one by Yavuz and the team.

Finally, the fifth problem was . . . well the characters are much more emotional this season. You know, true, not without good reason. Yavuz is very obviously traumatized and so are the others. Ates and Kasanli especially were very much driven by their emotions this season. And you'd think they'd learn from their commander, but apparently not. I accept that they aren't robots, but this season, they make most of their decisions led by their emotions in situations where in previous seasons, they would have been more level headed.

What I loved this season was Eylem and Avci's relationship. They blossomed this season and for the most heartbreaking reason. Avci's death was a punch in the gut. I hadn't cried that much since Bahar.

I loved the new team with Kopuk and Turan and Yavuz. While I missed him with his OG team, these three had great chemistry and bonding. I loved their scenes together.

Romance

Now, the romance of the show wasn't a major aspect of it, it was mostly about brotherhood, family, patriotism, but romance did play a good part. (Side note: This is one of the best stories of brotherhood and friendship. They are so supportive of each other!) Throughout watching the show, I've had a few thoughts about Yavus's relationships that I want to write down. The romance: (SPOILERS) When I think about the relationships Yavuz had, I can only describe it like this. Merve, to Yavuz, was like a meadow, sweet and airy. His love for her was briefly shown, but we saw his grief all of season 1, and to me, his grief was like he was drowning in an ocean. And that ocean becomes slowly rain when he meets and falls in love with Bahar. He still grieves Merve, but Bahar gave him friendship, and companionship, and love, and he opened up to her in a way that he hadn't done before. It wasn't about passion but stability. He wasn't drowning anymore, he was on solid ground, with a light rainy mist. And then when Bahar dies, it's like a drought. He's not nourished anymore, there is a great weight sitting on him and he's collapsed. And then Darya, she's like a warm fire. He's not scalded by the heat anymore, he's just warm now. I say this because after all the pain, he's never over the trauma. He never loses the love he had for his past relationships. They are still there, but the pain changes, people enter his life that make the pain less unbearable and give him renewed hope. Something I love about the series is that he doesn't fall into relationships to heal himself. He finds purpose in his duty and his country so he can heal, and the relationships he has shows that he is open to love. (And this isn't to add any toxicity, but I just want my opinion to be known... I love him with Bahar and she's my favorite).

Concluding notes

Anyway. This was an amazing show! I loved it. I didn't feel like I was suffering through it at all. Very much recommend.

Please see my other reviews.

#söz #dizi #turkish drama #turkish dizi #soz #soz dizi #söz dizi #turkey #tolga sarıtaş #tolga saritas #aybuke pusat #deniz baysal #yavuz karasu #bahar kutlu

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