“Another Self” is a Turkish drama series about three best friends who set out on a healing journey to unearth the past to restore the present. After the relapse of cancer in her liver, Sevgi decided to travel to Ayvalik. She heard of a healer who could cure her sickness, and she wanted to give it a try. While Ada, a surgeon, did not trust the healer’s ability, she decided to support Sevgi on her spiritual journey nonetheless. Leyla, the outspoken social media influencer, also joined Sevgi and Ada to travel to Ayvalik. The spiritual journey would be life-changing for the three best friends. While “Another Self” is entertaining in parts, it is overcomplicated with the multiple backstories.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Another Self’ Plot Summary: What Is The Series About?
Even though Sevgi was suffering from cancer, she tried to stay positive throughout the process. But her hopes were soon shattered when her reports indicated that her cancer had relapsed. She had heard of a healer named Zaman from other patients, and after the relapse, she decided that she would take a chance. She knew that Ada would be offended, but she realized that she had to do what she felt would help her. She asked Leyla to drive her to Ayvalik, and Ada soon found out about their plan. She initially tried to stop Sevgi but ultimately decided to support her friend.
Ayvalik was a small village visited by people far and wide to be treated by Zaman. When Sevgi met Zaman, he made it clear that she would not be provided with medical treatment. Therefore, he could not guarantee any success, but he would help her in her journey to heal in every possible way. Sevgi, after going through chemotherapy, was ready to try any other alternative that could help her recover. And her belief was further strengthened when Zaman touched her palm, and she felt an ethereal power touch her soul. Zaman believed that sickness is often a result of past trauma that can be passed down by our ancestors; therefore, understanding our past and acknowledging the emotions that came with it was of primary importance at his center. Sevgi experienced spirituality, but she was asked to not discuss it till her reports were out, and to everyone’s surprise, Sevgi was clean after her treatment in Ayvalik. As a result of her spiritual awakening, she decided to move to Ayvalik since she enjoyed being close to the water more than anything else. She even terminated her job at the law firm where she worked and carried on her practice as an attorney independently. She was in a better place, and Ada knew it the moment she saw her.
Ada wanted to join the research team she was selected for in Brussels, but her husband, Selim, did not readily accept the news. Staying away from Ada for two years stressed him. He wanted to have a family with Ada, whereas she wanted to focus on her career. While Ada wanted to sort out her differences with her husband, Selim explained that he had cheated on her. He reasoned that it was a mistake made out of his emotional state, but Ada was not ready to forgive him. She had always despised men who cheated on their partners, and now that she was in a similar situation. It was not just her personal life that was dismantled but also her career, which was affected. Ada noticed that she was experiencing tremors while conducting surgeries, and after breaking up with Selim, she could not control her shaky hands. The hospital fired her for risking the life of the patient, and she decided to stay away from the chaos and join Sevgi in Ayvalik.
Leyla’s life was far from the picture-perfect image that she portrayed on social media. She knew that her husband regularly cheated on her, yet she could not stay away from him because she loved the man. Her husband was a businessman who lost all his money due to unlawful activities. There was a warrant issued in his name, and the man was nowhere to be found. Leyla started to sell all her valuables to provide for her son and herself. She, too, decided to move in with Sevgi in Ayvalik.
A series of coincidences brought the three friends together under the same roof. In the process of healing, they came across truths that they did not even know existed. They learned how their existence was affected by the trauma experienced by their ancestors. Several unexpected coincidences occur when they start accepting their past, making them believe in a spiritual world that could not be reasoned with but could only be experienced.
How Was Sevgi Healed? How Did Ada And Leyla’s Past Affect Their Present?
Zaman followed a method where his seekers would gather together, and they would help the individual understand the past situations objectively. The power that Zaman possessed helped the seekers feel precisely what the individual or the individual’s ancestors might have experienced in a particular circumstance. This helped the seeker accept the past and move on with their lives. The method was a mix of psychology and spirituality.
From childhood, Sevgi could not forgive herself for the death of her father. She watched a man stab her father, whom she believed was a loan shark. She always thought that she could have done more for him, and she felt guilty about it. From the moment that her father passed away, she started looking after her mother. She had to grow up faster than her peers because of the responsibilities she had to carry out. In the session, she realized how her father wanted her to enjoy her life. He wanted her to stop blaming herself for a past that was beyond her control. She gave up the burden she had been carrying all these years, and somehow that helped her to recover.
Sevgi compelled Ada to accompany her to one session. Ada reluctantly went, but what she experienced was beyond anything she could describe. Zaman was able to identify her issue at a glance. It was during Ada’s session that we got to know that her grandmother’s sister, Zehra, was shot by her father after she allowed a Komitaji into the house. To protect the honor of his family, he killed his daughter in the poppy fields. Ada’s grandmother had watched her sister die from behind a bush. Ada still had the mirror that belonged to Zehra, and she would sometimes dream about running in the poppy field. Ada could recognize the shaking of the hand that Zehra’s father experienced after shooting his daughter. She carried his trauma with her unconsciously. Though she initially did not believe it to be true, her mother confirmed that there had indeed been a past murder in her family. Along with her ancestral past, she also had to deal with her past that she had to confront in Ayvalik. After accidentally meeting her ex-boyfriend, Toprak, in Ayvalik, she could not help but think of their time spent together. He broke her heart, and it took her a long time to not think about it, but now that he was back in her life, she could not stop herself from feeling attracted to him. After knowing that Selim cheated on her, Toprak helped her fill the void, though she could not trust him entirely.
Leyla feared water, and it was through a session that she learned that she inherited the fear from her great-grandmother, Eleni. Eleni was Greek, and her husband and son were Turkish. She was left behind in Crete during the population exchange. She tried to illegally cross the sea to be united with her family, but she was drowned by the boatman. Her body was discovered on the shores, and it was believed that she was killed and her belongings stolen. Leyla lived with the pain and fear that her ancestor had experienced, and it was only after acknowledging the incident and lighting candles in her name that Leyla was able to swim in the sea for the first time in her life. Not only that, a property owned by Eleni in Crete was discovered all of a sudden, which helped Leyla get her life back.
What Was Ada’s Mother Hiding Away From Her?
Ada did not share a warm relationship with her mother, Belgin. She could not forgive her for not being by her father’s side when he was on his deathbed. Also, the fact that Belgin did not attend Ada’s wedding made it worse. Even though her mother tried to maintain contact, Ada chose to ignore her. It was only after she was informed that her mother had experienced a heart attack that she regretted staying away from her.
It was with the help of Zaman and records from the past that she figured out the secret that her mother kept away from her. Belgin fell in love with Kemal at a young age, though her mother did not approve of her young romance. She was always criticized by her mother for the decision that she took, and that created a rift between the two. Apart from her bitter relationship with her mother, it was also the betrayal of the man she loved that broke her down. Ada discovered letters exchanged between her father and his other family in Georgia. She never knew that her father had another family. She now understood the reason why her mother chose to leave the house when her father was in a critical stage. In her final moments, Belgin visualized her mother and accepted her invitation to join her on her journey. Belgin knew that her mother was right, and she accepted her love.
The past was repeating in Ada’s life. The woman Selim had cheated on Ada with, was pregnant, and he did not know how to break the news to his wife. He loved Ada, but he knew that it would be too much for Ada to accept. After she was told the truth, Ada asked Selim to look after the baby. She pointed out how this new information was an indication from the universe that they were not meant to be together. Ada knew that Selim always wanted to be a father, and she believed they needed to go their separate ways to find their happiness. Ada remembered being pregnant when she was in a relationship with Toprak, but when she was about to share the news with him, she saw him with another woman. She could not forgive Toprak for cheating on her, and even though they were no longer reckless and young, she could not trust him completely.
Toprak was in love with Ada, though he knew that his past mistakes made it difficult for her to accept him. He had a daughter in the Netherlands, and he changed his lifestyle after separating from Ada. He regretted the man he used to be, and now that his path had crossed Ada’s, he realized that he cared for her and that they shared a special bond. Toprak and Ada’s father, Kemal, had a similarity; they were both nomads who struggled to find their belonging. Toprak proposed that Ada accompany him to the Netherlands; he wanted her to meet his daughter. He was determined to not let go of Ada this time, and he envisioned their future together. Ada, too, found comfort in his dreams and decided to join him in the Netherlands to start her life afresh.
‘Another Self’ Ending Explained: What Happened Between Ada And Toprak? What Was Sevgi’s Father’s Secret?
After inheriting Eleni’s property, Leyla secretly met her fugitive husband, promising to run away with him to Greece. She knew that her friends would not support her impractical and risky plan, so she orchestrated it herself. After selling the property, she used the money she received to bribe the sailors who illegally helped people cross the border. She had reached the beach with her son, Sarp, at dawn just as planned, but she could not get on the boat with her husband. It was a force that stopped her after she imagined the fate that Eleni met when she tried to escape illegally. As luck would have it, the next morning, the news announced that her fugitive husband was captured by the police after the boat was discovered by them. While she truly wanted to protect her husband, she eventually realized that she had to take control of her life and be responsible for her son and her unborn child. She partnered up with Fiko to start a restaurant business, and she decided to name it “Eleni’s Tavern.”
Sevgi had always prayed for two things: her recovery and love. She desperately hoped to fall in love with a man, and after going on dates with various men, she found comfort in Fiko. He was also a regular at Zaman’s place, and he experienced the pain that Sevgi’s father went through in his last moments during the expansion. Fiko had expressed his romantic interest in Sevgi, but she was not too sure if he was the man she was meant to be with. But with time, she realized how comfortable she was with him, and even though he was not the textbook-perfect man, he was perfect for her. She accepted Fiko’s marriage proposal, and their wedding was celebrated by their loved ones.
Just when Ada had made up her mind about traveling with Toprak, they were greeted by his ex-partner, Eva, and his daughter, Flor. Eva expressed how much Flor missed her father and how she missed him as well. Ada was stunned by the sudden revelation, and even though Toprak tried to portray that he was not interested in Eva, Ada could not trust him anymore. She always had her doubts about him, and now that his family had come all the way to meet him, she decided to walk away.
Meanwhile, Sevgi’s mother wrote her a letter that she discovered on her wedding night. In the letter, she explains that her father, Aram, was a revolutionist who was shot while conducting a meeting. Huko was pregnant with Sevgi at the time, and Aram’s comrade stepped in to help them. Therefore, the man Sevgi thought to be her father was not her father but rather her father’s friend. She lost consciousness after reading the letter and was admitted to the hospital. It was found that her cancer had relapsed, and she needed to get back into treatment. She had stopped taking her pills, believing that she was completely cured. Zaman explained that he never asked her to stop taking the pills since his treatment was not medical. Even though Zaman wanted to stop his practice, Ada made him realize how important it was for those who trusted the process. They needed him to recover from the trauma that they were experiencing, and, in the end, we see the three friends back at Zaman’s place, hoping to heal themselves all over again. While they assumed that they had discovered their true selves, they were back to deal with the past and its connection to the present.
“Another Self” is a 2022 Turkish Drama Romance Series streaming on Netflix.
