Dhruv Trivedi
‘Fatma’ is a Turkish thriller drama series whose unconventional protagonist has resulted in the show being described as “groundbreaking.” Created and co-directed by Ozgur Onurme, the show follows Fatma, essayed by Burcu Biricik, as she is slowly pushed by her circumstances into committing unthinkable acts. Onurme’s story of a cleaning lady, burdened by a missing husband and a dead son while finally striking back at the society that has long oppressed her, is an intricate character exploration. With layers of Fatma’s past slowly revealed and multiple treacherous characters whose motivations remain unclear, ‘Fatma’ season 1 is a winding, twisting journey that might have left you with some questions. If so, fear not. Here’s ‘Fatma’ season 1 ending, explained! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Fatma Season 1 Recap
‘Fatma’ opens with the protagonist and namesake of the show, a frail, middle-aged woman, being questioned by the police regarding murders that she is apparently suspected of. The story then launches into how she got there and shows Fatma from some time ago as an overworked cleaning lady looking for her missing husband, Zafer.
As she goes from acquaintance to acquaintance, asking about Zafer’s whereabouts, she is repeatedly turned away under various pretexts, including people saying that Zafer owes them money. Fatma’s desperation eventually boils over, and she shoots one of Zafer’s criminal acquaintances, setting off a sequence of events that result in her having to commit more and more murders to survive.
Whilst constantly trying to locate her husband, she is repeatedly accosted by Bayram, another one of his criminal associates who tries to use Fatma to kill his enemies. He remarks on how easily she can get away with crimes because no one notices her. One of Bayram’s men, Yusuf, whilst threatening Fatma, mistakenly lets it slip that her husband Zafer is hiding out in her childhood village.
Fatma has by then learned that her husband has borrowed money from multiple places and has also taken money in return for his silence from the powerful Argah family. Fatma holds the Argah family responsible for the death of her young, autistic son and is shattered when she learns of her husband’s deeds. Soon after learning about his whereabouts from Yusuf, she heads to her village to take revenge on Zafer.
Fatma Season 1 Ending: Is Fatma Alive? What Happens To Her Next?
Upon reaching her village, Fatma soon locates her husband in the market and confronts him about taking blood money from their son’s killers. After a brief argument, she pulls out the gun that she’s used to commit multiple murders but fumbles with it, and Zafer is able to snatch it away from her. She then reveals that she has told the police to come and find the murder weapon at the market and that Zafer’s fingerprints are now all over the incriminating gun.
She then walks away, leaving Zafer to get arrested. After returning to Istanbul, Fatma goes to the Argah Company office to confront the family. After meeting with one of their lawyers, who is sympathetic to her, she decides to take her own revenge and burns down their office. She is then finally taken into custody by the police, who have been searching for her for some time with regards to the multiple murders she has committed.
Whilst being questioned, she pretends to be sick and slips away from her police escort while pretending to be in the bathroom. As Fatma tries to escape the police station, she comes across her younger sister Emine, who is also being questioned by the police regarding Fatma. Emine follows Fatma to the roof of the building, where Fatma, on the verge of a breakdown, admits to pushing Emine when they were children.
Fatma then remembers that she pushed her own son onto the street, which resulted in his death, and is seized with uncontrollable grief. She climbs up onto the railing and jumps off the building, landing on a car below. In the closing scene of ‘Fatma’ season 1, we see Fatma lying on the roof of the car, and just before the credits roll in, her hand moves, and she opens her eyes slightly.
Though the tantalizing ‘Fatma’ season 1 finale answers many questions and brings a sense of finality concerning the protagonist’s hunt for revenge (on her husband and the Argah family), we are left unsure of Fatma’s fate. Though on the surface, having just realized that she was responsible for her son’s death, Fatma would clearly want to kill herself. Her multiple close calls on the show, where she unexpectedly gets out of an impossibly tight situation, seem to be a trend that could continue with her suicide attempt.
Fatma surviving her fall is at once relieving and melancholic. As an audience, we are attached to the unstoppable protagonist and do not want her to die. However, any life that she will have henceforth will most likely be an unhappy one, given what we know. Moments before she jumps off the roof, we see the police detective show her lawyer some photographs which seem to incriminate Fatma in a murder.
Though she now has a lawyer, she has been caught on camera multiple times during or after committing a murder. Despite being able to blame some of the murders on Zafer, it seems difficult for Fatma to get away with all of them. Having said that, won’t it be great to see her get away with the help of the smooth-talking Argah family lawyer? (If anyone deserves to get away with murder, it’s Fatma).
Another sad reality for Fatma, if she survives her fall, would be to accept the fact that she killed her son, something she had so far refused to accept. Throughout the show, only 2 people motivate Fatma to do all that she does: her missing husband Zafer, who she tries to locate, and her late son, Oguz, whose death she tries to avenge.
She loses faith in her husband when she realizes he accepted money from their son’s killers. Now, with the realization that she might be responsible for her son’s death, she has lost the other big driving force that kept her going. From what we know of Fatma and her love for her son, it is a very dark existence that awaits her if she survives. She will have to live knowing she had a hand in her son’s death.
Is Fatma Responsible For Her Son’s Death?
Fatma blaming herself for her son’s death is largely the reason she decides to jump off the roof of the police station. Her feelings of guilt were further deepened when she remembered pushing her younger sister as a child, something she claimed she did to save her sister. Her well-meaning actions, having dire and even fatal consequences, are somewhat of a theme in the show. However, there is also truth in Fatma’s earlier claims of the Argah family being responsible for Oguz’s death, which is evidenced in their guilt and fear of the case being reopened.
The fact that they paid hush money as well as decided not to press charges against Fatma for burning down their office shows that the family has something to hide and is most likely guilty of killing the child. However, it is undeniable that Fatma herself is partly to blame for the death of her child, as is revealed at the end of season 1. The fact that the fault is not completely hers is unlikely to be of any consolation to Fatma.
Who Knows About Zafer’s Whereabouts?
Throughout season 1, Fatma questions multiple people about Zafer’s whereabouts. After initially claiming to have no idea, cracks begin to show up in many of the characters’ stories, and it is slowly revealed that many of the people she had previously asked actually knew where he was. It is one of the factors that contribute to Fatma going on a relentless rampage.
Every time she learns that she has been lied to and manipulated by those claiming they don’t know where Zafer is, she loses more faith in the people around her and becomes colder, eventually becoming the killer we see finishing off Yusuf. Yusuf is, in fact, the first person who lets slip Zafer’s whereabouts, saying that he is in her old village. As soon as she learns that, Fatma shoots Yusuf and decides to go to the village to take her revenge on her husband.
Yusuf also tells her that Bayram, his boss and Fatma’s tormentor, knew of Zafer’s whereabouts as well. The most shocking revelation comes when we find that Fatma’s neighbor and childhood acquaintance, Ismail, and his wife, Kadriye, knew about Zafer and even took money from him, all the while watching Fatma suffer as she searched for him.
Zafer’s money dealings are also slowly revealed, emphasizing his heartless nature. It is initially shown that he took money from various criminal associates of his, all of whom want to be paid back. We then find out that he took hush money from the Argah family, as well as a loan that was vouched for by Fatma’s sister’s well-connected husband. We also learn that Zafer gave money to his friend Ismail whilst his wife and son suffered without him.
How Much Does the Author Actually Know About Fatma?
The author is an interesting character who occasionally doubles up as the narrator of the show. Unconnected to any of the other characters, he observes Fatma and claims to be writing a story that features a cleaning lady based on her. At the end of season 1, we see him with the script of his finished novel, named “Fatma.” The novel, however, is rejected by his publishers, saying that the story is not interesting and the character of Fatma is not believable.
This makes us wonder how accurate the author’s novel is in describing Fatma’s story and how well he knows her anyway. He knows of Fatma’s circumstances regarding her missing husband and dead son, as we see the two discussing it. The author also (wordlessly) claims to know Fatma well when her sister Emine comes looking for her and proceeds to tell Emine about Fatma. However, following the trend of almost all the other men seen in Fatma’s life, the author does not hear Fatma when she is truly expressing herself.
We see this when she is trying to tell him about the murders she has committed, and the author fails to hear her exact words and thinks she is talking about her dead son again. This possibly emphasizes more than anything else how Fatma is ignored, even when she is told that she is being listened to. Therefore, though the author might know the basic facts about Fatma’s life, likely, he does not know about her complicated past, her motivations, or the extent of her crimes.
Read More: Best Turkish Shows on Netflix
