Netflix ‘Ethos’ Season 1 Recap: What to Remember Before the Return
This Netflix ‘Ethos’ first season recap arrives just as the series is about to return. Netflix has announced that the second season premieres on Thursday, November 12, with Berkun Oya once again writing and directing. For viewers who last watched years ago, a refresher on where the characters were left is useful.
The first season debuted on Netflix on November 12, 2020. It ran for eight episodes and told a complete story. The Turkish title, ‘Bir Başkadır’, translates roughly to something different.
Meryem, Peri and the Therapy Sessions at the Center of ‘Ethos’
The story follows Meryem, a cleaner who works part time and comes from a conservative family on the outskirts of Istanbul. In the opening episode she confides in Peri about her fainting spells, though she is reluctant to reveal one detail.
Peri works out in that first episode that weddings trigger the fainting, whether a ceremony Meryem attends or a wedding show on daytime television. The deeper cause is Meryem’s feelings for Sinan, the man whose home she cleans.
Peri comes from the secular, westernised side of Turkish society, grew up in a villa on the Bosphorus and studied in Europe. Meryem chooses to begin therapy without telling Ali Sadi hoca, the respected Islamic guide in her village. The gap between the two women gives the sessions their tension.
Even Peri sees a therapist of her own, a detail that shows how widespread repression and depression are across the series.
The ‘Ethos’ Cast and the Households Around Meryem
Meryem lives with her ill tempered brother Yasin and his traumatised wife Ruhiye. Öykü Karayel plays Meryem, Fatih Artman plays Yasin, Funda Eryiğit plays Ruhiye and Defne Kayalar plays Peri. Tülin Özen is also among the leading names.
By the second episode Ruhiye’s condition worsens under Yasin’s mistreatment. By the finale, Ruhiye and Yasin have made amends and Hayrunnisa has set out on her own path. Those threads give the family storyline a clear arc.
Settar Tanrıöğen plays Ali Sadi Hoca, Alican Yücesoy plays Sinan and Bige Önal plays Hayrunnisa. Hilmi appears as Meryem’s suitor. Each of them connects back to Meryem, which is how the series moves between very different homes.
How Critics Read Berkun Oya’s Turkish Drama
Oya is a respected playwright who also wrote the acclaimed series ‘Masum’. ‘Ethos’ carries an 8.5 rating on IMDb and 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
In its analysis, TRT World described the series as expertly handled, well shot and well scored, while noting that some explanatory comments from Oya weaken it slightly. The praise and the reservation arrive in the same review.
One reviewer observed that Oya avoids turning the story into a battle between us and them and lets the women drive the narrative. A critique on 5Harfliler argued that the contrasts Oya builds do not resonate with real life, and noted that some viewers accused him of acting like a sociologist.
Audience reviews on IMDb are not uniform either, with one viewer finding the story stretched and suggesting that five episodes would have been enough. Another outlet, OBCT, framed the series as a collective therapy session for Turkish society.
What the ‘Ethos’ Season Two Premiere Means for the Story
Netflix says the returning season runs four episodes and arrives after a gap of five years. Reports note that the season was filmed last year.
Oya returns to write and direct, Karayel resumes the role of Meryem and Kayalar returns as Peri, with the therapy sessions remaining the central axis of the plot. The announced cast also includes Onur Saylak and Nur Sürer.
The first season left a number of questions unanswered by design. Since Meryem’s fainting spells and Peri’s own therapy sessions anchored so much of that story, which of those two threads do you most want the second season to pick up first in the comments?
