Review of As the Crow Flies / Kus Uçusu

For the longest time, I have been meaning to watch a Turkish drama. Everyone in my life at one point was telling me to watch the Turkish dramas, including my sixty something year old boss at the theater. Because I’m such a major procrastinator, I put it off for over a year, even though I was adding the dramas onto my Netflix to-watch list.

I don’t know what compelled me to finally press play, but As the Crow Flies appeared one day on my radar, and as I was reading the synopsis and realized it was quite compelling, I simply decided to pull the trigger. I think I really liked the fact it was only eight episodes, so it was low commitment whether I liked it or not.

And well, now I’ve been watching more Turkish dramas ever since I watched this show. Keep an eye on my blog, under television reviews, if you want to read more on the dramas I’ve been watching as of late. Nowadays I watch content from all over the world, which is wild to see every time I scroll through what I’ve watched.

Oh, and I binge watched both seasons of the show. I think I lowkey have a crush on Birce Akalay, who plays Lale, too.

Let’s get into the review!

A new intern plots to take down one of Turkey’s top news anchors.

We begin the show with meeting Asli, who, in the opening sequence, is still in college and preparing for the real world ahead. She’s studying journalism, and when celebrated anchor Lale Kiran enters her class to give a talk, she tricks Lale’s assistant into letting her in the same bathroom (which was closed when Lale went in) so she can have the chance to talk to Lale. She just kind of brushes her off, setting a new trajectory for the show.

Asli ultimately tricks someone into letting her become one of the new interns at the show Lale works at. There are several other interns competing for the same job spot, but Asli isn’t going to let them get in the way. At night, in her tiny little apartment, Asli goes onto her several anonymous Twitter accounts and Tweets hateful and misinformed things about the anchor—this becomes something bigger quite soon.

But first, Asli sabotages her fellow interns, getting them fired or shipped off by their rich parents one by one. Soon, she’s the only one left standing. Despite the big bosses (Lale, Kenan, and Gul) being untouchable,

Asli worms her way into Lale’s life by getting her assistant fired, despite the girl being very close with Lale. She also manipulates it so Lale doesn’t visit the girl in the hospital, as Asli tells her that the former assistant doesn’t want to see her (when she does).

On the other hand, what we see of Lale’s life is perfect. She has two beautiful daughters she takes off in the afternoons to pick up, and her husband, Sevim, cares a lot for his family.

However, the more we see of Lale, the more we learn about her romantic affairs with Kenan, her producer. He’s always behind the camera, and he certainly has an eye for Lale.

When Asli finds this out, she’s going to exploit this information to the max. Through her anonymous Twitter accounts, she begins to leak information behind the scenes about the studio, putting people’s private lives and problems on the Internet for the world to see. They become increasingly viral, putting the other workers at the station on edge at who the mysterious person leaking everything could be.

Asli also gains an ally in a lowly worker who finds himself cheated out of a proper position at the station. He has heart eyes for her throughout their time plotting, and they end up sleeping together. This is a dangerous dance though, especially because he seems to actually care for her when Asli doesn’t seem capable of loving other people.

The rest of the series is watching how Asli’s plans unfold, and Lale gradually begins to watch as her perfect life unravels and her marriage is threatened. A lot of this is a complex mind game, and there is some violence towards the end, making this quite a rewarding payoff in my humble opinion.

Overall Thoughts

It’s certainly not the best show I’ve ever seen in terms of writing, but As the Crow Flies is surely entertaining. I went straight onto season two after watching this first season as I wanted to know what happened next. I rarely binge watch shows like this, but the drama was certainly just too spicy.

It was also wild how these people’s personal lives, despite being news anchors, was so much on social media. I certainly have never cared for a news anchor’s life, and maybe this is the Turkish perspective, but it was fascinating to me to watch how everything blew up. It was almost too convenient for Asli at times.

Anyways, the fashion in this show is gorgeous. I loved Lale’s outfits the most, and not really Asli’s, but these people were acting like it was a runway show the vast majority of the time. The more I watch these dramas the more I see the clothes are really good, but man this was a good introduction into the world of Turkish dramas.

Watch the show if you haven’t already! Give the first two episodes a chance.

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