Cabin Fever
Episode 3 of Yakamoz S-245 starts with us aboard the Yakamoz underwater. Tensions are high. Silence grips every room as our characters wait for the next update. At the center of this bubbling pit of tension is Baris, who starts to crack and experience hallucinations. Complicating matters further are the new additions to the Yakamoz, as Arman and the gang settle in and learn about the different rooms on the sub. They’re given 3 minutes to shower (anything longer and they’re penalized) while they’re reminded that the sub runs on battery power. Should those batteries fail, they’ll be in a world of trouble. Unnervingly, their sleeping quarters happen to be alongside the forward torpedoes. Alone, Defne warns Rana that they’re not safe and need to keep their wits about them – especially when it comes to Umut. When an error grips the submarine, Arman jumps to the recuse and manages to stop the alarms from wailing and helps the soldiers fix the ship. Erenay is impressed and decides to make Arman the chief engineer after his feat. Umut is not happy and promises to end Arman if he messes up. There’s clear tensions between them and it’s not helped by Felix’s sobering reality check, admitting this is their new normal now and there’s no way they’ll be going back to the surface like before. While they talk, several of the officers, including petty officer Altan, show up and grab Cem round the neck, choking him out and blaming him for losing their men in Kos. Defne and Arman inform Erenay about the volatile situation and urge him to get his men in check. He’s convinced that they’re good soldiers and wouldn’t do this but we’ve seen too much to think otherwise. The biggest concern though is Baris, who’s losing his mind and even claims to have seen someone crawling around in the vents. When cans show up missing, coupled with Baris’ ramblings about someone in the vents, Altan has had enough. In fact, he gathers the troops and decides to confront the Commander. He claims Arman and the others have stolen from them and goes on to ask for them to be kicked off the Yakamoz. Arman is the voice of reason here and reminds them that they’re in this together and these soldiers are supposed to be the pride of the military. They need to join forces so they can survive. Felix notices Baris has a hand grenade and immediately tells the others what’s going on. As the soldiers scramble up to the torpedo bay, they try to talk him out of this, Erenay steps up but it’s no good. Baris is too far gone. Erenay notices the danger and locks the door, just as Baris explodes the hand grenade. They’re gone. And from the looks of it, the sub is too given it’s starting to leak.
The Episode Review
Baris’ maniacal turn is unfortunate but I can’t help but feel that it actually occurs to the wrong character. Those in the military have been well trained to actually withstand these depths and, presumably, go through many mental and physical tests to withstand cabin fever of this magnitude. Now, I appreciate there’s an end of the world scenario here but wouldn’t it have been more effective for one of the new arrivals onboard to be the one to set off the hand grenade? That way you could really push the idea of the “newcomers” being the threat against these soldiers. Of course, there’s the usual hostility between two groups anyway, and with the story confined to the submarine itself, the drama slows down to play into a more character-driven ensemble. There’s nothing wrong with that, but this chapter does feel unusually slow, with a lot of character squabbles that feel superficially placed to stir up trouble. The ending does hint that we’re going to be graced with some tense scenes in the future, as everything is left wide open going forward.
