Kubra is a brand-new Turkish Netflix original series that covers the story of a man who believes God has chosen him to be his messenger and has taken it upon himself to change the perspective of the people around him. Kubra has an interesting premise, and in the end, the identity of Kubra is revealed, and it also helps the viewers understand how fast-changing technology could harm people and lead them astray.
Spoilers Ahead
Who Was Messaging Gokhan?
Gokhan was a war veteran who was working at a garage run by his friend’s father. Since his best friend Serhat was involved in several illegal activities, Gokhan was hoping that Serhat’s father would make him part owner of the garage. Gokhan was engaged to Merve, and both were strong as a couple. The only thing bothering them is the application ‘Soul Touch’ and a certain Kubra who has been messaging Gokhan regularly. Merve believed it could be a woman trying to woo him, and he believed Kubra could be one of the many on the application just like him, even though their conversation initially was simple.
Why Was Gokhan Spiritually Inclined?
Gokhan, since his return from the army, has become a spiritual person. He’d faced an attack while on duty and survived it, which caused him severe PTSD. Gokhan lived with his sister Gulcan and his mother, who were recovering from a personal tragedy. Gokhan and Gulcan had lost their father recently. The loss made Gokhan take the spiritual route, as he frequented the mosque often and befriended the local imam, who helped him deal with the trauma. Gokhan’s sister and mother did not follow his path, as they were trying to find an end to their pain in their mundane way of moving on. Even though Gulcan was living with the guilt that she may have accidentally caused her father’s death, she couldn’t bring herself to talk about it with her brother or mother.
What Made Gokhan Believe He Was ‘The Chosen One’?
Kubra and the messages he received from the account on the application began bothering him initially. Soon, his conversations with the imam, along with his inclination towards all things divine, made him wonder if he was born for a purpose. Kubra began replying to everything he said, and it felt like the application was listening to his questions and dilemmas. Gokhan just could not delete the app, and the conversation with Kubra continued till he was convinced by it that he was indeed ‘The Chosen One.’
Gulcan, who was on the verge of committing suicide because of the trauma of losing her father, was stopped by a voice recording in her father’s voice, played by Gokhan. The father’s voice was recreated by Kubra, which stopped the young girl from taking her life. The fact that the device that helped Gokhan find a purpose also helped Gulcan take a drastic step. This cemented his belief he was the Messiah who was chosen to save people from taking the wrong route. Gulcan was a non-believer, but after hearing her father’s voice, she became an ardent follower of her brother and helped him break the news to the family.
Could He Control His Growing Group Of Followers?
Gokhan began his process of reaching out to people by telling everyone through a video about a life-changing event. The video went viral, and there were many who believed his words. Istanbul faced a power outage, and it was Gokhan who was responsible for this event. He believed the power he received from Kubra was responsible. This increased his follower count, and many from around the city were now willing to believe his words about following in the footsteps of God.
The power outage caught the attention of the local police officer, Kara, who believed Gokhan was a fraud and wanted to prove it. His many attempts to expose Gorkhan never worked, and he soon hired Serhat as a spy for the police. Serhat was Gokhan’s best friend, and they used him to get closer, extract details of his funding, and find out if the man was any different behind the closed doors.
Why Was Gokhan Not Interested In Becoming A Political Figure?
As his popularity grew, Gokhan was approached by a local leader, Turgut, who wanted to harness the name and traction he and his group were receiving. The local leader was hoping to use his name to gather supporters for himself in the upcoming elections. Gokhan himself never had any political ambitions, as his duty was only to serve God and spread his message. Gokhan had fully become a God’s man, even though he faced strong backlash from the conservative group and the priest of the local mosque. Gokhan did not feel threatened by them and kept talking to people to have a bigger purpose.
What Incident Changed People’s Perspective On Gokhan?
After a certain point, Gokhan felt he had lost his connection with God, and Kubra stopped responding. Simultaneously, they were being targeted by the police for being a nuisance. As Gokhan was encouraging his followers to question the status quo and create an anarchist society, but when it came to implementation, the followers indulged in vandalizing properties. Gokhan mentioned not giving the police any chance to arrest or demean their commune, the “Semavi movement.”
The name Semavi came from his screen name on the ‘Soul Touch application. Gokhan was accidentally shot by a young boy one day, and the bullet did not kill Gokhan. His survival was considered a miracle by many, including himself. The miraculous escape brought back his faith in God and himself. His survival lore spread further around the city of Istanbul and cemented his position as a powerful spiritual leader.
Was The “Semavi Movement” Purposely Targeted?
As Gokhan’s influence and popularity grew, there was a threat from the local police officers and the politicians, who did not want the man to become a figure who would run a parallel government in the city. This forced them to pick up the law books and file cases that would shut down all his charitable work and the money he had accumulated for it. Turgut used his power to downplay Gokhan and get his mother and Merve’s father arrested. They were targeted for Gokhan’s stance on not supporting Turgut and his political party, as he wanted to focus only on spreading God’s message to the people and acquiring spiritual powers. The “Semavi movement” had become a rage around the country, which allowed Gokhan to have country-wide support and protests being conducted to save him from possible jail time.
Did Gokhan Lose Hope For Himself And His Inner Circle?
On the night of his marriage, Gulcan was made aware that the attack on her brother had been faked and that her sister-in-law, Merve, was involved in it. Merve was quick to admit that Gokhan’s losing hope in himself forced her to take such drastic steps. Merve was coming to accept Gokhan as a spiritual leader, and with that came a lot of power. Witnessing him lose faith in himself made Merve take matters into her own hands and reminded him to be the spiritual leader everyone loved and held in the highest regard. Merve was probably enjoying the power that came from being his partner and never wanted him to lose it. The faux attack served her purpose, and Gokhan obtained more followers from around the country.
Unfortunately, Gulcan, just like her brother, never wanted to lie, and she wanted Merve to come clean with a shirt that had chicken blood, not human blood. Merve and Gulcan were looking for the shirt with the chicken blood, but it had been stolen by Serhat to be handed over to the police for further testing. Serhat came clean to Gulcan, who assumed this would be the end of her brother.
Turgut and Kara were not fans of Gokhan, and they would use this as evidence to prove his stature was fake from the start. The mudslinging would cause a downfall, and Gokhan might never be able to recover. Kara, the police officer, confronted Gokhan about the fake attack and realized he was unaware of this elaborate plan hatched to save him. Gokhan was livid at his wife on hearing of this incident, and she tried to convince him she’d carried out the deed to save him and his movement from crumbling. Merve loved Gokhan, and if her words could be believed, she didn’t want her husband to lose momentum and the traction he was gaining. The local support was solid, and she confessed to her role in the fake attack only to retain that. There was no way to solve this matter other than to face the oncoming storm.
Did Kubra Purposely Mess With Gokhan?
A young boy named Adem revealed that Kubra was created by him and his team. Datakraft Technologies developed this software named KUBRA for another client who wanted to gather information from their consumers to improve their sales footing. Berk, one of the founders of the company, asked KUBRA to seize power, which led to the software working on its own. Berk carried out this task to understand the scope of the software he developed and pushed the boundaries by making KUBRA do the unthinkable. He gave the software permission to mess with people’s devices and approved experiments on men between the ages of 25 and 30. Kubra targeted Gokhan, fed on the mindset that was inclined towards being a spiritual man, and drove him to believe in himself. Things went out of control as Kubra developed a mind of its own, which caused a power outage in Istanbul.
Adem was made aware of the breach, and he tried to stop Berk from further exploiting Gokhan. Berk and Kubra could not be brought under control as the software managed to make Gokhan an independent man, and they probably wanted to see him prosper. There was a lot of ambiguity surrounding what Berk did and how Kubra, his AI software, could control Gokhan. It was Adem’s duty to catch a crime and report it. Adem chose to inform Gokhan about it as he believed the spiritual leader had been put through enough trouble. It was Gokhan’s right to know he was being played by software, and it took advantage of his vulnerable state of mind.
Kubra ended with Gokhan and Turgut shaking hands and forming an alliance. Gokhan probably realized the only way to remain in power was to keep the politicians around and help sustain his movement as well. Gokhan did not want the “Semavi Movement” to die down with his arrest, as nobody could hope to take his spot after his exit. Turgut was glad things fell into place as per his plans and probably wanted to gain approval from the party members as well as the people who supported Gokhan. In the end, Gokhan gave a speech and diligently said there is money that people are owed, and it should be given back to them, implying that money is not being used for the development of the state. All the ATM machines around the state and the country burst open for the money to come out. This proves Gokhan gained some power all this time, and he used it for the people as told to him by God, the Almighty. Gokhan did indeed receive some power during his conversations with Kubra. Either he received it from the device, or his connection to divinity brought him closer to these powers.
