Shadow’s Choice
Episode 4 of 50M2 begins with Servet packing his things up in his office. Lightning crackles outside as rain hammers against the window. Shadow ironically sits in the shadows as he confronts his old boss. He claims Servet has stolen his life and brandishes a knife. As he slits Servet’s throat… he suddenly awakens with a start. Meanwhile, Mesut’s new lackey Civan shows up at the tailors. He talks to Shadow about the money he owes, giving him until the evening to cough it up. Shadow however, gives him some advice of his own and tells the grief-stricken man to have some self respect. When he leaves, Muhtar shows and takes Shadow down to Adil’s makeshift grave. With no tombstone yet, he asks Shadow to sort this out (still believing he’s Adem) and asks again for his ID. Shadow brushes it off like nothing and promises to bring it back soon. Shadow instead heads home where Dilara apologizes for her harsh words surrounding Kerim. As they talk together, she shows him her “magic mirror” and how she used to pretend to be on stage singing and dancing in the past. This gets Shadow thinking as he heads back to see Turan and Muhtar, convincing them to team up against Mesut to keep their neighbourhood intact, preventing this slimy businessman from taking their houses away. This brings them before the barber in town, Hasan. After arguing about his hair, Hasan eventually concedes and tells them all to call him Baldie. Shadow eventually gets to the crux of the issue and tells him not to sell up. Well, Hasan is going to do this regardless as he wants to keep his son away from criminals operating in town. As we soon see, dealers have plagued the town, hanging out in the back alleys and preying on unsuspecting kids to do their busywork. Shadow decides to deal with this personally and visits Mesut in his office. Mesut claims not to be involved with the drugs as Shadow breaks the bad news to him – he’s sticking around for the time being and going to get to the bottom of what’s going on. Mesut reminds him that he’s no hero and that he’s not able to save everyone. After all, there’s a fine balance to the current hierarchy in the neighbourhood and he’s not going to let Shadow bust in and try and change what’s been built. Well, Shadow is not taking no for an answer but as he leaves, Mesut messages Civan and demands he show up at the shop. Yakup tries to warn Civan but it’s no good, he limps away in defeat. At the office, Mesut hands over an advance for Civan; an envelope full of money for his next job. And that job involves burning down the tailors. Civan refuses to do so initially until Mesut hands over a couple of pills to help with his confidence. Shadow eventually makes his choice and decides to hit back against the corruption; he wants the young child he saved from the lorry out of this place before it’s too late. Civan too makes his choice, ignoring a call from Yakup and showing up at the shop with his gas cannister. After spraying petrol around, Yakup thankfully shows and stops him from doing the unthinkable. Civan claims no one loves him and eventually breaks down crying. Of course, all of this anger and hostility has stemmed from Aysel. Well, he instead channels this into a football chant with his buddies, saying goodbye to his love interest for the last time. As the episode closes out, Shadow grabs the drug dealer in town and buries him in an open grave. Shadow demands to know who his boss is and begins throwing dirt over the man. As the episode closes out, we cut forward to see the grave completely covered in dirt.
The Episode Review
50M2 is just starting to settle into a consistent rhythm now as Shadow makes his choice and decides to try and fight for this community that helped him recover and get back on his feet. In a way, this is a nice touch to show Shadow does have a family after all – it’s the residents in town. The conversation between Baldie and the trio of men at his place was really well written too and had a good flow throughout their banter. In fact, this tonal shift between light comedy and more tense dramatic spots works surprisingly well in the context of the show. The cat and mouse game between Servet and Shadow continues to dominate this story but interestingly, Civan and Mesut do help add a bit more depth too. As we cross the halfway point, 50M2 isn’t necessarily new or different but does have just enough here to keep you watching to see what happens next.
