#neco ve fatos

[xenophanatic]

In Depth Quasi-Analysis of Ramo: 'If the show was called Neco.’

Okay, so after seeing so many posts about this show, I thought “yeah, need a new addiction... and the guy looks hot.’ 

Sadly, I came to the realisation that the guy I found attractive wasn’t the main lead ‘Ramo’, but a side character name Neco. When I found the plot dull, I decided to skip the ‘main’ plotline and instead skip to Neco scenes - which all the posts were about anyway. So be aware that when I’m criticising the show, I haven’t watched the whole thing to deeply analyse every aspect. It’s like what The Witcher’s critics did. Also, I’m reading subtitles so things may get lost in translation.

Saying that... Ramo isn’t a good show. By the end of every episode I was fuming with distaste for the show. Ramo, as a character, is glorified to the point of irritation. As GRR Martin has stated, 

“It irritates me when I'm watching a movie and/or reading a book and the hero is going through incredible dangers, him and his six buddies, and none of them die.”

What I get from this quote, and other interviews from Martin, is that - as an audience - it gets annoying when each week Ramo is in danger, but we know he will get out of it - because he’s the main guy. He revokes on deals made with bad guys, sets up traps, shoots men down, and dodges all the consequences. Then the audience is forced to listen to others making speeches about the greatness of Ramo. “Ramo will die to save us!” - But don’t worry cos that won’t happen and Ramo will get everything he wants and win by the end of the episode. There may be a little setback here and there - which makes the episodes drag - but Ramo will win. Ramo is a cliche character that you have seen multiple times and therefore, isn’t engaging to watch. 

A moment to reflect on the comment made above about all characters praising the awesomeness of Ramo. The issue with the series, I found, is that everything is said. The exposition is down poorly and makes me cringe when characters just describe how they feel or their opinions about the situation. 

My brief summary of the show: Mob/Revenge Story - Ramo and his family/neighbour hood are members of the Pumper Gang, stealing and selling diesel illegally. Ramo also works for a richer gangster, Cengiz, who had killed Ramo’s dad. Cengiz and his father-in-law killed Ramo’s dad and Ramo wants revenge. Episode one pretty much ends with Ramo killing Cengiz. 

At first, I thought this was a good premise. Most revenge dramas begin with the act that thrusts the character on the path of revenge and ends with them achieving their goal; however, by ending the episode with the revenge coming to an end - the show has a chance to explore the implications and consequences of revenge. The tales similar to Monte Cristo, end with the character achieving their revenge - but what happens after. Do they feel content? Are they able to have a ‘normal’ life? What about the victims of their revenge? 

Going off track.... 

In the Indian verision of Hamlet, Haider (2014), Ghazala (Gertrude) tells Haider (Hamlet) that ‘revenge does not set us free’, ‘revenge begets revenge’, ‘violence only results in violence’, and that there is no end to this cycle, but Haider, who is bent on revenge, ignores these warnings. 

During the shootout of Ramo and Cengiz - Cengiz’s son, Neco, runs away and survives. Neco is then motivated to kill Ramo. This beautiful depicts the above statements. Ramo getting revenge for his father’s death, has now put Neco on a journey to avenge his father’s death. Will this cycle ever end?

However, sadly, this is not the story and the focus is on more on Ramo and Sibel’s (Cengiz’s daughter and Neco’s sister) love story. I’m sorry - I don’t care what excuse your lover gives you for killing your father - but it ain’t okay. The mafia plots are repetitive and the love story is cliche at its worse. 

So... let’s talk about the Lament of Neco

Neco is introduced, from the start, as spoilt rich boy player - who is only handsome, and doesn’t have the intelligence nor the cunningness to lead his mafia family. This is nicely shown through Ilhan Sen’s (Neco) acting and the dialogue that others have around him. 

We can see, in scenes, that Neco not only looks but feels out of place in mafia meetings. The way his father, mother, and sister talk and move is different from his. He is out of place and shocked when others (Ramo) include him in the conversation as the future heir of the empire. You can see his eagerness to prove himself, as it comes off sincere, optimistic and naive. The meeting scene is a great demonstration of Neco’s character and relationship with his family.

His father is in the middle. Neco’s sister is on the right side of her father - depicting how Cengiz sees his dauther as his right hand. The left said is Neco’s mother. The three are close and are able to have an intimate conversation. Neco is further away from them. Ramo is standing and his body is facing forward - talking to the three family members. He needs to turn to address Neco and include him in. No one else looks towards Neco. When Ramo mentions Neco being the head of the family, Boz (another goon) holds in a laughter. Neco is visible upset and gets up. 

One could see this as a childish gesture on Neco’s part, however, I saw it as a sign of Neco’s insecurities. Neco has been seen as inferior by his father, mother, and sister - all his family, who should be supporting and helping him, and whom he cannot fight against. But a servant is looking down at him.. Neco can’t stand that. This is not explained in words, I inferred all this from the scene and was happy that it was proven in later episodes - even if it was in direct exposition dialogue by Neco.

As revenge for laughing at him, Neco disrespects Boz in front of others - not only putting him in his place, but making Boz feel what Neco feels all the time. Boz then beats Neco up and runs. Neco was defeated by a servant. Neco’s dad wants Boz dead, and Ramo decides to save Boz and kill Cengiz. Neco, before so smug seeing Boz so close to death, runs away when he sees/hears gunshots - It’s almost comedic. They catch him, but Neco pleads and begs for his life. He tells Boz and Ramo that they can use him. This presents Neco as a coward juxtaposing him against the ‘awesome’ Ramo. 

Long story short, to end the warring families, Ramo has to marry Neco’s sister and Neco has to marry Ramo’s sister Fatos - who is in love with Boz. 

This is where I put my critical, feminist, and logical hat off and start dancing to the hymns of fangirling. I love this romantic trope in all it’s glory. You have:

enemies into lovers

constant bickering

forced marriage

co-habitation

badboy/plaer is in love and shows softer side/changes

love triangle

girl realising that difference between first love and true love.

I love it!

But they did my Neco dirty. And therefore my hat is back on.

Ramo, through it’s writing, has also ruined this for me. Remember, Neco is a minor character - so his and Fatos’s scenes are very minimal and not enough to exploit these tropes. 

Fatos and Neco, in my opinion, never bond. They never have moments were it allows them to fall for one another. There was one scene, which I believe is where Neco falls for Fatos, but Fatos’s character is so cold that I don’t understand how he fell in love. 

Before I discuss that underwhelming scene, let’s talk about the great scene that came before it. Neco’s grandfather takes him to an abandon place and makes him shoot a random guy - execution style. Granddad yells at Neco - pretty much saying ‘be a man’, ‘your sister has more balls than you’, ‘You will never kill Ramo and avenge your father’, ‘you’re worthless’. Again, the acting is better than the script. Neco’s face shows that these words are not  the first time he has heard them, but these words have also been constantly going through his head. Neco is also distressed at the act of killing a random guy - Neco isn’t a killer and, because of the family he’s in, that is connected to whether or not he is a strong man. 

I wish, I WISH this was explored more. Neco representing this idea/notion of masculinity and toxic attitudes of societal expectations. We see this earlier on, when Sibel is grieving over her dead father and Neco says that it’s worse for him because he saw it happen. She bitterly mentioned that he ran away like a coward and begged Ramo for his life. Neco, angrily, asks her what she would have done. She replies she would rather die than be a coward like him. This angers Neco. Again, moments like these allow us to sympathise with Neco and I wished we could explore not only that event from Neco’s point of view but also the relationship he had with his father..

Anyway, Neco - after killing the man (it seems) - comes home destroyed. He is physically shocked from the events. He goes to his room to find his ‘wife’ - both have been fighting up to this moment - and lies in her lap. She is shocked by his behaviour and actions. He begs her not leave. I have no major issues with this but one. Fatos needed to show a little more compassion or gesture for it to make sense that Neco is now in love with her. She doesn’t move as he lies in her lap. If she simply put her hand on his head or through his hair, and Neco took the simple platonic gesture as love - I would be here for it. But no.

And then this moment is ruined by other scenes. This will show my bias, because when a Neco scene is good - I give credit to the actor. And when a Neco scene is the worst - the writers are the victims of my anger. 

So, you know this character you’re going to fall in love with - against all attempts by other characters and writers to make you hate him - well... he is a rapist?

OMG! These sequence of events. So, Neco has killed a guy. He is upset and finds solace in Fatos. FLASHBACK! Remember the time that Neco was held at gunpoint because he was forcing himself on a girl who has said no? Sibel and Ramo come and Sibel slaps Neco - disgusted by her brother’s action. BTW Neco doesn’t feel guilty about his actions. Back to the present, he is now flirting with Fatos and pretty much telling her he wants to sleep with her. 

She is scared (remember she was forced into this marriage and loves another). He makes a move to kiss her and she slaps him. She is so scared she gets a gun and points it at him.

This is would have been amazing if done right!

Why it is bad? The audience was just shown a scene were an unremorseful Neco was held at gunpoint for trying to rape another girl. Therefore, this makes the audience, through the codes and convention of storytelling, think Neco is capable of doing the same thing to Fatos and makes Fatos decision and actions justified. This makes Neco, a character I enjoy and want to keeping enjoying, a ‘problematic’ character. This scene is an affirmation of Neco’s despicable acts. The flashback isn’t shown as a misreading of the events, it is shown as fact and this scene is shown as a confirmation. 

Could this be good? YES! Neco just had a traumatic experience. He had to shoot and kill someone. He struggled to do so and hasn’t gotten over it. Then he sees Fatos holding a gun at him. He, knowing how he felt, thinks she wouldn’t shoot because how could someone do that. But she does. This scene should be an exploration about human nature to shoot and kill someone. What goes through our head and how do we deal with it after. But atlas, she shoots him, he survives and this is barely talked about again because the main plot comes and rears its ugly head. 

What this scene could of been? When I saw this I thought about a similar scene from Siyah Beyaz Ask. Asli is forced to marry assassin Ferhat. Fearful, she keeps a knife under her pillow. When Ferhat, in anger, pushes her to the bed, she stabs him. Ferhat then challenges her to finish him off, Asli cries that she can’t and Ferhat has a lovely speech on what makes a murderer and how she is no different than him. These sequences is what, I believe, should have been produced between Neco and Fatos, minus the crying. 

So, elements that needed to go: rapey Neco. No one wants it nor needs it. The scene should have explored the characters. Neco inability to hurt others, and Fatos courage to protect herself against Neco. Like she is ‘powerless’ in front of other, or she can’t hurt any one else, except Neco. And I don’t know about you, but after trying to kill someone, there could be moments between the two characters to talk and heal one another. Maybe Fatos freaking out that she could pull the trigger. Neco being envy of her. So much CONFLICT!

Now let’s talk about NecFat. The ship that made me want to watch this series. I don’t know whether it is the subtitles or writing but... eh. Like the gifs, fanvids, and acting makes this look amazing and everything I need right now. But it is so poorly done. 

So, Fatos and Neco meet when Ramo, Fatos’s brother, keeps Neco as a hostage. She’s there to give him food and water. The two bicker and Neco asks her to do him a favour and at least call his mother who must be worried about him. We see Neco caring for his mother and Fatos feeling sympathy for him. This is their only scene as Boz doesn’t like the two meeting. In a funny scene, Fatos sarcastically tells Boz how handsome Neco is and what girl wouldn’t want to keep seeing him. She laughs and says she was joking, but - I think the lady protest too much. Off topic, I love how every character agrees that Neco is super good looking. Even when Neco is kidnap and looking in the mirror, the kidnapper is like ‘Hey Handsome, stop looking in the mirror’. Kidnapper has taste. 

Anyway, they needed more scenes with Neco as a prisoner and Fatos as the one who brings him food, maybe even bandage some wounds. As mentioned earlier, this show should have been about the never ending circle of revenge. Neco, while hostage, promises to kill Ramo. 

The show goes with the mafia/gangs saying the only way this feud will end is if  Ramo marries Sibel and Neco has to marries Fatos . Okay, so love the plot, not the execution. In the series, the two barely have any scenes until Fatos shoots him and then the families decide... ‘hey there this thing called... a divorce?’ And now the couple are separated. So, the show failed to take full advantages of the marriage plot. At the moment, up to Episode 11, Neco is in love with Fatos , she is pregnant with Boz’s child and has no feelings for Neco. Neco is obsessed with Fatos and his love comes off as childish and selfish. 

And that’s the thing, the actors and their chemistry is what is making NecFat, because the script and series give them nothing. I mean, Neco gets kidnapped and you think this would be a good moment for Fatos to be worried about Neco, but nope - nothing. She is in love with Boz and currently has no feelings for her husband. 

The last time we see them is when Neco, after putting doubts in Boz’s head about the father of Fatos’s unborn child, tells Fatos that Boz shouldn’t have asked the question about the paternity.  He says he would never had asked such a question. He tell her that he accepts her and is willing to do anything for her. His love is so big that he will look after both her and her unborn child. Neco states ‘you and the baby could be my family”.

Awww... I love this. This is an awesome moment - when isolated. Neco is in this 110%, while Fatos is not even on the same wavelength. So his declaration isn’t shown as earth shuttering to Fatos . That’s where we end with them. She isn’t seen reflecting on it and it doesn’t seem she will be Team Neco any time soon. Also, the episode/season ends with Neco setting a trap for Ramo so don’t think Fatos is jumping into Neco’s arm anytime soon.

If the series was called Neco.

This show would have been my jam if the whole Ramo/Sibel story was cut. Have Ramo already married - I don’t care. The first episodes ends with Ramo killing Neco’s father. Wow, a revenge story where the revenge has been accomplished. What’s next? 

NECO!

Now Neco - the coward, womanising, good-for-nothing, son must take his father’s place. Same as the original where he tries to run and gets caught. He gets bargained back by, now, the granddad. There is a scene, in the original, where Neco is at his father’s funeral and has his head down low. His grand-daddy reprimands him - saying he is now the head of the family and his head should be held high. Boy can’t even grieve at his own father’s funeral. Explore that!

Have the plot about ending the feud with marriage. Have Neco and Fatos against it. How can they marry into the family that killed their fathers? Also, have it that when Ramo finds out that Boz and Fatos are in love, Ramo makes Boz promise to let Fatos go. Pretty much a ‘you owe me for all the things I’ve done for you over the years.’ Fatos begs Boz to runaway with her, but he can’t go against Ramo. Boz chooses Ramo over Fatos . Fatos is heartbroken. This will also show Ramo as a complex character and allow Fatos to see the cracks in her relationship with Boz (which I will mention later). 

Also, Neco needs a sidepiece. Again, they say he is a player but we never see it. Have a sidepiece which he promises that won’t end because he is married. It will also give jealousy moments for Fatos. We see both characters coming into this marriage with no intention to fulfil it. Fatos is there to find out/spy if Neco’s family plans to attack, and Neco uses Fatos as a bullet proof vest, so Ramo won’t kill him.

So, like I mentioned about his conversation with Sibel about how he ran away -have the conversation with grand-daddy or mum, but then have Neco have nightmares about that day his dad died. In his dreams his father says Neco is the reason he died. If he was a better son, Boz wouldn’t have laughed, Neco wouldn’t have insulted Boz, Boz wouldn’t have beaten him up, and Ramo wouldn’t have killed Cengiz. He calls Neco a coward for running that day.

Pretty much, Neco subconsciously blames himself and believes by killing Ramo he will be the son his father needed. You could also have Ramo have similar dreams in the first episode with his father about getting revenge. This would show that the characters are haunted by their fathers and revenge.

When Neco and Fatos share a bedroom - obviously after bickering who has the bed. Fatos wakens up from the floor by Neco night terrors. He keeps saying ‘baba’ and ‘sorry’. Fatos , insensitive to Neco, wakes him up. Neco, trying to hide his insecurities leaves the room - instead sleeping on the couch in the living room or something. Fatos therefore gets to see a broken Neco and sees the consequences of revenge.

What I love about how Neco’s character is protrayed in the show is how awful he is as a gangster, but wants to prove he is capable. This needs to be explored more and should the basis of NecFat. 

Neco’s family, and society, expect him to be this masculine macho man, but the series presents him as this broken child, just wanting his family to say ‘I’m proud of you’. Neco has a desire to succeed where others say he would fail. And in the show he fails a lot. 

What I would love to see is him succeeding in something that is more ‘feminine’, in something that his family doesn’t recognise. I’m not trying to stereotype gender when I say feminine. In contrast, I want to see them challenge gender roles. So what do I mean by this? 

Like, have Neco have a hobbie that is incredible ‘unmasculine’ or just simply cute and adorable. A contrast to the ‘masculine macho man’ image he so wants to project. These could be writing poetry, painting, playing a classical instrument; but my personal favourite (I’ll explain why later) - baking. 

(Author’s Note: I’m ashamed/proud of the time I spent making the above image)

Maybe it is the fangirl in me, but I would love to see ‘badass’ Neco stress baking. But why do I think a hobbie is needed for Neco? It shows softer side to him, and that he is good at something. But his family had never supported him and instead puts a gun in his hand and forced him to kill someone. 

Also, this would allow an opportunity for a scene where Fatos smells something delicious and gets out of her room. She goes downstairs to see Neco stress baking - maybe he has gotten up from a nightmare or something. Fatos, realising it’s Neco goes back, but Neco tells her to eat something, because he’s going to throw it away anyway. While eating Neco’s baked goods (hehe...), Fatos and Neco converse - obviously ending in a fight. Fatos leaves. Neco leaves some baked goods at Fatos’s door and throws the rest away. 

Why is this important? Well, when Fatos goes back home, whenever she eats she thinks about Neco’s food. She misses it and you can have cute moments when Neco gifts her his baked goods. Also, there could be a moment where Fatos compliments him and either says “you’ve done good’ or ‘I’m proud of you’. Awwww... 

But the main reason is this...

Back to what actually is happening on the show. So, as mentioned earlier, the cracks in Fatos’s relationship with Boz. When the aunt finds about Boz and Fatos, Fatos says that, after Boz almost getting killed, she wants to marry him and have a safe life. The aunt says that can never happen. When you marry someone from this lifestyle, death is always lurking around. 

We see this come up later on when Fatos says to Boz that when they get married they can be a normal married couple. Boz says that this is normal for them. He will continue to risk his life but that they will continue to love each other until death does them part. Through these scenes we see that Fatos doesn’t want to marry into the life of crime. She wants a ‘cookie cutter’ marriage.

Therefore, Neco by not fulfilling his families wishes will actually be accepted by Fatos. While Neco doesn’t belong in the life of crime, Fatos doesn’t want to live in one. In short - they will leave the crime world and Neco can open a bakery in the country side, or something, with his wife. 

Pretty much, ‘Neco’ (if the show was called Neco) would go on a journey of Neco -  the coward, womanising, good-for-nothing gangster - trying to get revenge but realising that this revenge won’t end. His dad killed Ramo’s father, Ramo killed his dad, Neco killing Ramo would lead to someone killing him. Fatos, and their love, will show him he can be something else and that he chooses his destiny. 

Overall, Ramo isn’t a good show and I am way too obsessed of what this show could of been than what it is. Though I love the actors and NecFat, the chemistry is good and it is using one of my favourite tropes, the relationship is losing potential through bad writing and plotting. 

Don’t know when we will see this show back on air, but when we do, I hope NecFat becomes less ‘forced’ and more mutual.  

Thanks for reading another one of my rants! What did you think about Ramo and everything I have written. Let’s dicuss!