While it’s a sad ending to Season 1, you can almost see what will happen in Episode 8 of Thank You, Next. While it was titled “#Wedding,” you never felt that the altar was going to arrive. Leyla doesn’t end up with Cem or Ömer, and it is easy to see why. Does she pick the confident, wealthy man with a lousy marriage record and a taste for narcissism or her first love that has seemingly changed but hasn’t?
Ömer Cheats At His Bachelor Party
Thank You, Next Episode 8 begins with Ömer’s bachelor party, which is a big reveal — Sarp catches him with his ex, and it looks like he is cheating. Of course, the view is obscured, meaning a second season may provide additional context, but it does not look good for him either way. Regardless, I couldn’t help but feel Leyla’s lust for Cem makes this more irrelevant. Emotional entanglement can still be cheating, and her pre-wedding jitters confirm this.
Defne Is Pregnant?
Of course, there’s no wedding without someone being pregnant. Feyyaz tells Leyla that Defne is having a baby, but he’s unsure that the child is even his because she hasn’t told him yet. He suspects it is Cem’s. This leads to a convoluted story where we learn about Cem’s past with Defne and how they lost a child, and it deeply affected the family. The series was evidently trying to get the audience to warm to Cem here, as he has looked like the villain for most episodes.
Defne tells Leyla that she has to tell Cem and his mother first because she will always love Cem. I think this confirms that the father is Feyyaz, but there were some formalities to get out of the way before he knew. I don’t think that was the right way of going about it, though.
Leyla, played by Serenay Sarikaya (L), and Cem, played by Hakan Kurtas (R), in Thank You, Next (Credit – Netflix)
Ömer’s Ex Reveals All
Perhaps the most eye-opening moment in the Thank You, Next ending is when Leyla meets Ömer’s ex. The ex unintentionally drops a massive truth bomb. Leyla realizes that Ömer was still with his ex AFTER they got back together, including having the privilege of keys to his new house. The ex reveals that Ömer always felt he would end up with Leyla, so she seems relieved that they never worked out. Little does she know that she’s just saved Leyla from embarrassment.
And so, a drunk Leyla meets Cem the night before her wedding; she’s too drunk, asking him why he gave up on her, getting frustrated. She’s so drunk that Cem helps her into bed. Of course, in previous episodes, we were led to believe Leyla slept with Cem the night before the wedding, but that’s not the case.
Sarp’s Revelation and Leyla’s Confrontation with Ömer
And then the explosive ending, which we saw part of at the end of Episode 7, with Ömer extremely angry, asking for Leyla, believing she has slept with Cem.
Before this occurs, Sarp talks to Leyla and reveals another truth bomb; he tells her not to play the voice message he sent to her phone, but she does anyway. In the message, he reveals that he’s always loved her and that Ömer does not deserve her. He also reveals that he told Ömer he saw her and Cem kissing at the hotel opening. He’s been intervening in her love life all this time despite being in a long-term relationship (resulting in marriage).
Leyla, played by Serenay Sarikaya (L), and Ömer, played by Metin Akdülger (R), in Thank You, Next (Credit – Netflix)
I felt sorry for Leyla here. It feels like all the men in her life are playing nonsense games. The one man she felt was the enemy of her desires was Cem, but it is possible he was the good guy all along.
Episode 8 ends with Leyla confronting Ömer outside, and she asks him if he’d like to play a game of “truth or consequence” — she tells him that she knows he has been cheating on her (again). She walks away, inevitably canceling the wedding; Cem tells her he’ll never give up on her, and Season 1 ends.
I genuinely believed this series would have concluded with Season 1, so I’m surprised how they left it. It’s a dramatic cliffhanger, with Leyla ending up with neither man. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here. I imagine the frontrunner to Leyla’s heart is now Cem unless the dark horse is Sarp. I’d love to understand more theories in the comments below.
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