Ask Mantik Intikam Episode 5 Review "The Volleyball Episode"

Arkadaslar, there is a lot to unpack in this episode. First a quick recap-- Cinar and Esra's conversation about what is going on with Esra and Ozan Bey is interrupted (spoiler, they will have a lot of interrupted conversations this episode) by Cagla who comes to report that a man was taken ill at Esra's family restaurant and he's planning on suing the company. Ozan takes charge, only to discover that his mother, Zumrut is the root of the issue (do you see what I did there). He manages a tentative peace between both families by having Zumrut work for Menekse until she's forgiven. Meanwhile Esra and Ozan keep having the same disputes they had when they were married. This only gets worse when Cinar finally admits to Ozan (and himself) how he feels about Esra, revealing he knows that she suffered because of her previous marriage and that she has her guard up. He says he will confess how he feels and if Esra feels the same, he'll leave the company. Ozan spends the rest of the episode trying to keep them apart to prevent this confession. Now to my bullet points:

-The MVP of this episode is Ilhan Sen's amazing bone structure. No lie, but whatever it is about his face makes him look like a sad/bewildered puppy and breaks my heart at the same time. Occasionally he looks like an angry puppy. And then, he can look like a sad puppy and an angry puppy all at once. Honorable mention also goes to his neck veins... wow, but they were doing work this episode!

- Ekrem and Elif are kind of cute together and Eko's heartbreak is affecting me more than I thought it would. He is kind of handsome in that dark-eyelashes-that-look-like-he's-wearing-eyeliner sort of way and Elif is smart. They'd make a decent couple. 
-Speaking of Elif, how did Zumrut manage to give birth to two reasonably intelligent children because she and her bangles are my favorite hot mess. The fact that they went to get Esra's wedding ring and she bought a bracelet instead... ah, I just love it.

-This Menekse/Zumrut feud is more entertaining than I imagined it would be. In RomComs I'm usually bored by all the quirky and loud side characters but I am not tempted to skip through their scenes, so a win for everyone!

-Cinar and Cagla's characters are both very nice. A LOT nicer than they were in the Korean Original "Cunning Single Lady". Cagla is supportive of both Esra and her brother, she isn't scheming. Cinar, while immature, understands Esra deeply and is doing his best to take care of her and make her life easy which Ozan didn't do while they were married. In short, they're both very likable. I am worried what we are going to do with them because EsZan is endgame. The twin's hearts will have to break and I don't want them to go stereotypically bad. 

From episode 4 "The Birthday Partay"

-The Esra/Eko sibling dynamic is pretty great. Esra throwing rocks at him to make him leave while at the same time telling him to drive carefully because she loves him captures any brother sister relationship perfectly. 

-Of all the inadvertent hugging, lap sitting, missed dinners, and general hijinks, the scene that felt the most romantic to me was the volleyball scene where Esra gets briefly knocked unconscious by Ozan's spiked ball. If you ignore the physics involved, and you must because a spiked ball would not have hit her from that angle even if it bounced up from the ground...  it is a beautiful shot. When Ozan is touching her face gently and Cinar pushes him out of the way to revive Esra himself... Ozan looks very sad/confused/hurt puppy. Which Ozan puppy is my favorite I can't say, but my heart actually felt a bit sick for him in that moment. 

-Esra's dad, whose name I don't remember because he is that unimportant to me, gets his invention broken but I didn't care. 

Predictions:

I don't think that Cinar will make his confession in this episode. More likely he will notice Ozan and that will kill the mood, or Cagla will make an appearance and they'll have another awkward moment with just the four of them. I REALLY don't want the writers to have Esra use Cinar to punish Ozan. I also don't want Cagla to be used in the same way... but it is a summer RomCom and one never knows what fresh hell they have in store for the lead couple. Zumrut and Menekse will continue to battle but Zumrut's punishment will end soon. Elif might not enjoy the new and improved Eko and might wish for a return of old version. Musa will continue to be the star of the entire show as he has been thus far. The wedding planning company will request to work personally with Esra which might cause her and Ozan to take some uncomfortable walks down memory lane. 

Randomness:

The original show only had 16 episodes. I believe the "Ozan" character kisses the "Esra" character in episode 13 and the big miscarriage secret (BIG SPOILER) is revealed in episode 14. I don't know how strictly we are following that timeline, but it seems like Esra is going to have to realize that she actually loves him soon.