Thread by @angeldreamrazor

A thought... Gray characters, true gray ones, are rare. I love them the most because they are the most human. They make terrible mistakes, but they grow and learn to be better. That progression is a precious thing to watch. Once you get to know them, you learn to understand +++

Their actions (not justify them). You start seeing things from their perspective. The easiest thing to do is to judge someone at first glance. People usually keep their first impression on something/someone until the end. Which is why gray characters are difficult to pull off +++

Convincingly... The actor/writer has to make you believe in their layers. To make you say, OK, so now this makes more sense. I understand the motivation behind his/her actions. If a show/movie/book manages to do that, you will empathise with such a character even more, because +y

You are fully immersed in his journey. Which is why you can neglect some of the previous, morally dubious (to say the least) actions of such a character. Because now, in your eyes, he isn't a man/a woman he/she was at the beginning of the story. Whenever something happens +t

That would remind you of those less than stellar moments, you would get angry and dismiss it as inconsistent writing. But, my dear friends. A hero's (in this case anti-hero's) Road to redemption isn't a straight line. It is a thorny road filled with obstacles our character may +

Or may not overcome. And that's the beauty of a gray character. However... Trouble comes once you have completely put the character in one box. So much so, that you are willing to ignore his own words and actions from the previous period. So... When the truth is revealed... +++

You feel betrayed... Like you were fooled by his/her good looks, sad face, or, most likely, their humanity. So, the writer/actor managed to convince you into forgetting, into hoping for a miracle.
It reminds me of an episode of Law and order: Criminal intent, where a character

Who was helping the police, a really great guy, turned out to be a perpetrator all along. We knew he was troubled in the past, but... Once they arrest him he says, But I have done so much good since. And Goren says: No matter how much good you did, it doesn't change the past. +

Or the reveal in Primal fear. You, lile the lawyer were tricked by Edward Norton's incredible ability to look so innocent, that the revelation comes like a gut punch to you.

Same happens with #iskenderkayabeyli. Despite the fact that he:
1. Said more than once he was involved +

In the fire
2. Blamed Ömer for HIS crime and started a hilarious #
3. Never said that he didn't do it, when people accused him
4. Had Arzu 'remind' him it was an accident
And so much more...
We believed there was another solution... There was a plot twist. It would be so easy +

To pin it all on Çelebi... But they didn't. OK... You'll mention Atlas and the apparent lack of guilt. But, that's the core of Iskender's character. He 'tries to forget' bad things that he's done. To rationalise them as accidents or necessary evil... We saw that many times... +

In Episode 15... Çiçek, wrecked with guilt over Kenan, sees İskender playing cheerfully with Atlas. She asks him, how do you do it? His answer was, in a nutshell, I never allow people to see the real me... Again, after Bülent's death. He tells Çiçek, try to forget... Like I do.+

Literally the next day, they are flirting in mahalle, like nothing has happened. In the episode 22, again,we get the confirmation from Çelebi, he used İskender to get the artifacts, but it was Isko's stupid idea to put explosives. In 23rd ep, when Rüya said You and Ç will pay..+

He nods his head in compliance, followed by a long scene of his inner restlessness. All my hope for a plot twist has died in e 25 and his speech to Çiçek, where he literally explains his motivation in life for everyone to understand. Everything he wanted was to one-up Çelebi +

I knew then and there, yup. There's no way he'll get out from this. His reckless nature is apparent from the 1st to the last episode. Even when saving Çiçek and Atlas from Bülent he acts in a moment, not seeing the consequences. Like implicating Ç's men to dispose of the body. +

I am so sorry some of you feel betrayed. And most of you blame Burcu. I leave you with a parting thought. Sadly the, writers in Turkish dizi industry are more expendable than chewing gum. The last word always has the production. Thank you for staying till the end of my rant.