Midnight at the Pera Palace – Season 2 Episode 4 Recap & Review

We See Everything and We Are Everywhere

Episode 4 of Midnight at the Pera Palace begins with Esra working on her story, with the war against women very much in full-flow following the ransom note. She wants to get the story published immediately, and the editor agrees. Esra is on the case, but she’s not happy that she needs to work with her rival to get answers.

When they arrive at the station, Esra finds Halit there after he had his statement taken at the end of the previous episode. Speaking to the investigator, he writes off the letter and tells Esea to leave, refusing to take further action.

The letter has a symbol which appears to be Iris, the Egyptian God. However, it could be the symbol for a secret organization. The eye and the wing; “we see everything, and we are everywhere.” The general consensus here is that this symbol represents someone with a hidden inferiority complex… but who?

At the same time, Ahmet shows up at Mumtaz’s mansion ready to work as a butler. He also takes the time to investigate the place. However, he’s unaware that he’s being watched.

Halit shows to see Naim in the middle of the night and threatens him. Unfortunately, this also means that Naim is going to stay tight-lipped and not speak up about what he’s experienced. Esra does learn from her associate that Halit’s car was seen outside Naim’s place. She feeds this back to Ahmet and he has his suspicions that actually, Halit may still have the keys himself and this story about Mumtaz is just a fabrication to hide his own intentions.

In private, Halit tells his beloved that he’s known Esra “before time” because of the Gateway of Truth. Apparently going inside magnifies what one feels, and that means his love has only grown for her, apparently.

Ahmet overhears a crucial clue at the mansion and brings her over to Esra to spill the truth. It turns out it wasn’t a man that kidnapped these women after all – it was actually a woman! She had long, red wavy hair, apparently. With Halit on her mind, and believing he’s free of suspicion, she ends up getting a dress from the shop and shows up at his apartment, kissing him passionately.

After making love, Esra starts searching through Halit’s office, looking for clues. As for Ahmet, he does the same thing in the mansion. Esra finds a letter in Halit’s pocket with the same sigil from the kidnapper, and a letter reading “It’s time for some things to come to light”. As for Ahmet, he finds the red wig.

In the morning, Esra shows up at work and finds a letter addressed to her. Within this, it tells her to visit an address alone if she wants to get Leyla back. She does just that, after being dropped off by the police. She doesn’t find Leyla, but does find a spatter of blood on the ground… and a girl hung from the rafters.

The Episode Review

Esra’s investigation has, unfortunately, resulted in the first murder to show at the hands of this kidnapper. Is this Halit’s handiwork? It’s certainly a way to kick this series into high-gear, which has otherwise been quite perfunctory and slow for the last few episodes. There’s not a whole lot going on outside the investigation, which is disappointing, especially after the promising first episode looked like it was going to be a rip-roaring affair all season long.

As we move into the second half for this one though, lots of question marks remain over the case and who’s the true culprit. Is Halit really innocent here? Or is he just cleverly covering his tracks? We’ll have to wait and see!