Wild Abandon, or Uysallar, is comedy-drama series directed by Onur Saylak and stars Öner Erkan, Songül Öden, and Haluk Bilginer, alongside other cast members. The series has 8 episodes, each around 45 – 60 minutes.
Netflix describes the series as:
In the haze of a midlife crisis, an architect begins living a double life as a punk while members of his family lead their own crisis-ridden lives.
– Wild Abandon review does not contain spoilers –
Wild Abandon is an extremely uncomfortable watch. Watching a man’s life in shambles is extremely difficult at all times, but Oktay’s life is just a steaming pile of garbage. However, the series doesn’t just focus on him, but on everyone around him as well. Growing up is difficult and coming up to an age where you feel like your whole life is running away from you feels worse. Oktay, and almost everyone around him, feels the same. That they have spent whatever amount of time in their life without getting everything that they have ever wanted. Their dreams were left behind in the dust while they were juggling other aspects of their lives.
The series is definitely slow and isn’t for everyone or for every mood. There’s some dry humour in there but honestly, that just adds to the discomfort one might feel while watching a show like this. The slow placing can get to you sometimes and sometimes, you might even skip through a few scenes. But it will, at some point, bring forth the fear that this might just be you.
Wild Abandon starts with Oktay running away to the opposite end of the Earth but runs back home to his “vanilla” life after a quick realisation sets in. Even though most of us haven’t reached that stage (yet) we still get it. We get the feeling of running away and never coming back. Of having enough of this life and being done with it. Running away isn’t easy, but sure feels interesting when the time is right (or, well, wrong).
And honestly, can you blame him, or even Nil, for going a little crazy? Their careers and their children are a nightmare to navigate through and watching them is anxiety-inducing. The series makes it a point that people can lead double lives when they face such problems. It’s a way to live your life, to experience things that you thought you never will. It’s also a way to channel your creativity or even for letting off steam. Is it right or wrong? That’s an answer that you have to come up with yourself.
The growing distance between Nil and Oktay gives birth to unexpected circumstances that add to the overall fuckup that is their life together. At some point, you feel bad for Oktay and Nil, you then feel angry and disappointed and then it’s a whole host of confusion and fear – is this what happens to people after a while?
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It’s a disturbing thing to think about. The series wants you to think that, to ponder over that. Is life really this hopeless? Maybe, maybe not. But Wild Abandon is definitely not an easy watch and, as I previously mentioned, definitely not for everyone. It’s very slow and the drama takes time to cook to come to the point. Thus, if you’re not in the mood for long-drawn-out dramas, then this isn’t going to be easy to sit through. Other than that, the actors have done a fantastic job at bringing these train-wreck situations forward. You almost believe these people to be going through these situations in real life for all it matters.
Summing up: Wild Abandon
Wild Abandon is a deeply uncomfortable show that will make you think a few things. It’s slow-paced and takes time to come to the point but it’s a worthy watch that will make you squirm in your seat. The parallels in everyone’s relationships are quite shocking and the problems are nuanced and convoluted. Paired with the music, it’s almost haunting.
Wold Abandon is streaming on Netflix.
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An uncomfortable commentary.
We liked the series a lot and i dont agree with any of the above. Good job !
This is not only a story of a white-collar man midlife crisis. The show also focuses on a whole socio-cultural and psychological underlying problems that effects every characters mind sets. In addition, the series contains deep political criticism about Turkey’s current political situation. Therefore, saying that the show is slow, I think, is totally an off topic opinion. In my opinion the review above has been written a very shallow point of view.