Aziz looks apprehensive when he turns up at the antique shop with his grandfather’s Satranc-i-Urefa board. Salih is still wearing the stern expression with which he has greeted Aziz ever since the younger man’s emotional outburst over the death of Firat, his little brother.

I sense that this is part of Salih’s defence mechanism. He was truly hurt by Aziz’s accusations of arrogance, enough to make him retreat into solitude for a considerable period. Both are now wary of one another, but there is in Aziz’s expression an earnestness and some hope that the old board might help to make peace between them.

It does seem to do the trick. Salih is immediately captivated by the specialness of the board which he finds out belonged to Mehmet Seyfik Korkmazer, his foster father and Aziz’s grandfather.

Contrary to my own previous theory, this is the first time he has seen the board which he identifies as being very old. Eight hundred years old, from the time of Muhittin ibn Harabi, when Hazret-i Mevlana- another name for the poet Rumi – settled in Konya in 1215. The writing in the board may have been altered over time, but the board itself is the important thing, made from the wood of the precious sidre tree. A sidre is said to stand at the boundary of the seventh heaven, past which no living creature can pass.

The mirror on the board makes it special. It is not about destiny or the future, rather it indicates that this particular board is a mirror of a person’s desires.

At the same time, Kerem is confronting Firat about the harm caused to Aneta. He is disgusted to discover that this happened as a result of a theft from his grandmother by Firat and he tells Firat that he has no more time for him, “You’re dead to me, picklock. Don’t ever come across me again.”
Feride , visibly upset by the discovery of the newspaper clipping about her aunt’s murder confronts her father. She wants to know the story of the killing. She also wants to know why her father has kept it secret. No answer is forthcoming, however, Faik refusing to either be pushed or to discuss the matter at all. She wonders why, after thirty years, he carries all the weight of the murder by himself.

She is not giving up on the murder story and later contacts Yalcin who is very pleased to hear that she has resigned from the Korkmazer Holding Company.

Back in the antique shop, Salih is explaining to Aziz that the precious board in front of them works differently, not by talking and listening. Sometimes called “Chess of the Gnostics” it is intended as a tool for a gnostic -one who “knows”- to accompany a single passenger as he learns to “know” for himself. The journey takes place in the passenger’s mind. He needs to tell the guide what is happening and if he can’t do so, cannot spin and move forward.

The passenger must be aspiring; if there is fire in the heart then he does not wait for an invitation. This, together with spinning a six gives him entry to the game. Salih describes the events of the journey in mystical terms. The full reward he likens to the arrival of lovers ”at the wedding night, the big meeting”. Aziz has made a life changing decision and tells Salih,
“If you accept, I came to be the passenger of this road.”
He is there with all his heart and, for the first time in his life, without any guarantees. Expressing his hope that God will be with Aziz along this
new road, Salih spins and sets the game in motion.

He enters the game by spinning a six and Salih explains the true significance of the six, linking it to the six “days” of creation, not days as we know them but as cycles during which God brought parts of the Universe into being.
“God said do it and the world started to turn. Everything is the result of these six days’ cycle creation.”

Aziz has a sudden, brief vision of himself joining Salih, playing the game as a boy. A voice tells him that Salih plays Satranc-i-Urefa well and exhorts him to find the courage to play.

The passenger will move his pawn along the board himself and will start at the first square, rather than at Six after he spins a six. Aziz is starting to understand that he is embarking on a journey to his own soul and comments that some morning he looks at himself in the mirror and sees a stranger looking back. Salih replies that it is much easier for someone who experiences poverty to begin the journey. Aziz is worried by this and Salih says that wealth is a problem to those who install it in their hearts. The implication is that Aziz may need to live differently if the journey is to have its full meaning for him.

Salih tells the story of the prophet who gradually lost everything, even his health, until he stood before his God naked as the day he was born. The road is a hard one, and Aziz looks very troubled. Salih counters this, saying that whilst you may feel you are losing everything, you are really winning. Loss will occur until there is nothing between the passenger and the truth. Time is a key factor.

Suddenly Salih changes tack, asking for a ride in Yadigar. It’s a male thing… During the joyride he reveals a knowledge of classic cars and that he had owned a similar car as a young man. The two men part with a hug,
the tension and hurt between them seemingly mended as they look forward to Aziz’s journey with the ancient Satranc-i-Urefa board.

While they are out in Yadigar, Uncle Abdullah has come into the shop and rewound one of the clocks. He is starting time again.

Bulent is charming Aneta back into his life and her patchy memory helps him do that, this time with a gift of jewellery.

He uses his growing control over his wife to pull Kerem closer into him., so that he will be able to manipulate his grandson with promises to release his grandmother. We find out in this episode that he knows the location of the miniature and he spends time looking closely at it in the gallery. Tahsin also sees the painting but is seems he has less appreciation for its beauty and significance. He is there by invitation of Bulent but their real agenda is to discuss upcoming matters with their mysterious “board” for which both have a degree of fear, Tahsin more than Bulent.

Emine, helped by Altan who is forced to hide whenever Yalcin turns up, is getting her new restaurant sorted out. Feride calls in to talk about her discovery of the murder, Yalcin finds out that a man was found guilty of the murder, served a lengthy jail sentence and has been released.

Investigations reveal that the man, Rustum Cakir agreed to take on the guilt and to serve another person’s sentence in order to provide funds for his impoverished family. He is located, but someone is very keen that he not speak out about what really happened.

Aziz collects Feride in Yadigar and she tells him about her recent family discovery. He talks of both their families’ pasts weighing heavily on their shoulders and is hopeful that this murder has nothing to do with both families’ messed up mutual past. Eventually the pair confronts Rustum at his front door but he is not speaking, saying he has served a 24 year sentence.
Others are busy. Sultan is committed to her work with poor children in the neighbourhood and meets up with Ahmet and Tekin to take more clothing there. She has discovered that wealth makes you happiest when it is shared.

Yagmur has found a photo of her father’s shrouded body in the location where he was gunned down and recognizes a familiar symbol on the wall near the body. It is a butterfly and she is taken back in her memory to the incident with Alice and the torn photographs.

Kerem is busy dealing with Nehir and with Tahsin, for whom his contempt grows stronger each day. He confronts Tahsin with the name of Rustum Cakir and his foster-father realizes that the threat of disclosure from Kerem is very real.

Kerem comforts his mother and gets ready to compromise in order to free his grandmother. Aneta has reassured him that she doesn’t need saving, however. She is happy to be back with Bulent who, more than anything wants the miniature, and has decided that Kerem will get it for him.

Firat has gone home to his mother once again and she vows revenge on those who hurt her precious son.

Bulent has found out that Aziz and Feride know about Rustem though he is not sure how much they know. The last part of the episode is given over to the meeting set up between the “murderer” and the young couple during which they hope to hear the identity of the true killer. They learn
that the sacrifice he made by going to jail for twenty-four years was pointless. The man who offered him so much money was so arrogant that he was willing to ”…spend his own children.” Both his wife and daughters left him and he is now on his own. A gunfight ensues and Aziz bravely defends Feride whilst trying to do the same for Rustum.

Sadly, Rustum is shot and with his dying breath, manages to get one syllable of the true killer’s name out…. “Tah…”

Will Aziz understand what losing his wealth will mean?
-Will Faik tell the story of his sister’s murder”
How and when did Suheyla die?
What will Aziz do now he knows his father is a killer?
Will this knowledge drive a wedge between Feride and Aziz?

WRITTEN BY: Judith Kelleher



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