The sequel to 10 Days of a Good Man, a Turkish Netflix original, is finally out and takes us through another story of the same ex-attorney turned private investigator. In the first film, we had the protagonist find a missing boy and turn down the request of his ex-wife to go to prison in her place. In 10 Days of a Bad Man, we get the story of a now-married Sadik who meets an old acquaintance and helps him locate a person. He is also hired to solve a murder. Will Sadik manage to solve both cases?
Spoilers Ahead
Sir And Sadik/Adil’s Deal
10 Days of a Bad Man begins with an accident involving Sadik driving his car. As he slowly recovers, he is taken straight from the hospital to the den of Sir Sadik’s old acquaintance from two years ago. Sadik reminds him that his new name is Adil. He says this multiple times in the film to emphasize that Adil is a new person while Sadik is history. Sir is one of the main characters from the first film, and to introduce him right at the beginning makes absolute sense because he knows that any job assigned to Sadik will be completed successfully. The closing of Tevfik’s case was the catalyst behind Sir’s seeking Sadik. This time, he has been assigned to find a young man named Ferhat. Other than his name and a brief history, Sadik has not been given the motive behind his being hired to locate this boy.
Sadik has been assigned two men by Sir, Huso and Zeynel, to help him find information about Ferhat. Adil also brings Pinar. We remember Pinar as the girl who was sold to her mother’s rich employer by Tevfik. Pinar had turned out to be of great help in locating Tevfik. This time around, he had hoped to use her skills to get close to Ferhat. There is an odd chemistry between the two of them as Pinar starts flirting with Sadik. We feel it is weird for the makers to have paired a character as young as Pinar with a character twice her age in the film. Despite their flirtatious banter, Pinar was successful in getting information that could lead them to Ferhat.
The Murder Of Dr. Hasmet
Sadik is also hired by Dr. Buket and her mother, Ismet, on his friend Maide’s recommendation to solve a murder that happened in their family. Ismet reveals that her brother, Dr. Hasmet, was killed in a robbery attempt, and his wife, Jale, was gravely injured. As per the police records, the robbery and murder were carried out by a couple, Ianna and Rannat, who were hired to work at their mansion but were eventually fired for stealing from the family. The murder was carried out when their last attempt to steal from Dr. Hasmet was foiled.
Ismet feels Ianna and Rannat were wrongfully accused, as she believes it was her sister-in-law Jale who set the whole thing up for money. The family has other members as well. Gulhan, the older daughter of Dr. Hasmet, will inherit her father’s hospital business. Canberk, the younger son of the deceased businessman, is good for nothing. It is not news that Dr. Buket, Ismet’s daughter, is adopted. Ismet’s family is rich, and many of them could have financial gains from murdering the patriarch of the family. The suspect list made by Sadik is quite long. Even if he finds the culprit, he will be standing up against a family of means who could get rid of evidence that might incriminate them.
What Happened To Fatima?
As 10 Days of a Bad Man progresses, we learn from Adil that he and Fatima have gotten married and moved to Eskisehir. With his adoptive mother, Meral, they began a small hotel business. Unfortunately, tragedy struck him when Fatima and their child died in childbirth. He tried to bury his wife next to her mother’s burial spot in the town of Toysa, where he was manhandled by Fatima’s father and brother-in-law. They were unwilling to bury her next to a family member because of her profession. Sadik and her family get into a tussle, and he gets injured. He manages to get the burial done. It was on his way back to Eskisehir that Sadik met with a car accident, as seen at the beginning of the film. Sadik has been depressed ever since her death and has been popping prescription painkillers to cope with the physical and mental pain. We wish the makers had given us enough time to understand the trauma of losing the person you love. Even though Sadik dreams of Fatima, there isn’t enough emotion infused in the narrative to convey his agony. We believe Fatima’s story only stretched the screenplay further.
How Does Adil Resolve Both The Cases Handed To Him?
Sadik receives plenty of information about Ismet’s family and the people that were employed by them to understand the dynamics. This subplot soon turned into a whodunnit. Sadik learns from the ex-butler of the family that Ianna and Rannat were not fired but left the job because they were offered better pay with another family. Sadly, the couple was found frozen to death, which closes that chapter of the investigation.
Sadik also learns that Buket and Gulhan have been practically inseparable since their childhood. They have both managed to expand their work into several profitable social projects. After digging deeper into the familial relations and the amount of assets that Dr. Hasmet owned, Sadik figures out who the killer might be. The writers spend way more time on the family’s background than is required. More subplots just diverted our attention from the actual story. It creates exhaustion, as too many of them only confuse the audience.
As mentioned in the earlier part of the film, such murders are usually carried out by people close to the family. Sadik asks for an audience with Buket and Gulhan to speak about his conclusions. He believes Buket murdered her uncle because she and he had conflicting opinions about the many other social projects she had in the pipeline. Sadik also believes that Buket had a twin sister who was separated from her at birth. Many years later, she realized the dog keeper at the mansion was her biological father, and she got in touch with her twin sister through him. Gulhan, on the other hand, was all set to inherit the entire business empire when her brother Canberk opened a genealogy testing section in the hospital.
Gulhan and her father gave them blood samples for the test. The doctor who had the lab results concluded that Gulhan was not Dr. Hasmet’s daughter. He tried to blackmail both women, but he was later found dead. Buket claimed that she was at home with Gulhan when the murder happened, and Sadik claimed the two women snuck out of their home to kill Dr. Hasmet. He also reveals that Buket and Gulhan have been in love for many years, and they did not want Canberk to ruin everything they had planned for the business expansion.
Gulhan, hearing this theory, confesses to Sadik her version of the tale. Her mother, Jale, was chosen by her father so that he could have a son who would take over his business. When that didn’t happen, she was subjected to physical and mental abuse by her father. Her mother went back to her ex-fiancé, which is when Gulhan was conceived and passed off as Hasmet’s older daughter. When the test results done at the new genealogy center came back, the father was furious and resorted to abusing her mother again. Gulhan, in a fit of anger, not only killed him but accidentally injured her mother as well. The women also reveal that the twin theory was right. Buket’s twin sister is a surrogate for Gulhan and Buket’s child. They request him not to further harass them with the details they shared, and Sadik obliges.
The story presented to us about the family history is plausible, but the writers could have made it tighter by removing extra details. Sadik letting the women go after they confessed their role in the murder does not make sense. His loyalty was towards Ismet, and he did not involve her when he came by the mansion to share his conclusions. The prolonged story and the screenplay made us lose interest in finding out who the killer might be. The big reveal was anticlimactic and drew no surprise or astonishment.
Sadik and his team close in on Ferhat thanks to Pinar’s excellent research. On getting hold of the young man, Sadik learns that someone has been using Sadik’s name to threaten Ferhat. He joins the dots and concludes that Sir set him up. Sir’s niece committed suicide because of Ferhat, and the mafia lord wanted to exact revenge by killing him. To make sure he is not implicated in Ferhat’s death, Sir plants and creates evidence in the hope the police will arrest Sadik. The writers of 10 Days of a Bad Man changed the nature of Sir’s character by creating a rift between Sadik and him. The two men had ended on amicable terms two years ago. It does not make sense that Sir wants Sadik to be implicated. Sadik, upon learning of Sir’s master plan, approached Kaan Corporation and let them know of Sir’s role in the twins’ deaths two years ago. Zeynel and Huso also switch sides and want to save Sadik. The chairman of Kaan Cooperation asks about Adil’s intention in coming forward with this information after a gap. He was quick to let them know that his life was in danger and that only Kaan Cooperation could help him get rid of Sir, and now they had the motive to do so.
Sadik smartly used an old contact that we had seen in the last film. There are not many characters from the first film that have appeared. Sadik knew he could not take on Sir alone. He needed a stronger and larger backup to tackle the gangster. Sadik, Zeynel, and Huso hatch an elaborate plan to trap Sir, making him believe that they have Ferhat and have simultaneously captured Sadik as well. Sir and his men get trapped as planned and are completely wiped out. On reaching Sir’s hideout, Sadik hallucinates because he mixes his painkiller medication with alcohol. He kills Sir, only to immediately faint.
Sadik had no option but to kill the gangster because there was no way Sir would have let Adil live after he had learned of the double-crossing. The only evidence he had was Sir’s pictures of Tevfik, which could embarrass Sir and ruin his reputation. This subplot also reeks of homophobia and how being queer is still not accepted by society. Adil had done nothing wrong in the past for him to enter Sir’s bad books. We think this plot was added to portray Sir as the villain because every story needed one.
10 Days of a Bad Man ends with Adil recovering from his injuries. He and Pinar soon confessed their love for each other. The pairing with Pinar, who is younger than his previous wife, and Sadik’s journey about wanting a female companion to get him out of his misery is questionable messaging. Four of them get hold of the Sir’s money, and they plan to invest the cash in Sadik’s hotel business in Eskisehir. It is implied that Pinar, Zeynel, Huso, and Sadik will shift to Eskisehir permanently. Sadik implies that he will change his name to Ocal. Despite what the title states, Sadik does not come across as a bad man. 10 Days of a Bad Man concludes with the image of him and Pinar happy and in love.
