'Atiye' aka 'The Gift' Season 2: Why did Serdar want Atiye to open the door and who was he working for?
Spoiler Alert for Season 2 of 'The Gift' aka 'Atiye'
Netflix's second Turkish original series, 'Atiye' aka 'The Gift', has released its second season on the platform. The series, which debuted its first season in December 2019, was an immediate hit among subscribers as we learned the tale of Atiye (Beren Saat) and her magical connection to the ancient site of Gobekli Tepe. Over the course of the first season, we learned that Serdar Yilmaz (Tim Seyfi) was Ozan's (Metin Akdulger) father. Ozan was romantically involved with Atiye and even got engaged to her. However, in her mission to find out the meaning behind the symbol she has painted her whole life, she grew closer to archaeologist Erhan (Mehmet Gunsur) and fell in love with him.
Atiye drifting away from Ozan had his father become more upset than him, with Serdar resorting to extreme measures to convince his son to get Atiye back. Serdar at one point even whipped Ozan's back with his belt. By the end of the season, as Ozan reels in his guilt over Cansu's (Melisa Senolsun) death, he discovers a hidden room in his father's cabin. There, he sees that his father has had surveillance on Atiye even before Ozan and her were dating. We also saw Serdar speaking to a disembodied voice who was ordering Serdar to get Atiye to the door between universes at the "right time."
Season 2 picks up from where Season 1 ended and while many things have changed in the new world, Serdar, like Atiye, knows what went down in the world from Season 1. We learn that Serdar was approached by an organization that told him he could get his wife back if he brought Atiye to them. To recall, we learned that Serdar's wife killed herself when Ozan was a child. In the new world, Serdar resorts to the same tricks, this time, to bring Ozan back.
However, this time around, Serdar develops a conscience when Atiye saves his life. We had also seen the character getting more humanized over the second season. We saw him behave lovingly towards his wife — a side we had never seen before — and even expressing remorse and sadness over what happened to Ozan. There is, of course, the nagging feeling that if Serdar truly loved his son, he could have started by not emotionally abusing his son, which he is guilty of doing in both worlds.
Serdar 1 (the one from the universe in Season 1) is also shown after his arrest which we saw in the first season. Ozan goes to see him to learn the truth and this is when we learn about the organization. We also learn from Serdar 2 (from the universe in Season 2) that the phenomenon of pregnant women and babies dying in this world was because they wanted to stop humanity as it was using too many resources. By the end of the season, Serdar 1 is in prison and Serdar 2 is killed by Hannah (Hazal Turesan) who has now shifted to work for the mysterious organization.
'Atiye'/'The Gift' Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.