Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Another Self’ On Netflix, Where Three Women Dig Into Family Trauma With A Spiritualist

There are shows where you don’t really care if most of the secondary characters are well-drawn or not, if the main characters sell the notion that they’re longtime friends who love each other like sisters. You don’t even have to know how they became friends, you just have to buy into the fact that they know each other perhaps better than they know themselves. That’s the dynamic at play in a new Netflix drama from Turkey.

ANOTHER SELF: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A carousel. “1988 Bursa.” A narrator says, “Could our past be stored somewhere, even if we don’t remember it?” A little girl on the carousel sees her father buying her a pomegranate. But someone approaches him, and her father falls to the ground.

The Gist: Istanbul, the present day. Dr. Ada Korkamaz (Tuba Büyüküstün) is getting an award for her work in breast cancer surgery. Her friend Sevgi (Boncuk Yilmaz) is there to see her get that award, but she’s also at the hospital to get a round of chemo. Ada finds out from Sevgi’s doctor that the cancer has moved to her liver, and chemo won’t help. Ada wants to admit Sevgi for an experimental treatment, but Sevgi has other plans.

Sevgi calls their other friend Leyla (Seda Bakan), who was about to go in for breast augmentation surgery, and asks for a ride to the seaside town of Ayvalik. Ada objects, but when Sevgi won’t take her advice, she figured she was better off going and making sure Sevgi was OK.

In Ayvalik, Sevgi sees a spiritualist named Dr. Zaman (Firat Tanis), who doesn’t claim to cure diseases medically but thinks the body’s reaction to repressed trauma can make illnesses like Sevgi’s worse. While Sevgi spends the day with Zaman, Ada and Leyla are in town; Ada runs into Toprak (Murat Boz), an old flame, which throws her for a loop. A fellowship in Brussels that will take her away from her husband Selim (Serkan Altunorak) is already on her mind, and now Toprak is back in her life, reopening the wounds that their breakup caused.

Sevgi comes back from Zaman’s retreat refreshed, but can’t say anything for a month. During that month, Ada tells Selim about the fellowship, which leaves him annoyed that she didn’t tell him about how long it was, and Leyla’s constantly cheating husband Erdem (Serkan Altunorak) tells her that they’re broke. But Sevgi, with clear bloodwork and a new life in Ayvalik, tells her friends about how that day with Zaman helped open up things she repressed about her father’s death, and invites Ada and Leyla to experience Zaman’s methods, as well. Ada, ever the scientist, objects, but starts to wonder when she sees a familiar face at Zaman’s retreat.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Another Self is reminiscent of On The Verge, albeit with a somewhat younger cast and with a beautiful Turkish shore town as the backdrop.

Our Take: Another Self rides on the chemistry among its three stars, Büyüküstün, Bakan and Yilmaz. Fortunately, the three of them settle into a good rhythm as soon as they get into the car for the ride to Ayvalik. You don’t have to know the relationship these three women had before that moment, because the stars sell their well-worn friendship so well. It’s one of the keys to the series, and will allow the audience to buy into the spiritual journeys each of them will go on with Zaman.

That’s really what this show is about, how these women figure out what in their pasts or their family’s pasts is being held by their bodies, causing them stress or illness. It may not be a direct trauma, like Sevgi had with her father, but it will be something that has affected each of them greatly, and will shift the direction of their lives for the better.

What’s interesting is that it seems that, at first, Ada and Leyla are having pretty satisfying lives. Sure, they have their issues, like Erdem’s infidelity or Selim’s reluctance to fully support Ada’s career. But, as Ada asserts when she tries to convince Sevgi to not go to Zaman’s retreat, that what he does is pure hokum, and it’ll be interesting to see how Ada’s opinion changes as she goes through the process, as well as how her proximity to Toprak will affect her marriage.

Some of what we saw in the first episode gave us a bit of a pause, like how Zadam had other people at the retreat act out Sevgi’s traumatic moment. We’re assuming that this playacting doesn’t represent exactly what happened but was enough of a jolt to Sevgi that it unlocked just how she felt her whole life about the weight that his death put on her shoulders, especially in relation to her mother Muko (Füsun Demirel). Also, we wonder how much we’ll g back and forth between Ayvalik and Istanbul; we don’t get a sense of just how long of a trip that is, and some of what we see of the women’s lives back in the city feels a little disjointed.

Sex and Skin: The three women talk about sex the night after Sevgi sees Zaman. Leyla does some pole dancing to keep things spicy with Erdem. But things are pretty tame in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Ada is shocked to see Toprak sitting at Zaman’s retreat. She reluctantly sits next to him and Zadam calls for someone to go first.

Sleeper Star: Murat Boz has charm to spare as Toprak, and it seems like he’s going to be a big influence on Ada’s life going forward.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Ada and Leyla go to the beach, Leyla is reluctant to go in. Ada offers to hold her, but Leyla says “It’s too cold anyway.” Could she be afraid of the water and/or can’t swim? We guess that’s in the category of “show don’t tell,” but it’s a bit of a small point to do that with. Unless that’s part of Leyla’s trauma…?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Another Self boasts a trio of stars with great chemistry, stunning coastal scenery, and a story that could go just about anywhere.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.