Falling for the Enemy
OMG! I was hooked from episode one of this story! It’s so, so good. So, I didn’t realize right away that it’s a Turkish story, and it’s offered as dubbed, or in the original Turkish with subtitles. I accidently started in the dubbed version and had spent my (FREE, cause Mama don’t pay) coins already so it was too late to switch over, but if you are going to watch it, I would watch it in the original Turkish.
The High: The story itself is such a shimmering gem! It is definitely not like any other story (or TBH recycled story) that I’m seeing right now on the apps. Also, the production value of this is full on movie. Brilliant sets that truly look organic-not staged, and a musical score that just subtly lurks in the background of every scene. This is truly the direction verticals should move toward.
All spoilers and no filters ahead.
It opens with two young children following along behind a beautiful woman as a voiceover extols about the beauty of this woman, but then it turns sour talking about how the woman abandoned her children for her lover and ran off with him. The son, devastated by the death of his father who killed himself after learning his wife was now pregnant by her lover, arrives to seek revenge on his mother and kills her lover. She curses him that he will never find love.
Years later, the son Gülcemal Şahin (Murat Ünalmış) returns to completely destroy his mother. He has a chance encounter with Deva Nakkaşoğlu (Melis Sezen) one of the adoptive daughters of his mother. She is shooting arrows across the lake and he startles her which leads to a confrontation between the two that ends with her shooting her arrow at him (and missing) and him dropping her into the lake. She runs home to tell Zafer what happened.
After hearing the story from Deva, Gülcemal’s mother, Zafer, knows her son has returned and worries her dream of a snake loose in her house and threatening her youngest son is coming true. Deva meets with her fiancé, but doesn’t mention the run-in with Gülcemal or their close interaction with deep eye staring moment. Gülcemal continues to encroach on Zafer’s land and businesses, plotting to take the last thing she holds dear, her master weaver for his own silk factory. Zafer is cooking up halva (look it up, I want to make it so bad now) and sends halva to Gülcemal, which he eats and finds a note inside saying “Welcome to Hell.”
Gülcemal goes to the weaver and discovers that Deva is one of the master weavers daughters that Zafer raised. They again go back and forth, playing their cat and mouse game, with Gülcemal pushing boundaries and Deva trying to protect herself but refusing to hurt him. He tells her she’ll be working for him now, and she’s all, “Bitch, please? Who the fuck are you?” Gülcemal tells her she will be working for him whether she wants to or not. Deva continues to resist him. Gülcemal says she’ll be at his door in three days on her knees begging to stay by his side.
Deva is having her prewedding celebration getting henna and blessings. She tells her father about Gülcemal and he recognizes the name and tells Deva to say away from him. Gülcemal’s sister, Gülendam, is searching for Mert (Deva’s fiancé), the man she spent one night with and became pregnant by. She threatens Mert to meet her or she will come inside. Mert says he’s getting married tomorrow and he loves his fiancée and he wants her to leave. Gülendam tells Mert she’s pregnant and he says he’ll give her money to take care of it because he wants nothing to do with her. Gülcemal arrives to search for his sister.
While Gülcemal was searching for his sister, Deva runs into him in the courtyard where she is visiting the wish tree to prepare for her wedding. They again circle each other, both believing the other is following them. After dealing with Mert, Gülendam is hit by a car and taken to the hospital where Gülcemal learns about the pregnancy.
The cutest moment between Deva and her sister Ipek have them sitting on their bed talking. Ipek wants to know more about the man she almost kissed and Deva is all “no we didn’t.” Deva says it was like “how it is in those soap operas, they get all close and personal and that their noses are almost touching” and Ipek is all “yeah dummy, and then they kiss!” Deva says it was nothing because she’s engaged to Mert and Ipek says, “Ummm…did you tell the man about Mert?”
Gülcemal has Mert brought to him at the Weeping Rock. Gülcemal gives him three choices to fix what he’s done, he can marry his sister, take the money (from the massive pile) and jump off the cliff, or be shot in the head. Mert wisely chooses to marry Gülendam.
Gülcemal has a plan to get Deva’s cooperation by taking her father to collect on a debt he co-signed for after the debtor skips town rather than pay. Deva is waiting to get married (and she looks freaking beautiful) but both her father and fiancé are no shows. A man arrives with a message for Deva asking who will tie her wedding sash without her father there. She realizes Gülcemal has her father so she shows at his castle and finds her father in the dungeon.
Total Beauty and the Beast moment! Her father locked in a dungeon in poor health asking to be released and Deva offers to exchange herself for her father’s freedom. No joke, the voice sounds a lot like the dad in Beauty and the Beast. Gülcemal demands she begs on her knees, but once he gets her there, he doesn’t let her say on her knees for long. Her father is shouting in the background to not do it, but Deva knows her father needs to get help. Gülcemal releases her father as soon as he gets her agreement. Deva demands to be let go and Gülcemal says he’ll only let her go when he’s dead, then Deva tells him she’ll be the one to kill him.
Deva’s father refuses to leave the gate until Deva is back with him. Deva tells Gülcemal her fiancé will come to rescue her and he tells her that she should consider him dead to her. She accuses him of killing her fiancé, but in reality the now married Mert messaged her to tell her he can’t marry her and he apologizes for leaving her. Gülcemal still doesn’t know Mert was her fiancé.
The next morning, Deva’s father has been banging on the gate with a rock all night to signal to Deva he’s still there for her, but he’s getting weak and needs the hospital, so Gülcemal’s staff get him help. When Deva can no longer hear him she fears that Gülcemal has killed him. Gülcemal tells her that her father has left because he knows he can’t rescue her. She tries to stab Gülcemal with a piece of glass, but he stops her and allows her cut his hand.
His staff goes full Beauty and the Beast mode, trying to care for a resistant Deva while also trying to follow Gülcemal’s orders. When she’s asked to go into the huge bathhouse room, she barricades herself inside. Gülcemal breaks open the doors and Deva lets him have it, screaming that no one would choose to be with him, he’s a monster, and completely unloved which you can tell is getting to him as it harks back to the curse from his mother. Deva is finally overcome and passes out in his arms.
Gülcemal confesses to a sleeping Deva that he wishes she took his offer and apologizes to her. When Deva wakes he takes care of Deva, feeding her but stubborn Deva refuses and they continue to battle it out, neither of them willing to give into the other.
Gülcemal comes face to face with his brother, Armağan, who demands to see Deva. Gülcemal says he can see Deva if he beats him in a chess game, but if he loses, he must leave immediately. Zafer hears Armağan went to Gülcemal and she rushes off to see him and accuses him of being a poor imitation of the lover he killed. Zafer twists the knife deeper in Gülcemal and says he will never be as powerful as her lover Mustafa because no one will ever love him, not even his own mother. OMG! A tear runs down his cheek! She is a cutting viper!
Zafer is allowed to see Deva lets her know he father is in the hospital, but that she is unable to save her from Gülcemal. She passes Deva a gun and tells her to hide it. Zafer again curses Gülcemal. He goes to see Deva in the dungeon and she freaks out and tells him he’s taken everything from her, so he might as well take her body too. She opens her clothes to Gülcemal and he closes them up and takes her to a nice room. He tells her she is no longer his prisoner, but a guest (ummmm, a guest who can’t leave is still a prisoner, yes?)
Deva starts a fire to escape climbing out the window but breaks her ankle in the fall. Gülcemal chases after her but Deva holds his off with the gun and shoots him, with both of them looking shocked she actually pulled the trigger and Deva flees until she can’t run anymore. Despite being injured Gülcemal carries her to a hunting lodge and fixes her up and then tries to fix himself. Deva is conflicted but she helps care for his injury. With Gülcemal hovering on the brink of death, she can run, but instead chooses to run back to the manor and send help to him.
Gülcemal is saved, and Deva’s punishment is to be his nursemaid during his recovery. Deva again offers up resistance, but she can’t keep herself away from him. When he is suffering from his injures the door between his past opens and Deva is able to see more of the true Gülcemal. Their Beauty and the Beast moment comes instead of in the library, but Gülcemal teaching Deva how to aim and shoot properly which leads to a standoff between Gülcemal and Deva in which of course she can’t shoot him again.
Gülcemal plots to steal a hotel design from Zafer and told the clients Deva is doing the designs. She refuses saying she said she would never work for him and she’d rather break her own legs than do so. Gülcemal folds and takes Deva to see her father. She later confesses that she knows he only let her see her father because he still wants her to work for him. Gülcemal says if she still don’t want to work for him by tomorrow night he would set her free.
Deva arrives at the dinner in a stunning, drop dead gorgeous red gown and Gülcemal is completely captivated and doesn’t think he can resist Deva so he demands she change her clothes. Deva refuses and tells him if he doesn’t like it he can take it off her himself. When he simply stands there flabbergasted, she flounces past him with a “figured as much” quip.
Deva and Gülcemal meet with the Italians who flirt and linger after Deva making Gülcemal jealous. When they’re seated Zafer and Ipek arrive. Zafer brings with her a translator to tell the Italians about Deva’s captivity. Deva states that she was forced to work with him at first…but now she’s willingly working with him and that she’s staying with him as a guest and will be designing for him as well. A flashback shows Deva speaking with her father who demands that she never leaves Gülcemal’s side. He also says that Zafer is not to be trusted because he “knows things.” They sit with the Italians and sign the contract. Gülcemal is shocked that Deva signed and asked her why, but is interrupted by Gülendam who arrives with Mert bringing him and Deva face to face.
Next scene Deva wakes from a faint and once she comes to she rushes out of the room thinking that Mert has come to save her. The housekeeper tries to clarify that Mert is Gülendam’s husband, but Deva doesn’t comprehend as she runs off to connect with Mert. Meanwhile, Mert is on the couch with Gülendam getting chewed out by Gülcemal about not protecting his sister and the baby. Deva hears him ask if the baby isn’t his too? Deva is confused but the housekeeper is able to keep her from interrupting and says she’ll explain everything to Deva. Deva has a major freak out stating Gülcemal stole her fiancé and gave him to his sister while the housekeeper tried to convince her that Gülcemal didn’t know Mert was Deva’s finace. Deva learned that Mert was a cheater and the baby is months old so the crazy strategizing she thought Gülcemal planned wasn’t true. Seeing how devastated Deva is, the housekeeper decides to help her escape.
Mert the Bastard drags Deva off to talk to her. She slaps him and says they have nothing to talk about and goes off on him. Woot! Go Deva!! He keeps trying to explain saying that Gülcemal forced him with a gun to his head and he had no choice. Deva says then you should have died. If he forced you to marry her, did he force you to get her pregnant? Nice try fucker. Mert is like, no, we’re leaving here together. Zafer has something planned. Ahh, in this version, Mert is Gaston.
Gülcemal tells Deva they’re going to an engagement party in town and Deva refuses to be out with him in public. She demands Gülcemal brings the stars out of the sky and weave them into her hair, and Gülcemal immediately sets about that task to please her. Meanwhile, Deva is fretting because he father told her to stay and she is growing more and more anxious so she enlists Ipek and Armağan into helping her escape. Deva returns from visiting her father to find a beautiful gown waiting for her. Deva tells Gülcemal she said she wouldn’t go with him. He corrects her that she said he had to weave the stars into her hair and presents Deva with his gift. After he leaves Deva looks at his gift in awe (oh, man, you can totally see her FINALLY starting to really like him).
Deva and Gülcemal walk into the part and all eyes are on them, especially Zafer’s. Zafer demands that he not reveal their connection between each other and Gülcemal says that most people have forgotten that she’s nothing but a two faced liar from the slums how abandoned her two children and ran off with her lover. Gülcemal makes a speech telling them how long he has worked and that if his father was alive he would be so proud of all that he accomplished. Zafer walks away hearing nothing but warm greetings for Gülcemal.
A friend of Deva’s comes by and says he heard she was getting married and thinking Gülcemal is her husband. Deva corrects him and the friend asks to dance with her, but Gülcemal rebuffs him and tells him he will be dancing with Deva. When they go home at the end of the night there is a lot of deep eye contact and almost hand holding.
The next day, Deva puts her plan into action to escape. Armağan has arranged for a man to meet Deva to take her to Istanbul. While on the road, a staged kidnapped has Deva being attacked by the men claiming they’re Gülcemal’s men. Deva is like, bullshit. Gülcemal would come for me himself and when they hit her to keep her quiet she knows for sure they aren’t his men. She is able to call Gülcemal before shooting one of her abductors and being knocked out. They think they’ve killed her when they get a call from their boss Zafer telling them to let her go. Thinking they’ve killed her, the men start to make plans to bury her. While Gülcemal rides to Deva’s rescue, she’s being buried in a rug and comes upon the men burying her and he kills them. Gülcemal starts digging her out with his bare hands. While he’s holding her in his arms and crying over her she revives and asks Gülcemal to take her home. Deva calls Ipek and tells her she was trying to leave but was kidnapped along the way and Gülcemal was the one who saved her. Gülcemal has figured out Zafer wrangled away with deal with the Italians, but Gülcemal thinks Deva is part of the plot and feels like he can no longer trust her. Gülcemal swears vengeance against Zafer and now Deva as well.
Gülendam returns and tells Mert what happened with Deva and Mert freaks out. Deva is waiting in her room for Gülcemal and Mert comes in and forces a kiss on her. He tells her he was terrified when he heard about what happened to her. Deva doesn’t want to hear about it at all and Mert promises he’ll get her out of Hell and Deva tells him being around him is the only thing that makes it Hell and she only left to get away from him. Gülcemal is at Deva’s door while Mert is still there and Deva is scared he’ll find her unwanted guest. Instead of entering her room, Gülcemal replays all of their moments, sweet and bad and decides to walk away. Deva kicks Mert out and tells him off while he pledges his lasting love for her. Deva says his wife is in the other room and she loves you, but she wishes she could see that Mert is completely unworthy of love and kicks Mert out.
The next day, Deva is waiting again for Gülcemal and Mert approaches her. He teases her about being afraid of Gülcemal and she says no, but Mert should be. He asks if she actually loves Gülcemal he’ll burn the house down and everyone in it, including him and her. Deva says just do it then, you’re too much of a coward to do it anyway. Gülcemal catches them together and Mert tells him Deva roasted chestnuts for him and she burned herself so he was just looking at her injury and he’ll go find some burn cream. Gülcemal asks if she roasted them for him and she says she did it for herself but there are some if he wants them. After she offers them to her he rejects them and ultimately her.
Gülcemal invites Zafer to the table and hands her a fat wad of cash. He tells her he canceled the deal with the Italians because they were her people and that she will need the money. Gülcemal reveals that he tipped Zafer off to the business deal and he drove the price down so low to destroy her business. After Zafer walks away Deva tells him she never spoke to Zafer about the contract and he reveals why he thinks she betrayed him. He hands her a suitcase of cash and he reminds her about when they first met and she said she was priceless, he cuts her when he tells her that is seems like she had a price after all. She picks up the money in the suitcase and throws it in his face.
When Deva storms off, Gülcemal chases after her telling her she’s as guilty as he thought. Deva demands he find proof of her betrayal in the next three days and then he’ll beg to have her stay by his side when he realizes she’s innocent.
He returns to Deva after three days and she’s all “See? I told you I was innocent,” but he says “We’ll see” and pulls his laptop feed of Zafer’s home to watch the confrontation between Deva and Zafer. Gülcemal hears Deva tell Zafer that she’s the monster, not Gülcemal. When he cuts the feed short, Deva insists he keep playing it where he hears Deva says that Gülcemal stands by her side so Zafer can no longer hurt her. Deva tells him that he didn’t trust her, but he can’t reconcile that with her leaving him. Deva’s father tells Gülcemal that whole town thinks Deva’s a ho who ran off with a rich man on her wedding day to become his mistress and that he destroyed her reputation and honor. Deva is all, “Peace out, bitch.” But before she goes she demands an apology from Gülcemal for all he put her through and that he must kneel before her and beg for her forgiveness and that she’ll kill Gülcemal by walking out the door and erasing him from her memories so he’ll be all alone again. She’s cut throat when she kicks him to the curb and leaves with her father.
Gülcemal can’t quit her and tries to return to talk things out with Deva. She’s a straight “Hell no from me, boss.” and he tells her he’ll wait forever to talk to her. The next morning Deva walks out the door to find him, but he’s nowhere to be seen. She feeds her goat, now named Gülcemal, when she’s irritated he already gave up, but he isn’t gone. He again approaches her to talk things out and she again doesn’t give him the time of day, so he picks her up and carries her off to his car promising her father to return her tomorrow.
He brings Deva to “the most beautiful place in the world” and a chance to sweet talk Deva into knowing him. She’s like, “Dude, I have your number,” and he’s all “Girl! You shot me with an arrow, slapped me, burned my house, shot me and I just wanted to be your guy.” Deva is like you called me a spy and Gülcemal says she walked away when he trusted her the most, but he still came for her when she called for help. They spend the day together getting to know each other and he gifts her with a horse. Gülcemal is like, “you see me and my scars, can you forgive me girl?” Deva thinks he just wants to use her against Zafer, and she tells him she doesn’t want gifts just an apology without ulterior motives. When he still can’t do it, Deva cries and walks away. Gülcemal apologizes in a long speech and he wonders what would have happened between them without his actions. OMG! Deva, forgive him already!
He brings her to the lake. There is a boat waiting and Deva tells him she’s too scared, and he says she’ll be okay and reaches a hand out to her. She is reluctant, but goes with him. He took her on the lake to promise her that not matter what happens, she’ll always be safe with him and he’ll never leave her alone, and he wanted to tell her that in front of her (dead) mother. Deva asks if he’s proposing. He nods his head all shyly and pulls a beautiful ring from his pocket and asks her to marry him. Squee!! SHE SAYS YES!
Deva and Gülcemal are getting married but they’re interrupted by a call from Zafer. Deva looks pissed! Gülcemal answers the phone and is told Zafer is in the hospital and she was asking for him before she died. He returns to the officiant and asks if they can delay, but doesn’t explain why. He leaves to go to Zafer’s side and she has to get one last jab in and tells him Deva doesn’t love him, that she still loves her first love (Mert) and he will be just like his own father because Deva will never forget her first love.
Gülcemal has Mert dragged before him and Mert starts blurting out all the secrets and Gülcemal finds out they all knew about Mert and Deva. Deva arrives and is like, “What the hell?” Gülcemal thinks they were conspiring against him. Deva tells him she never betrayed him, and he declares she was the first woman he ever trusted. Mert continues to blubber his tears and Deva just stares Gülcemal down, cause she’s one cool cucumber. Gülcemal is like you think this easy. You have two options Mert. Option 1, you are thrown off this cliff and die. LOL, Mert asks why is he the one that has to die? LOL, it’s funny and you should absolutely watch episode 75 just for that!! Mert asks about option 2 and Gülcemal says Deva married him right now with Mert as their witness. Deva says, “Hard pass!” Mert totally WTFs that, she was at the wedding table just yesterday. Deva says not this dude. This dude is a monster and not the man I loved. Gülcemal accuses her of trying to change him. Deva tells him to go ahead and kill her then, but he says, “she won’t die. Everyone else but her will die.”
The officiant shows up and everyone signs the marriage contact. Gülcemal drags Deva back to their house. Deva confesses that she knew she should have told him about Mert, but she was scared. However, what Gülcemal did was evil and she curses the day they crossed paths and now he’s lost her forever and made Deva hate him. She shouts about him being a monster and he yells at her that she’s just his wife on paper and he’s the demon standing at her door. Deva says this Gülcemal is not the one she loved.
Mert is being tortured by Gülcemal and he unloads on Mert and cuts off one of his fingers. Gülcemal returns to Deva and tells her she woke up the monster. Zafer shows up and tells Deva that her husband Mustafa was her real father. Deva’s father tells Gülcemal he will leave Deva because Deva is the daughter of his greatest enemy. Gülcemal returns to Deva in the night and tells her that he loves her. They FINALLY kiss!! She takes his hand and they walk back into the house together! OMG!
That was one hell of a ride! I wish we could have seen Gülcemal fight against Zafer for his love of Deva, and the ending was a bit abrupt, but honestly, it was one of the best Vertical Dramas I have seen. AMAZING!
