Sci Fi Fidelity Podcast: The Gift (Atiye)
Our genre television podcast hosts review The Gift (a.k.a. Atiye), the mind-bending supernatural Netflix offering from Turkey.
| | We’ve enjoyed plenty of Netflix’s international fare on the Sci Fi Fidelity podcast, but nothing quite like The Gift, a supernatural series known as Atiye in its native Turkey. With the same family history dynamic as Dark and with similar crazy visions to Siempre Bruja, this series delves even deeper into the nature of life and death while maintaining its archaeological mystery, fantasy adventure feel. It’s a truly unique show that we couldn’t wait to review!
The Gift tells the story of Atiye, a successful artist whose works center around a mysterious symbol she’s been painting since she was a small child. When the same symbol shows up in a thousand-year-old archaeological dig site, she is compelled to investigate what it means, even when it causes others in her life to question her sanity. As the discoveries start to uncover the involvement of others in her own family, the real puzzle starts to reveal itself.
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As is our wont, we discuss the first two episodes of The Gift in detail, laying out the story premise and character development for review. We share our appreciation for the use of a real historical site for the main setting and note the added benefits of watching a show that originates from a culture that Americans could learn a lot from, artistically and otherwise.
In the spoiler zone, the family connections are explored further, and we try to get to the bottom of what Atiye’s visions mean, and the reality of her very existence comes into question. We’re reminded of our previous podcast discussions of Undone and The OA, both of which also pleasantly tied our brain in knots trying to figure out what was really going on. With plenty of speculation left over for more storytelling, we wonder about a possible The Gift season 2.
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Michael Ahr is a writer, reviewer, and podcaster here at Den of Geek; you can check out his work here or follow him on Twitter (@mikescifi). Dave Vitagliano has been writing and podcasting about science fiction television since 2012. You can read more of his work here.