As The Crow Flies Review: Birce Akalay, Miray Daner Series is Extremely Watchable

As the Crow Flies Season 1 follows a young woman, Asli, who is enamoured by her mentor’s star power in the newsroom. However, Asli soon finds out that there’s more to Lale Kiran than meets the eye and soon loses herself in the depths of envy greed and a desperate desire to be seen and recognised.

The series, also known as Kus Uçusu in Turkish, is created by Meriç Acemi and stars Birce Akalay, Miray Daner, and İbrahim Çelikkol, alongside other cast members. The series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 40-50 minutes.

– No Spoilers –

As The Crow Flies Review

From the moment As The Crow Flies Netflix starts and you see Lale and Asli, you know that this is more of a stalker story than literally anything else. The series, which talks about the obsession and career-driven life of the newer generation, takes Asli as the protagonist to deliver those problematic ideals while Lale is the already successful and highly regarded journalist from the previous generation.

It’s clearly, as the series will remind you many times, a fight between the hunter and the hunted – the prey and the predator. The narrator constantly reminds you of this which becomes really annoying after a while. Why is this something that needs to be reminded of every few minutes, is beyond me, but all right?

As The Crow Flies, from its very first episode, gives a good insight into what you’re in for for the rest of its runtime. It’s a wild ride that will make you question whether Asli is all right mentally and whether she needs professional help. I get blind ambition can break even the best of people, but Asli is just a different breed of person altogether. It’s not so much the ambition part that makes her feel almost psychopathic, but the fact that she lies, deceives and manipulates people so deftly that it becomes a “human” problem instead of a generational problem.

Either way, Kus Uçusu is a wild ride. Regardless of its somewhat problematic insinuations, it’s essentially the story of a stalker, and the series does a great job of discussing those points. You genuinely feel concerned as to how easy it is to manipulate people. I wondered, however, throughout the runtime, how Asli just… got herself hired without anyone doing any background check of any kind into whether she actually was hired. I highly doubt the editor-in-chief of a huge company can be that naïve, but sure, we’ll go with it.

That’s the point, I think. If you can get over these silly plot points, this is going to be an interesting and immersive experience. Sure, it’s unbelievable, but we have suspended our disbelief for worse, so I don’t think this is going to be a tough watch! There are moments where the series goes a completely unbelievable route where you don’t believe for a moment that this can happen in such a competitive world where everything is looked into with a magnifying glass. However, the series showcases it with the utmost sincerity, and so you, too, are caught up in the whirlwind showcase of absolute craziness.

I don’t think I’ll comment on how much it brings the truth behind the field of journalism, but it definitely does give you food for thought when it comes to social media and its dark corners… and, well, into the mind of a very disturbed individual. As I mentioned above, social media is also one of the driving factors of the series and considering today’s world, it’s evident how much impact it has on people’s day-to-day lives.

There are also the personal relationships of these characters that are affected by the drive to get news. It’s not just Asli, it’s also Lale. The hotshot journalist with a perfect life isn’t really that perfect – it never is, is it? As things go down for everyone thanks to their different forms of obsessions, it’s interesting to note how the lives of those around the main protagonists are affected as well. The life of celebrities isn’t easy in any way, and that’s something that the show brings up again and again.

Also Read: As the Crow Flies Season 2 Review: Birce Akalay, Miray Daner are Back for a Conflicting Season

Kus Uçusu is hypnotic. Regardless of its silly and scary moments, the series is hard to stop watching. As every part of the show functions together like a sentient being, it’s hard to ignore how watchable this show is. And I guess, that’s also because Birce Akalay and Miray Daner work off with each other so well and are just extremely good with their roles. Birce Akalay, especially, feels like she was made to be Lale. As the story moves forward and their lives get intertwined together, you forget that these are characters that the people are playing. It’s great.

Summing up

As the Crow Flies is a very watchable and thrilling series that will keep you entertained throughout its runtime. In spite of being silly sometimes, it has a lot of potential, and the characters are absolutely batshit enough to keep things going. The overdramatic (bordering on melodramatic) aspect is really unnecessary in thriller series in general but goes well with the theme of this series in particular. Give it a watch if you’re in the mood for a high-strung melodrama; it’s definitely worth the guilty-pleasure tag.

As The Crow Flies is streaming on Netflix.

Also Read: As the Crow Flies Season 3 Review: Birce Akalay, Miray Daner Mesmerise Once Again