Another Self, the Turkish dramedy on Netflix, has always been a little metaphysical, but as it enters its final season, it’s ramping that part of the story up. But, as this show has consistently demonstrated, when its main three characters are together, the show works pretty well.
ANOTHER SELF SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “WORLD WAR I. ÇANAKKALE, 1915.” A Turkish soldier finds an injured Australian soldier and is about to finish him off, when he looks into the soldier’s eyes. He instead takes the soldier to the Turkish field hospital and finds a letter he was writing to his family back home.
The Gist: In the present day, in the seaside town of Ayvalik, Sevgi (Boncuk Yilmaz) lays flowers at a grave and wonders in voice over if there is “love after death.” Sevgi has had a miraculous recovery from her latest bout of cancer, and she and her husband Fikret (Rıza Kocaoğlu) are looking to adopt a child. She is definitely concerned her recent health problems will exclude them from adopting, though.
Ada (Tuba Büyüküstün) is flying back to Turkey from Barcelona, where she spent the last two years studying new medical methods that she intends on taking back to Ayvalik to open a clinic for women. When she talks to her friends, Sevgi and Leyla (Seda Bakan), on the phone, they want to know if she has any Spanish romances to talk about. She says no, but ends up meeting Özgür (Şükrü Özyıldız) on the flight. They share a love of the author Kahlil Gibran, and then they spend the flight discussing their recent losses. He waits for her as she claims her luggage. She also talks about how her father had another family, and she has a sister named Deniz (İlayda Akdoğan) that she’s never met.
They part when Sevgi and Leyla surprise her at the airport, but she finds his name in a library card inside the book and calls him. She has already Google searched him and found out he’s an anthropologist, and after their discussion about her half-sister, he gives her two possible original family names for her father. A horseshoe in a keepsake box narrows that down to one possibility.
In the meantime, Leyla’s libido is in the tank and she constantly brushes off the advances of her husband Erdem (Umut Kurt). She has things on her mind, though: She’s raising a toddler, and the tavern she started with Fikret is not only struggling financially but just lost its chef right before the tourist season starts.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we’ve mentioned during previous seasons, Another Self is a friendship dramedy, sort of like Run The World or Sex And The City, but taking place in Turkey.
Our Take: As we said up top, it feels like Another Self, created by Nuran Evren Şit, is getting somewhat metaphysical in its final season. It seems that all three friends in Ayvalik, having gone through some pretty heavy life trials and tribulations while finding joy in their friendship and peace in their new home, are trying to figure out what their next phase is going to be. As we noted we reviewed the show’s second season in 2024, the show is much more watchable when the trio of women at its center — or at least two of them — are sharing scenes together.
Yes, we are now used to seeing Ada, Leyla, and Sevgi’s family situations, and are more familiar with those characters than we have been in the past, but they are all still there to service the stories of the three main characters. In other words, we still don’t know a lot about the inner lives of the men in these women’s lives, except for how they relate to the main trio (which, of course, is a problem that women in shows featuring male characters have been having for decades).
At the very least, though, the stories in this final season do feel like the main trio is moving onward in some fashion. Ada is going to have her life turned upside down when she connects with Deniz, but Özgür’s presence will also affect her sense of peace. Just as Sevgi and Fiko get closer to adopting a child, Fiko’s estranged father pops back into their lives. And Leyla’s libido gets recharged when she meets Yorgos (Berk Cankat), the tavern’s new chef, which is going to make her question her marriage.
Just as we saw in the first two seasons, there will be linkages to the past, even if it’s way back in the past. Besides a drawing that’s in Ada’s keepsake box, we’re not entirely sure what the WWI flashback has to do with her. Is the Turkish soldier her grandfather or great-grandfather? Is it the Australian? We’re not sure. That’s the metaphysical part of the show we mentioned above, though, something that’s always been a part of the show to some degree: How does the past affect the present, and how does it affect the wellbeing of Ada, Leyla, and Sevgi? That part of the narrative is also what we enjoy, and we hope that also gets explored more as the show comes to a close.
Performance Worth Watching: Like we said, we enjoy the banter and warmth among Büyüküstün, Bakan, and Yilmaz when they’re on the screen at the same time.
Sex And Skin: Nothing in the first episode.
Parting Shot: Ada gets a call after sending a Facebook message to Deniz, wondering if she’s related to her father. “We’re sisters,” she says in a very flat-out manner.
Sleeper Star: Şükrü Özyıldız is utterly charming as Özgür, and we’re looking forward to seeing Özgür and Ada together later in the season.
Most Pilot-y Line: After Leyla gets irritated by Erdem’s pie-in-the-sky proposal to buy a boat, saying “We’ll find a way,” Leyla says to him, “Erdem, you annoy me.” Are we sure she just said “annoy,” given how pissed she was?
Our Call: STREAM IT. Another Self concludes with its three main characters really digging into changes in their lives, but as before, the show really shines when all three of them share scenes together.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
