Alkhallat Plus Recap: All Shorts Explained

Netflix’s latest Anthology series, “Alkhallat+” takes you through the lives of four different men who are struggling to live their lives. Their backgrounds, livelihoods, ages and experiences are all different and the series shows a unique side of their characters at the end of each story. 

Spoilers Ahead

Rakan Learns How To Be A “Man”

The first story is titled “Death Road” where a drug peddler gets caught after moving out from a gas station in the middle of the desert. He was carrying drugs and the boss Ozan identifies gas station owner Abu Merdaa as the snitch. He sends one of his goons on Umrah disguised as a pilgrim and takes down the thorn on his throat. As the story rolls forward, we see a young boy named Rakan travelling in the desert with his family. Despite being on a family trip, Rakan feels pressured right from the beginning when his mother forces him to take over the driver’s position from his father. His dad has been a powerful Sheikh once, but with time, he has lost his stature and now speaks through a machine after losing his voice. Rakan’s mother has grown frustrated with his condition and while the old man drives, she keeps hurling abuses at him. Rakan ultimately takes over and on his way, a black Mercedes overtakes their car which infuriates him, and he spits at the car. This so-called “macho” move earns him praises from his father, who usually thinks that Rakan will never become a “man”. But when they stop at the gas station and the women from the black Mercedes pull up, Rakan realises his mistake. He meets Nadia and they come across Abu Merdaa, the blind salesman who lets all of them rent the rooms at the motel behind. 

With Merdaa’s help, Rakan’s father falls asleep after getting high on a magic “sauce” but the poor boy can’t sleep thanks to his old man’s snoring, so he steps outside. He finds Nadia and Rakan feels happier while talking to her before hearing a noise, all of a sudden. When he goes to check a nearby alley, a goon attacks him from behind but Merdaa comes out of nowhere to save him. With his help, Rakan tosses the goon into a pit right below the fuel pumps where he sees more goons. Merdaa reveals that he was originally a soldier who lost his vision while fighting against drug lords but he never gave up. That night, he seeks help from Rakan and gives him the responsibility to handle the store front and things run pretty smoothly until a bus full of pilgrims arrive, along with Ozan’s goon. Rakan lies to him about the identity of the store owner because he wants to save everyone. When the boy initially sees him getting back on the bus, he lets Merdaa know about it but when isn’t looking, the man secretly walks into the store. Later, he attacks Merdaa and the blind man fights him off like a superhero before getting overpowered by his strength. Rakan steps in just at the right moment and with trembling hands, he shoots the man and saves Merdaa. That night, Rakan becomes a hero, but his family misses all the drama and treats him like a child when the sun comes out. 

Agab Learns To Look Beyond His Desires

The second story of “Alkhallat+,” titled “Runway Rampage,” shows a security personnel named Agab wasting his time by catching Jerboas in the desert. He chases two of them but manages to catch only one and goes back to his office. Despite coming in late in the meeting, Agab keeps joking with his acquaintances because he is too reluctant about his duties. His next assignment is guarding the toilets at Morticia Noire’s fashion show where his favorite model, Gigi Saeed is also coming. Agab forgets everything about his job and at the event, as he constantly tries to keep tabs on Gigi’s whereabouts, which is sort of creepy, if I have to be honest. Since he is not noticing anything at all, the estranged pair of the Jerboa sneaks into the event and Gigi’s grandma’s diamond hoop somehow gets caught around its body. By then, Agab has already switched places with his friend outside the model’s tent because he is too desperate to meet Gigi. Upon finding out that her grandma’s jewel is lost, Agab finds the perfect opportunity to have a chat with Gigi and she promises him a selfie if he can find her lost jewel. Agab runs around the fashion show searching for the thief and when he finally comes across the Jerboa, he runs after it like a mad man. The wild goose chase results in utter chaos after Agab trips on the light cable, killing off the power in the show right when Gigi reveals her dress on the ramp.

Quite obviously, when his manager checks the footage, he fires Agab right on the spot. By the time he packs up his stuff, he comes across the Jerboa waiting for him near the animal cages because it has come to rescue its partner. It has chewed on a power supply cable to set fire to the fashion show since it is desperate to get back to its other half. Agab understands his mistake and frees the other Jerboa and gets back the jewel. But this time, when he returns the hoop to Gigi, even after the model asks him about the promise, Agab just leaves quietly. He understands that there are some things in the world that’s beyond his desires.

Does Lester Kill Saad?

The third story, “Mars Race,” opens with a botched wedding photography event in Saudi Arabia. Saad is the CEO, Founder and Producer of a wedding photography company who is out covering an event on behalf of Khaled, his photographer friend. After the ceremony ends and the groom’s father wants to see a photo, Saad fails to find a memory card inside the camera that he has used all along. This leads to a huge argument with Saad’s friend and soon, he leaves Saad’s company to join Telfaz, a rival production house. Meanwhile, Drover, an US-based space company panics when they fall behind the Chinese in the race for Mars after their rocket fails to be ready for space. The company’s head, Lester, takes his assistant Daniel and comes to Saudi Arabia to hire a small team and fake the Mars landing. Drover has too much to lose and that’s why Lester plans to kill the team after their work is done. They meet Saad and devise a plot with him to create a realistic setting for the mission. At first, they don’t see much hope but Saad takes them to a distant mountainous land which turns out to be the perfect backdrop for Mars landing. Although Saad stays overenthusiastic, he loses it after Lester appoints Ali from Telfaz as the creative director.

Following a huge altercation, Ali leaves the project but when no one’s watching, a group of Chinese thugs abduct him. The next day, when the shot keeps failing, Saad grows sad thinking that he will never be able to achieve his dream and runs away in despair. Things grow tense at the shooting sight especially when Lester finds out that the Chinese company declares on TV that they are ready to land on Mars. While everyone thinks that Saad has escaped, he watches films to gain knowledge and arrives just in time to take a live shot. Surprisingly, a storm hits and just before Saad’s actor plants the flag, he notices the Chinese company faking the Mars landing right in front of him. Saad improvises and makes the two men shake hands, thus marking a historic moment but he is unaware that his time is running out. Back at the hotel room, Lester holds him at gunpoint but ultimately spares his life, injecting him with a drug that will make him forget memories of the last few days. While Saad undergoes memory loss the moment he steps inside his room, he finds a bag full of money from Lester.

What Happens To Mezeel?

The fourth and final story of “Alkhallat+” is “Twisted Tongue” where this Poet, Mezeel, finds it hard to earn a living through poetry. Due to his stuttering, he struggles to find an audience at his poetry shows and his wife gradually gets frustrated at his failures. One day, Mezeel comes across a strange man named Dhafer who offers him to wear a red stoned ring but Mezeel humbly refuses. The man also shares a location and invites Mezeel to participate in the local poetry battles against other poets. But he gets startled upon spotting an eerie smile on his face because that man is actually a Jinn, who can transform into whatever he wants to. Even after turning his request down, Mezeel magically finds the ring inside his pocket and goes on to face Shalfa, who most likely abused Mezeel’s father, Shamlan.

The evening turns horribly wrong after Mezeel runs away to the bathroom because he gets panicked and the over anxious state makes him stutter like crazy. He gets ashamed at the failure and drives away, only to find Dhafer waiting for him when his car breaks down. Dhafer reveals his own identity before taking Mezeel to a distant abandoned land and makes him perform a strange ritual. With due respect to everyone’s beliefs, this particular segment of the anthology feels a bit flat in comparison to the other three but the next part perfectly adds the haphazard pieces. Dhafer appoints a magical muse to help Mezeel with his stutter but most importantly, makes him face his past traumas. The part where Mezeel goes through all of his childhood memories inside his house is actually a vision where Dhafer helps him face his demons and heal from his problems. Mezeel’s stuttering is a result of the constant ignorance from his father whom he has always worshipped as a hero. This self reflection cures him and the next time Mezeel faces Shalfa, he comes home with a landslide victory in the poetry battle without taking help from a muse. Dhafer goes back to his work and again catches hold of a defeated poet, marking an endless cycle of magic. Near the ending, as Mezeel celebrates, he looks at the audience through a nice fourth wall break, as if he is urging us to not lose faith in ourselves. 

Final Thoughts

“Alkhallat” in Arabic refers to a combination of something and in this case, it stands as a glaring example of mixed stories. In Netflix’s “Alkhallat+” Rakan, Agab, Saad, and Mezeel are all desperate to prove themselves but their weaknesses are holding them back down. Young Rakan was held back by his parents and even his little sister. Growing up, he only knew that he must become a “man”, talk and live his life as one, but Rakan never knew the true meaning of being a “man”. He thought that being a true “man” meant having an edge over all (spitting at Nadia’s car) or getting away with everything (stealing bread at the gas station). But once he met Merdaa, Rakan understood that a real man should be accountable, composed and responsible.

Agab had a bad habit of cutting corners in his job and even in his passion (he deliberately ignored the fact that he could catch only one Jerboa in the beginning). He used to let his desires stand tall in front of his duties, which explains his madness behind meeting Gigi. Agab never cared about the consequences of his actions and to me, the Jerboa fiasco was a lesson that taught him accountability. Saad’s anger came from a hopeless state of mind as work frustration almost killed his creativity. Subconsciously he was not ready to believe his abilities till someone else (Lester) put faith in him and ultimately, Saad rediscovered himself. The same could be said for Mezeel who never knew that he would be able to pull off such a stint. Mezeel’s win over Shalfa signifies the victory of skill and hard work over cutting corners in life. 

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