Hot Skull Ending Explained: What Was Project X? Did Fazil Catch Murat? What Happens to Arif?

Hot Skull, a Turkish-produced television series with a decidedly dystopian setting, made its debut on Netflix a few days ago; although there are typically science fiction elements within the show, Hot Skull paints a contemporary world subjected to a global pandemic that is not all that dissimilar from the reality that we have all been living for three years now. Furthermore, the TV series created by Mert Baykal and which we told you about in our review, was also capable of making a profound reflection on the current state of society and the political structure of Turkey, hitting the target perfectly.

Those who have already devoured the Netflix series in eight episodes will undoubtedly want to share the enthusiasm of the vision, but above all, they will have a disproportionate desire to discuss the adrenaline-pumping and tense finale of the show created by Baykal. In our explanation of the ending of Hot Skull, we will delve into the narrative plot of the series trying to understand what happened to its characters and answering the most pressing questions.

Hot Skull: Plot Summary

Istanbul, a terrible pandemic has broken out all over the world; although the origin of this infectious strain is still uncertain, it very easily infects the hearing organ due to a language disorder that affects the victims: if a person begins to be delirious or to pronounce disconnected sentences without apparent logical sense, she has probably been infected. For this reason, those who do not want to be infected by the sound virus wear headphones or earplugs extremely frequently; just like Murat Siyavus, an ex-linguist who is wanted by the tyrannical institution of the IBE because he is immune to the disease: is the key to discovering a cure and putting an end to the global pandemic in his DNA?

An incipit that is certainly quite intriguing that of Hot Skull, a Turkish-produced miniseries distributed by Netflix that will certainly be talked about a lot in its debut on the streaming platform. This is because he succeeds with originality and a great sense of dynamic storytelling to speak to our everyday life revolutionized by the Covid pandemic. And not only.

Hot Skull Ending Explained: A Virus That Leads To Delirium

To understand what happens at the end of Hot Skull, let’s take a step back and rewind the narrative tape for a moment. The Netflix show created by Mery Baykal starts in the Turkish city of Istanbul and its protagonists. Although the setting is limited to the European metropolis, the virus that is infecting millions of people has spread throughout the globe; the origin of the infectious strain is not clear, the only certainty is that it manifests itself as a language disorder that affects unsuspecting victims: if a person begins to pronounce disconnected sentences without apparent logical sense, he has likely been infected; the victims of this dreaded virus are renamed “delusional”. For this reason, those who do not want to be infected by the sound virus wear headphones extremely frequently, because mere auditory contact with a delusional person could spread the infection to others.

In this dystopian (but realistic) context moves Murat Siyavus, a former linguist wanted by the IBE, an institution responsible for researching a cure that has kept and continues to keep the population in check since the outbreak of the hearing pandemic in Turkey assuming more and more tyrannical power. Why Murat is so relentlessly sought after by agents of the order of the IBE? Simply because he is immune to the disease; however, his curious immunity has important physiological consequences: every time he comes into contact with a delusional person, his body temperature rises immediately, and his head overheats while the other parts of his body are not affected by this strange pathology.

Looking For A Cure

It turns out that this is one of the many physiological consequences from which Murat suffers after being treated in the past by Özgür, his former collaborator and linguist who was studying an antidote to the virus. Among the other consequences of his induced immunity, is the tendency to daydream, experience real hallucinations, experience epileptic seizures, and solve numerical and linguistic codes and puzzles very easily in a short time. A rare commodity that is sought after not only by the high hierarchies of the IBE but also by the organization Più Uno, convinced that to overthrow the totalitarian system of the IBE it is necessary to demonstrate peacefully.

Now locked up in his mother’s house to avoid going out and suffering from the effects of the “hot head”, Murat is hunted down by the agents of the IBE led by Anton, who want him with them to study his DNA and find the antidote, but not before being kidnapped by the charm of the beautiful and enigmatic Sule, a psychology student who works for Più Uno and who would like him on her side. Falling in love with her, Murat follows her, but after making a mutual pact: she would help him find her former colleague Özgür who was left for dead, while he would guarantee him a cure. The enigmatic Anton continues to hunt him down, also personally touched by the virus, given that his wife and son have become delirious and live locked up in a basement; his superior,

Whoever Raves The Best Wins

In search of Özgür, Murat and Sule enter the extremely dangerous Zone 6, an area of ​​the city of Istanbul that is particularly dangerous and inhabited by a large number of delusional people; after solving many puzzles and riddles with great ease, Murat and Sule meet Yasmina, Özgür’s girlfriend; the latter leads them to the heart of the “kingdom” of Murat’s ex-colleague, now a drug addict who manages an arena of delirious people together with his partner: here the infected “challenge” each other to the sound of slurred and meaningless words; the best favors the victory of those who had bet on him. The meeting with the former colleague pushes Murat to seek a solution to his pathology and to put into production an antidote to be entrusted to Più Uno.

To do this, Özgür decides to scan Murat’s brain to understand its peculiarity and if a cure can be drawn from it; to do this he is helped by a team of researchers from Più Uno and by the presence of Haluk, a delusional level six, the highest ever recorded. As Özgür reveals, Haluk was the one who infected Murat in the past, even if his organism reacted to the infection in a completely unexpected way: in fact, Haluk was one of the very first recorded cases of the language virus and he independently managed to control his communication faculties despite the infection, while Murat has simply developed immunity to the strain and “hot-headed” aftermath.

As we discover as the episodes progress, Murat had already seen Haluk in one of his lucid dreams or hallucinations, making us understand that the two had already met in the past; we also discover that not only Haluk had been the one who had infected our protagonist, but that Derya, Murat’s wife, had in turn been infected, but had not held the consequences, so much so that she was later found dead with her wrists cut and stretched out on the home treadmill.

Hot Skull Ending Explained: What Happened In Last Episode

Shocking revelations about the past of the protagonist of Hot Skull, so much so that it is Özgür himself who suggests that the genetic makeup of the two could be similar and that they could share the same DNA; What if Haluk is Murat’s father, never actually mentioned by his mother? An answer which, however, is not provided at the end of the series and which could matter for a second season. Then we come to the events of the season finale, even more, shocking than Murat’s past. When the IBE decides to inaugurate the new laboratory on the occasion of the anniversary of the Kocaeli tragedy, Più Uno sets in motion to begin a peaceful commemoration of what happened; as explained in the series three years after the outbreak of the pandemic the IBE decided to carry out mass murders of infected people to clean up city areas and thus protect the still uninfected population; to “clean up” they dragged the first delirious out of their homes and isolated them beyond a barrier that divided them from the still immune city, without food or water; from that tragedy, the peaceful organization Più Uno was born.

After being convinced by Murat through an exchange of information, Fazil agrees to the peaceful commemoration at the opening of the laboratory, but a series of twists in the final episode closes the first season of Hot Skull with great tension. Shortly after the memorial, Fazil receives a tip that an extremist fringe of Plus One plans to blow up the new laboratory, an attempt that is thwarted at the last minute; and this is where the diabolical plan of the leader of the IBE comes into play. To get rid of the one who was pinned as his successor and other officials, Fazil blows up the laboratory blaming the disaster on Più Uno; the latter is thus forced to leave the Turkish city to avoid being captured and killed; after raiding the bases and headquarters buildings of the peaceful organization with the consent of the other members of the IBE, Fazil ensures that he no longer has internal and external rivals and that he can govern Istanbul with full powers. A chilling ending that promises a second, highly anticipated season of Hot Skull.