'Whispers' Season 1 Ending Explained: Who killed Hassan and will the mystery be resolved in Season 2?
Spoilers for 'Whispers' Season 1
Netflix has finally dropped its first licensed original from Saudi Arabia, a country best known for its oil and conservative society, where women were not allowed to drive until recently. Breaking this image, 'Whispers', helmed by a female director, Hana Al Omair, features a predominantly female cast.
The mystery-thriller follows a family dealing with the loss of its patriarch, Hassan (Abdul Mohsen Alnimer), just a few days before the launch of his new company's smart application. After Hassan dies in a car accident, secrets about his mysterious past begin to surface, and his wife, Amal, and their daughters, Wa'ad and Sawsan, have to deal with the consequences while uncovering what really happened to Hassan.
Through Season 1, we learn more about Hassan, as his story is told over eight episodes, and from the perspectives of the different women in his life. From his wife, Amal (Shaimaa Al Fadl), we learn that he was a workaholic, and was hiding secrets even before his death. Amal learns that Hassan's sister, Lama (Elham Ali), and his colleague, Arwa (Mysoon Alruwaily) were plotting behind his back.
Amal, Sawsan, Wa'ad, Lama, and Arwa keep getting phone calls from Hassan's phone, which has been missing since his demise. But when they call back, the line gets disconnected.
From Lama and Arwa we learn that Hassan was not always the ideal man. He always took for granted what he considered right without giving much thought to the women in his life. Lama holds a grudge against him because Hassan got most of the inheritance from their father, while Arwa hates that he referred to the company she built with him "as solely his".
Lama also involves Hassan's first wife, Samar (Leila Arabi) in her plot. When Hassan left Samar to marry Amal, she felt that Hassan owed her for raising their son, all by herself. We later learn that the son is Khaled (Ali Al Sharif), a programmer at Hassan and Arwa's company, as well as Hassan's step-daughter, Sawsan's (Norah Al Anbar) friend. Khaled also happens to be the hacker that Wa'ad (Nada Tawhid) was communicating with to help solve the mystery behind their father's death.
Meanwhile, we also learn that Sawsan was contacted by her birth father, who told her that Hassan threatened him to stay away all these years. While he is not mentioned again, we slowly come to learn that the person who brought Lama, Arwa, and Samar together to plot against Hassan is a lot more closely related to the family than we previously thought.
When we first meet Ibrahim Ayed (Osama Alqess), he introduces himself to Arwa as part of the company that deals with the marketing of Hassan's company. Later, we learn that he is close to Samar, and is an avid fan of her paintings too. He is also eager for Samar to get what she's owed from Hassan.
We soon learn that Ibrahim is actually Walid Al-Sahli – Amal's first husband and Sawsan's father. It turns out that Walid wanted revenge for the family that Hassan took from him all those years ago. While Khaled is able to figure all this out, he does not know who has Hassan's phone. However, he may not be who is behind Hassan's death.
In the season finale, we see a car driving up to Hassan's accident site while he is still conscious. We see Hassan taking his phone while lying in the car wreck when someone unknown comes up to him.
This is where the season ends, and though Netflix shows that 'Whispers' is a limited series, the ending and mysteries mean that there could be more to come from 'Whispers'. While we are certain that 'Whispers' may not invite the same amount of ire as 'Jinn' had, we still have to wait and see how the show will be received by international audiences before determining whether Netflix will renew the show. If it does, we can expect Season 2 sometime in the second half of 2021.
'Whispers' is now streaming on Netflix.