Patterns & Clues
Episode 3 of Atiye begins with Erhan and our lead protagonist following the address on the picture but finding nothing. However, Atiye hears the same strange scratching noise and suspects the man inside is hiding something. Breaking in, she sees a number of symbols around the walls before seeing Zuhre sitting at the sofa. She smiles, inviting her to sit alongside her while Erhan evades the owner outside. As it turns out, Zuhre is blind but she tells her they need to go on a trip together. It turns out Zuhre is her Grandmother but before she can leave, tells her to come back for her at a later time. Erhan and Atiye discuss what happened at the house and as they drive back home, Atiye heads inside where her parents berate her for leaving. Gritting her teeth, she shows them a picture of Zuhre and asks outright about her Grandmother. Her family act a little shadily but blame it on her condition. There’s something they’re not saying, clearly, but right now it’s still up in the air and a mystery. Erhan visits Professor Oner and asks him about the symbols and fragments of clues they’ve found so far. Despite Oner telling him how angry he is at Erthan’s Father, he reads an excerpt from the notepad referring to him as the one person he can trust the most, leading to an awkward silence and Erhan more determined than ever to decipher the symbols and find out what it all means. The octagonal star is the major clue here and as he deliberates over what his Father may have found, he tries to line up constellations and other patterns on the wall. Back home, Ozan continues to show how controlling and manipulative he is, deleting Erhan’s number from Atiye’s contact list while she sleeps. When she wakes up, Atiye heads back to the house but finds no Zuhre, leading to her breaking down and crying on the floor. Unfortunately this doesn’t look good and heading back to therapy, she spills the truth which the therapist interprets as a brain injury causing hallucinations. Her family are supportive of uher though, and Ozan implores her to take medication, bringing her home after a day on a yacht. As he drives off, Erhan approaches Atiye at her house but she rejects him, brushing aside his concerns and telling him she’s ill. However, Erhan decides to look for himself but finds nothing. Back at the dig-site however, he learns from Celal that a blind woman visited his Father at Gobeklitepe. Could this be Zuhre? Meanwhile, Serdar hires a man named Akrep to look into the symbols and find out what it all means. It looks like another player has entered the game now but what this means for our characters remains to be seen. Back at the dig-site, Erhan finds someone sneaking around but watches helplessly as they head down the hill and drive off in a car. As they head into the trailer, they look for clues to try and find out just who’s stopping their research. While they discuss the symbolic meaning of the star, Atiye continues to prepare for her wedding, taking her medication and succumbing to her family’s wishes. After running a registration check and following the clues, Erhan receives an ominous message from a woman claiming to have been healed by Zuhre. She tells her to travel up to the mosque while we see Atiye preparing for her wedding. With an hour to go, she and Ozan talk together about their future while Erhan sneaks back to the house and threatens the owner, putting a knife to his throat and telling him they need to talk. The guests take their seats while Ozan prepares for Atiye’s arrival. Serdar kills Akrep after another botched attempt at finding clues and as the episode closes out, Erhan shows Atiye that she’s not crazy, presenting Zuhre to her just before she walks out the bridal room. Realizing she’s not crazy, our protagonist ditches her wedding and drives away. With a couple of well placed montage segments for Atiye, the wedding planning thankfully is over as quickly as it began last episode. Although I do understand this is important for the “call to action” plot trope inherent with shows like this, there was always a danger that Atiye may have kept this going a little too long. Alas, that’s not the case here. Thankfully it looks like the mystery is going to ramp up now from here on out and with Serdar seemingly presenting himself as the main antagonist of the series, it looks like it’s a race to try and figure out what the symbols mean and quite how important Atiye actually is. With the duo looking for clues through much of this season and plenty of questions left unanswered, as we reach the halfway point of this show, there’s plenty to like about this new Turkish series, even if it is a little slow at times.
