The first season of The Tailor, a Turkish Netflix Original that was released earlier this year, was one of the most over-the-top stories that many may have come across. The execution and the screenplay were just all over the place, and viewers had a good reason to wonder if the second season would follow the same path. Season two of The Tailor was released on July 28th on the platform and was created by Onur Güvenatam. They bring to you the story of a fashion designer who is torn between his best friend and the woman he loves.
Season two begins rather erratically, with no mention of the shooting incident that shook the viewers at the end of the last season. The story jumps straight to Esvet and Dimitri’s wedding, and Peyami seems to have recovered from the gunshot wound. But ever since the last season, there has been a constant tension between Dimitri, Peyami, and Esvet that is noticeable. Peyami tries to maneuver between the two of them, and meanwhile he will have to take care of his father, Mustafa, even though Esvet offers to assist. But Peyami wonders if her concerns are real or just her excuse to be around him. Dimitri is constantly suspicious of his best friend and Esvet’s motives, and he wonders if something went down between the two of them. A tormented Peyami is simultaneously on the lookout for his mother, and his quest is rapidly reaching a dead end. Will Dimitri and Peyami have a falling out over one woman? Is there a positive end to Peyami’s search for his mother? These form the crux of the plot of the current season of The Tailor.
The Tailor Season 2 should have ideally started by letting the viewers understand the aftermath of the shooting that fatally injured Peyami, which he somehow survived. But the makers chose to jump straight away to the wedding between the two while it was still up in the air by season one’s conclusion whether Esvet would agree to marry Dimitri after all. But none of that is explored, and one wonders what made the writers decide to choose this path and take the viewers through the long conflict between the two best friends for Esvet. The story and the screenplay from here on until episode five do not do much for the narrative because the constant back and forth of an oscillating friendship between Dimitri and Peyami is exhausting since the writers are not willing to make up their minds if they want to create a conflict or resolve it. This tension between the three is overstretched to the point that there is no room for any other subplot to flourish.
In between, viewers randomly hear about Dimitri’s father’s willingness to get rid of Peyami to pave the way for a new designer for the company, but that subplot only begins and concludes in a hasty manner. There is nothing much to explore when it comes to the friction between the best friends and Esvet. Her character is one-toned, even though two of the writers on the show are women. As a female protagonist, she’s not given much to work with other than running behind Peyami to help him sort out his professional and personal life and making Dimitri jealous because she knows, as a spouse, she holds some power over him. Why do we still have female characters whose only purpose is to help men handle their baggage and turn them into decent human beings? It is frustrating to watch Esvet go from one end of the show to another, helping the men out, while no one is willing to understand the abuse she went through with Dimitri.
It is assumed that all is well now that they are married. Such plotlines are regressive and highly problematic, for they set the tone for female characters who have no agency of their own but to be a protective cover for the men to fall back on. The same could be said about the character Kumru, a new mysterious elderly lady that appears in Peyami’s life. The father-son relationships are still the core of this show, and this time it goes one step further and speaks about the impact this relationship has on the child and the adult. We have Mustafa, who is childlike, and Dimitri’s father, who has been emotionally abusive to him from a young age. It showcases how they have affected Dimitri and Peyami as adults.
Thankfully, the narrative of The Tailor and the direction pick up steam in the sixth episode, where the viewers finally get to see the plot moving. The damage isn’t done yet because, through the last three episodes of this season, the story comes back on track and is engaging enough for the viewers to hold on to it till the climax. One thing the writers did a good job of was bringing out the vulnerable side of men. There is an elaborate scene of Dimitri and Peyami having a man-to-man talk about their issues. There are tears, talk of complex relationships, and understanding of each other’s weaknesses. This makes the show much more watchable now because none of these aspects were present in season one. It is nothing but one step towards better storytelling and character development.
There are multiple shades of gray given to these two male characters, and how they unfold in the last three episodes makes the viewing experience satisfying. The viewers cannot stop comparing season two to the previous one because, this time, the writing has taken a big jump. In conclusion, almost all of the loose ends are tied up. The climatic portion of the show was unpredictable, which is good considering how easily it could have derailed the entire show. However, certain plot points are not explored with enough emotion. Esvet’s lineage and her connection to Dimitri’s father’s wealth are not scrutinized enough.
The direction, the cinematography, and the editing—the technical aspects of The Tailor—pick up steam only in the climactic episodes of the show because that is when a lot of interesting revelations come out most engagingly. Up until then, these three aspects of the show were wandering around like clueless people because the writers had no idea, up until halfway through, how to give the narrative a structure. Despite certain good qualities in the show, one cannot ignore the addition of theatrics, which stagnates the tale for quite a bit, and there is no emotion attached as well. The problem with the first season was that not enough weight was given to Peyami’s profession, based on which we got the title of the show. Thankfully, season two made sure that didn’t happen.
The performance of the actors is mediocre, to say the least. Sadly, good-looking men and women cannot emote much on the screen. Olgun Simsek’s performance as Mustafa still resorts to hamming because there are no emotions that come out of his performance, even though his arc is supposed to affect the viewers. The blame will only go to the creators and the directors for not helping the actor understand the depth of his character. Agatay Ulusoy, as Peyami Dokumaci, is not able to deliver much in the first half of the show. In the second half, we get to see him prosper as an actor as he is given the meaty stuff to work on.
The Tailor end credits give a peek into what we can expect from the next season. The makers surprised the viewers, and it upped the expectations they had for the upcoming third installment. Season one was below par but the latest one is a good extension of it. Give it a watch.
