Published January 14, 2019 in Marie Claire
by NURDAN GÜNDOĞDU
We are entering the world of Carpisma, one of the most noteworthy series of recent times, and into the world of its celebrated lovers Kadir (Kivanc Tatlıtuğ) and Zeynep (Elçin Sangu).
Are you ready to follow this love? The impressive details of this special love story await you in the review of our guest writer Eylül Aydın.
Those unforgettable sweethearts
The Spring breeze touched my hair Sweet darling, I fell for you In every fate there is beauty You're the only one for me, My sweet lover, I fell for you
That’s what the beautiful song says. It says, it’s hard to comprehend… it says falling in love, that unforgettable love. Does such a love, such a lover exist, one that we always love even when they leave us?
As you’re asking “Does it exist?” Kadir and Zeynep come to our aid. Yes sir it does. Give everyone the news.
Who are Kadir and Zeynep? They are Kivanc Tatlitug and Elcin Sangu, co-stars in the series, Carpisma. And accompanying them is the eminent Onur Saylak as Veli who vexes and surprises us every week, and makes us question our outlook on fish. I’m enjoying watching this trio that they created and I’m very curious about what will happen in the Kadir-Zeynep-Veli storyline.
But today our subject is beautiful love, and the love we can’t forget. Watching Zeynep and Kadir on the screen, ladies and gentleman, we say to ourselves, there’s still more beautiful love to come. Although we don’t get Zeynep and Kadir as much as we desire, I managed to piece together their beautiful love with what they’ve told us so far.
I’m sure a very beautiful history of their love will come out. But we need to get past this spiritual love. We are waiting for them in anticipation… take note.
What were we saying? To love, to love beautifully.
Some of the details in Carpisma are so beautiful that I want Zeynep and Kadir to be real life characters and not Kivanc Tatlitug (whom God created with special attention) and Elcin Sangu , portraying them. Because the Kadir and Zeynep in the series have a beautiful love. We don’t see that that kind of love on TV these days. We understand this better in a scene in the sixth episode.
Don’t say which scene, because how many scenes did they have anyway? (yes, this sentence does contain some sarcasm) I’m talking about the photoshoot scene, the scene against the wall in the square. I had the opportunity to watch the scene a second time when the series was rebroadcast, and I noticed something. I think there was a problem the first time I saw it. I couldn’t hear the conversation, and I was afraid that Veli Cevher would see them. But what did I notice in my second viewing?
All these years, Kadir thinks he’s been dumped. By the way, both actors should be commended here. When Kivanc Tatlitug asks with a sad timbre to his voice “There was no one else, right?” it’s as if he’s both relieved and sad to have found the answer to a question he’d asked for years.
Congratulations to Elçin Sangu for conveying, through tremendous tremors in her voice, both nervousness and regret in the midst a police sting, and for the timid glances she thew at Kadir against the wall. Given that Cevher Bey was on their tail, the corner of a wall was an interesting conversation place for this scene. Also I think Elçin Sangu and Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ were quite cold.
Anyway, back to Zeynep and Kadir. Considering that love is identified with ownership in our series and movies, it’s hard not to be affected by Zeynep and Kadir’s love. I wish these aspects of love and lovers are told more often.
Kadir who acts macho on the surface, has thought for years that Zeynep had left him for another man. Even though that’s what he’s thought, when he sees Zeynep years later, all the sails fall into the water. He does not want her to get hurt. He does not want anyone to talk bad about her. He’s afraid that someone might cause her harm. When Veli Cevher asks him, “Would you run to her if she calls? ” We hear him say “Yes I would run to her”. And how! He said, he would go to her, without thinking, without warning, in a voice in which there was no hesitation.
Let’s not forget Zeynep. She didn’t leave for an ordinary reason. Not on a lover’s whim. Not because of a fight. It’s a deeper wound. When her father, the policeman was shot, (we don’t know exactly what happened to Zeynep Sahin’s father. Another secret.) she was raised by social services. Her wound, her fears, her life are all woven around him (her father). Every fear of that incident took her life a prisoner. But then, the greatest goal of the man she loves is to become a policeman and to find his mother. Should she live with these fears or dodge these fears? So when Kadir , the man she grew up with and loved, decided to become a cop, Zeynep was left alone with the same questions. The greater the love, the greater the fear.
That’s what happened to Zeynep. But she didn’t want Kadir to be lost and alone when she left, she wanted him to have something to hold on to. The one thing that would hold Kadir, an overgrown child, was a family that gathered around the table. So Zeynep asks Aslı, who grew up with them to “set the table” for Kadir (to give him the family he needs).
Who would love a man so much as to entrust him to another person so he would not be sad? This is a selfless love, a love without ego.
Zeynep is also trusting. She entrusts Kadir to Alsi, their childhood friend, knowing that Asli loved Kadir. Aslı’s love is something I have concluded, but Zeynep most probably noticed Alsi’s feelings for Kadir. We haven’t seen Zeynep and Kadir in their days as lovers in the series yet.
All these details tell me; The love described in Carpisma …Zeynep and Kadir’s love is more than that of two lovers. There is shared childhood, youth and lonliness. There’s hand holding and companionship. That’s why Kadir sees Zeynep not as a lover who left him, but as his childhood, as the loneliness he shared. He sees two small children who are sitting together and trying to stay strong.
He sees her in his dreams, his hopes, his causes, his power and his weakness. I wish we could look at the lovers in front of us the way Commissioner Kadir looks at his love… if only we can focus on how their presence and spirit add to our lives. I would also like to note that I hope that this will be handled with a little more emphasis in Carpisma because, today, when loving and lovers are associated with various forms of violence and oppression, these are very special details.
Zeynep loves Kadir enough to smile for his happiness when she sees Kadir’s family photo. When Zeynep learns about Aslı and Deniz, it is not unreasonable for Kadir to share his pain and hug her and cry and shout out his feelings. For Zeynep, Kadir is probably not only a beloved, but also the trust and protection associated with the concept of the father. Zeynep trusts Kadir so much that even though they have been apart for years, she knows he will be there for her when she commits those crimes. I wish we all could have such lovers in our past.
We can be sure that Zeynep also realizes that Kadir must hold onto something to continue with his life. That’s why she tells Kadir to find her daughter Aylin, and about his mother, whom he will look for when they find Aylin.
She tells Kadir about another little girl whose injuries may need ointment. She says that she will be there for him to find his mother, that he doesn’t have to look for her alone. “I’ll be with you now, I promise” she says. All this is actually in an effort to link Kadir to life. But again, I wish these were a little more stitched, detailed and emphasized.
Sabahattin Ali has said; “This evening I realized that a person could be able to cling to another person with much stronger bonds than he or she clings to life. And this evening I realized that after I lost her, I could just roll around the world like a walnut. “
After Zeynep left, this was more or less the state of Kadir. All of the information about Kadir and Zeynep actually resides with Veli Cevher. Because we learn alot about them when we listen to Kadir talk to him. And if we can watch that past, it’ll be super. We don’t yet know what Zeynep did when she left. But these two people, to be able to live this life, to not be dragged down, did what they felt they lacked when they were children, and formed a family. But their real ties are with each other.
One of the most attractive aspects of Carpisma is this bond. Let’s not forget the dynamics of Veli-Kadir and Veli-Zeynep. The Veli-Zeynep scenes were so exciting that I have friends who bit their nails to the core. But those two little lonely children who are alone in the dark affect me differently. They have become each other’s family. This strong bond has always been hidden in their hearts. Whatever happens, for Kadir there is always a Zeynep to call to, and for Zeynep there is a Kadir to trust and be sure of.
That’s why, instead of being shaken in the most difficult periods of their lives, they can hold on to each other again. Because, as Sabahattin Ali says, “sometimes you can embrace a person with stronger bonds than the bonds that connect you to life, and sometimes it is the only bond that keeps you alive.”
If you can establish this bond with your lover, than you can erase your pain the moment your lover comes back into your life. Just like Kadir and Zeynep when they saw each other.
As long as the beloved Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ and Elçin Sangu portray Kadir and Zeynep as beautifully as a painting that draws you in, we will wait eagerly for their love as if waiting for our own lover. While we wait, I’m sure we’ll be humming that beautiful song.
“The Spring breeze touched my hair”.