Takki () is a Saudi Arabian web series directed by Mohammad Makki. The series was premiered in February 2012. As no cable channel would run the show, it was uploaded exclusively on YouTube The show was recently bought by and is now being streamed on Netflix. The series has 3 seasons with a total of 36 episodes, each episode lasting between 10 and 20 minutes. UTURN Entertainment produced and distributed Takki Series in its network, making it one of their shows that are posted on their YouTube Channel.
The series targets Saudi Arabian youth by showing the daily lives of six young Saudi adults. In an interview with Arab News, Makki said, "We want to bring our culture to life and narrow the gap between the different backgrounds in Saudi Arabia, while showing Saudi society to the world. Broadcasting women wearing their hijab and praying. Highlighting Saudi youth problems and issues in goes of narrowing the gap between different mindsets. This provides an image of culture in a jovial way." This show aims to bend the societal rules that are present in Saudi Arabia. The series focuses on issues in Saudi society including: gender relations, family dynamics, friendship, poverty, racial tensions, and drug use.
Episodes Episode 1 The series begins with the female character Bayan becoming engaged to Majed. As Bayan is waiting for her driver to pick her up, she is harassed by a group of young men asking her to drive with them. The main male character, Malek, then fights the group in the car and offers Bayan a ride; which she ultimately accepts. After this Malek meets his friends at their local hangout spot and explains how he gave a ride to a young woman he did not know. He received much criticism for this because of the conservative traditions in Saudi Arabia about young men and women interacting. Malek then runs into Majed, who turns out to be a good friend of his. He then realizes that Majed is engaged to Bayan. Episode 2 Both Malek and Bayan are receiving criticism for riding in the car together when they did not know each other. Majed begins to get suspicious of Bayan because he overheard a conversation between Bayan and another female about getting into a car with someone. Majed then finds the book that Malek lent to Bayan when she was in the car and realized who had given her the ride. A secondary plot arises in this episode where Malek and his group of friends begin filming a movie about a drug ring in Jeddah. The episode ends with Malek and Majed meeting at the hangout spot, where Majed is going to confront Malek about the ride he gave Bayan. Episode 3 The episode begins with Majed and Malek talking about the ride and book that Malek gave Bayan. Malek receives a call from his friends who are helping him film the movie and they tell him that members from the drug ring they were filming had captured them and want the tape. At this time Bayan's family has found out she received a ride from an unknown man through social media and her father yells at her for the inappropriate behavior. Malek meets his friends who are being held by members of the drug ring. He hands over a tape to them and his friends are released. However, Malek handed them a random tape and kept the actual footage. Once the members of the drug ring realized this they chased down Malek and his friends. The episode ended in a fight where Majed was stabbed. Episode 4 The episode begins with Malek and his friends driving to the hospital with a bleeding Majed in the backseat. They rush Majed into the emergency room where he is admitted quickly. The following scenes show Malek and his friends giving blood to help Majed. Malek then has a flashback of him and Majed arguing but stopping as soon as Bayan and her friend walk in. Right after in present time, Malek enters the elevator with Bayan and they get into an argument where Bayan throws the book that Malek gave her in the first episode. The episode ends with Malek's friends leaving after blaming Malek for injuring Majed while in the hospital and Majed wakes up after his surgery. (No English Subtitles) Episode 5 Malek's friends and Bayan are blaming Malek for what happened to Majed and not speaking to him. Malek asks his father for help with purchasing a new camera, but his father tells him how he wants him to stop trying to be a filmmaker and focus on his education. Majed is out of the hospital and recovering, but Bayan is becoming hesitant about her engagement with him. The episode ends with one of the Majed's friends, Ahmed, returning from abroad. Episode 6 Malek agrees to help a friend in the CPVPV by filming a short movie with them to bridge the gap between the youth and the CPVPV. Malek realizes that Ahmed is back from abroad and expresses his concerns to his friends about being around him because he has caused trouble in the past. Bayan and Majed work out their problems about Bayan receiving the ride and the recent scrutiny she has been receiving on social media. The episode ends with Majed's mother expressing her concerns about his engagement to Bayan due to her working alongside men and the comments made about her on social media. Episode 7 The episode begins with Bayan asking her father to allow her to shoot a commercial in Abu-Dhabi. Her father says no, saying he doesn't want to risk what happened last time. Next, Majed and his friends are eating dinner when Malek shows up asking to speak to Majed alone. Majed, still mad at Malek, grudgingly accepts. Malek expresses his dissatisfaction with Majed just accepting Ahmed back into the group because of all the trouble he caused in the past. Majed says he's changed, and then brings up Malek driving Bayan, showing clearly that he is still upset about that moment. Malek finally gets the chance to explain himself of what happened that day, and Majed accepts his apology. They return to their friends when they see the drug dealer and his gang show up and it looks like trouble. However, the gang leader says he came to thank them for not going to the police and gave Malek back his friend's camera that he stole. Malek is ecstatic and returns the camera back to his friend and then rents another to shoot his short film. Bayan at this time is enjoying lunch at a food court when numerous people come up to her and ask to take pictures with her. They say they enjoy her YouTube series and Bayan says her day is made. Finally, the episode ends when Malek's father finds out Malek is filming and comes to his scene and yells at him in front of his friends. Malek says he would rather live on the street than with his father and Malek's father slams his camera down, almost breaking it. Episode 8 Bayan enters a car and is greeted by her friend with a large stuffed animal. They talk and Bayan notices her friend has a bruise on her forearm. When she points it out her friend hides it and stops talking. Bader then calls Bayan's friend and while they are talking her friend has to hang up because a man comes in screaming. Bader then goes to his friend's restaurant to try out his food (his friend just got hired as a chef). The episode then goes back to Bayan and it shows her waiting on the street for a cab with a cake. While she's waiting, the same yellow Hummer pulls up from the first episode and the guy proceeds to hit on her again. She walks away and gets into a cab, but the guys in the Hummer follow her. The driver attempts to get away from the bad guys but his car breaks down as the Hummer pulls up behind them. The driver gets out to protect Bayan, but forgets that he didn't put the car in park and it proceeds to start rolling down a hill with Bayan still in the back seat. Bayan frantically pulls the emergency brake before she crashes as the driver is chasing her down the hill. The episode ends with Bayan going to dinner with Majed to celebrate his birthday but they get in a big argument about Majed saying Bayan must choose him or her YouTube series and career. (No English Subtitles) Episode 9 Malek and his friends are at a wedding and Malek's friends are worried that Malek and Majed are too upset. Malek is upset because his dad doesn't support his filming career and Majed is upset because his parents made him give Bayan an ultimatum: either he or her career and she chose her career. They finally start to have a good time at the wedding after one of Malek's friends makes a fool of himself in front of everyone. The episode continues with Bayan and her friends sitting on her bed talking about how famous Bayan is going to become once she goes to Abu-Dhabi. They then start to complain about how it is unfair that females can either choose to work on their careers or get married, not both. It is clear that Bayan still has feelings for Majed in this scene. Next, Malek, Majed, and his friends are driving around in a car just having a good time before they pull over to stop for food. Malek and Majed have a heart-to-heart conversation about where they think their lives are going next which is a good sign to their friends since they were fighting for a long time. The episode ends with Malek giving his friend a film. Episode 10 Malek goes to his friend Ali's house to return his camera. There, Ali offers Malek the director position in Abu-Dhabi for a new commercial. Malek is ecstatic until he finds out that Bayan is the star of the commercial. He brings it up to his friends at lunch and one of them says that he shouldn't go, and the other says that he should go but only if Majed approves. So, Malek goes to Majed's house and asks him if he would be alright if he shot the commercial. Majed said that he can't hold back Malek's career aspirations for an ex-fiancé, and tells Malek to go ahead. Malek is happy that he now has Majed's blessing to shoot the commercial and returns to his friends to tell them the news. The next scene shows Bayan crying because she feels like a bad person since everyone she likes ends up leaving her. Her cousins cheer her up and then her father drives her to the airport. Ali meets them there and tells Bayan that they are just waiting on the rest of their party before they can board. This is when Bayan notices that Malek and his friend are coming along, which gives Bayan an uneasy feeling. To top it off, Majed shows up as well, seemingly because Ahmed convinced him that something may happen between Malek and Bayan while they were away. When Majed showed up, Malek and him stared at each other, not saying a word. Episode 11