Ethos (2020) Review: Turkey on the Therapist's Couch

Is Ethos worth watching?

Yes. Ethos is one of the most thoughtful dramas Netflix has released from outside the English-speaking world, a quiet, generous portrait of modern Turkey told through people who rarely understand one another. Its strength is empathy: Berkun Oya refuses to turn any character into a symbol, even as the series maps faith, class and politics. The reservation is its deliberately slow, conversation-driven style, which can feel static to viewers who need forward momentum.

What is Ethos about?

Meryem (Öykü Karayel) is a young, devout woman from Istanbul’s outskirts who wears a headscarf, works as a cleaner and has begun suffering fainting spells. Her doctor sends her to a psychiatrist, Peri (Defne Kayalar), a secular, affluent professional who is privately uneasy with religious patients. Their sessions, awkward and gradually revealing, become the hub of a wider web of lives: Meryem’s brother Yasin (Fatih Artman) and his withdrawn wife Ruhiye (Funda Eryiğit), the family’s religious teacher, the man whose flat Meryem cleans, and Peri’s own therapist.

Ethos, known in Turkish as Bir Başkadır, was created, written and directed by Berkun Oya. It is a Turkish production in Turkish, made up of eight episodes in a single season that tells a complete story.

A mosaic built from conversations

The show’s method is simple and demanding. Most scenes are conversations between two people, often in cramped rooms, and Oya lets them run long enough for small evasions and silences to become revealing. A therapy session, a visit to a religious teacher and a tense family dinner are all shot with the same attention, which means the series never ranks one world above another.

That structure is also its argument. The characters are divided by headscarves, neighbourhoods, money and politics, and many of them look down on someone else. Yet the drama keeps showing them struggling with the same things: loneliness, shame and the need to be listened to. The series earns its reputation not by resolving those divisions but by making each side human.

Performances of remarkable restraint

Öykü Karayel is the soul of the show. Her Meryem is shy and literal, prone to long, circling explanations, and Karayel plays her with a guilelessness that is funny, touching and never condescending. Defne Kayalar gives Peri a brittle, anxious politeness that slowly exposes the prejudices she cannot admit, and their scenes together are small masterclasses in misunderstanding.

Fatih Artman and Funda Eryiğit are equally strong as a couple carrying unspoken damage, with Eryiğit conveying enormous weight while saying very little. The camera stays close and still, and the score and sound design are sparse, so much depends on faces, and the cast rarely strikes a false note.

Where the stillness becomes a test

Ethos is not for every mood. Its pace is unhurried to the point of stubbornness, and the early episodes can feel like a set of unconnected sketches before the threads begin to tie together. A few characters, particularly on the more privileged side of the city, are drawn with less depth than Meryem’s world, and the series sometimes leans on symbolism that feels heavier than the natural texture around it. Viewers who need cliffhangers will find little here.

Who should watch Ethos?

The ideal viewer enjoys patient, dialogue-driven character drama or is curious about contemporary Turkey beyond the costume epics that usually travel abroad. Eight episodes of roughly an hour each make it a short commitment. It deals with difficult themes, including trauma, sexual violence and mental illness, handled seriously and without sensationalism.

If it resonates, consider:

• The Club, another Turkish Netflix drama that explores identity and belonging in Istanbul, set in an earlier era.
• Fleabag for a very different take on confession, faith and what people hide from those closest to them.
• Better Call Saul for another patient character study that trusts silence and small gestures.

The verdict

Ethos is a quietly radical drama that finds common ground in a polarised society by simply listening to its people. Its stillness and occasional heavy symbolism will not suit everyone, but its performances and compassion make it one of the finest Turkish series of its time.

Rating: 4/5