Riya WILL be back! But Sana?

Folks,

Throughout this week, I have seen a lot of entirely understandable tension and heart-burning in this forum about the very abrupt and unsettling end of the Sunday bio-weapon attack episode. Many of us went into a depression feeling that not only was the very popular Sana Khan likely (as rumoured but not officially confirmed, at least as yet) to leave the show, but it seemed that her character, Riya Mukherjee, was being bumped off as well.

Now I do not know what if anything is going to happen to Sana Khan. If she is really leaving because of ill health, there is obviously nothing to be done about it. This has happened before, as with the young Krystle de Souza in a Balaji serial, and if that were to be the case here, I do not see why the producers would not announce it formally. It is fairly common, not just in India but in the US TV serials as well, to change the actors while retaining the character. Since they do not seem to have announced any change for Riya, there seems to be a chance of Sana continuing.

But the more important point concerns the character of Riya, and here I am quite sure that she will survive. I am writing this now, barely 2 hours before the show, to give those who read this, and who might still be tense and anxious, a boost, and make them feel better as they wait.

Let me list out the reasons why I feel Riya will survive. In fact, I had already set these out as far back as Sunday Oct 21, in the thread Sana Khan. But many of you might not have seen it, so it might be worth repeating them here.

1) The precap for this Saturday's episode seemed too much like business as usual. It would never have been so matter of fact if Riya had died in such a heroic fashion.

2) Secondly, if she had died, I think they would have added a minute or two to the Sunday episode, at the end, to show the team mourning her. This is what they used to do in CID when one of their officers was killed in action.They would not have left the matter hanging in the air, making it look more like the standard teaser.

3) Also Arjun does say that nothing will happen to her, and though that could also be interpreted as wishful thinking, I think it is a clear hint as to what is to happen.

4) Anamika (mohabbatgiri) has written a most imaginative and professionally/ medically thorough take on how Riya could have survived, in her excellent SS Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

Even apart from that take, I feel it is possible, even likely that if Riya had swallowed the globule without biting it, it might not have been broken immediately. And if the gelatine coating was not immediately soluble in water, but took a few hours to disintegrate and release the Xzora II bacteria, the doctors might have been able to retrieve it intact from her oesophagus (food pipe )after an operation.

We have to remember that in the cases of the water tankers, there were at least 8 hours, between the time when the globule was put into the water and the time when the water was drunk. That period would have been enough for the gelatine of the globule to dissolve and for the Xzora II to get into the water. In this case, the time lapse before they get her to the hospital would be much shorter, thus, very likely, keeping the globule intact in her food pipe.

So we can all confidently look forward to getting Riya back.

Furthermore, her presence of mind, and her great bravery would of course boost her standing in the ETF, and also have a definite impact on her relationship with Arjun. It was already clear from the previous (Saturday) episode of the attempt on the MP, that Arjun was developing some respect for Riya. That much was clear when he says, for the first time ever, "Riya, you are welcome!" I did a double take when I heard that!

All this said, I feel that for a martial arts expert like Riya to let herself be immobilised so easily from behind was very strange. One would have expected her to twist her body within his grip, and kick or punch Rajat where it would hurt the most. But I suppose they needed this scene of the Great Sacrifice, and so poor Riya was not shown using something that she is very good at.

Shyamala B.Cowsik

good post dear, and thanks for the boost😊

Excellent post!!!
Hmm.. the last part is in fact very much true.. They should have at least shown Riya's attempt to free herself before she was captured that easily. That didn't go down well with me as well..

I know that riya will survive

Dear Haruhi, Valleryrose, and all the others who were as hopeful as I was,

Well, I seem to have fallen flat on my face, and I have learnt once more that where the CVs of a TV show are concerned, whether it is a saas-bahu soap or a crime thriller, neither logic nor good sense have any meaning.

How can one explain why they have murdered a very popular character out of the blue, and that too as abruptly as extinguishing a candle? I felt very depressed watching that long drawn out death scene, and I can imagine how much it must have hurt all you young people who are far more emotional than I. One could hardly be expected to admire or relate to the high emotional content, or the very good performances by all concerned when one was sick to the pit of one's stomach. It was incredibly stupid and totally unnecessary.

Now I expect that they will wait for a week or so before landing us with a new female officer, for that is necessary for gender equality, like the African-American or female partners for tough guy cops like Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson.

But why kill Riya at all? If they had to change the actress, they could have packed her off on a month's leave to recover, and then eased her replacement into the show. She was a fully rounded out character, and a back story was called for to explain her mental block against shooting anyone, not to speak of filling her family history etc, out. Why have they decided to waste all the build-up of Riya as a person and as an officer so far, and just junk her without a second thought just because Sana wanted to leave?

I sometimes feel than in crime series on TV, they treat the female officers like interchangeable props. They are rarely shown as contributing anything substantial to the detection process - Riya was better off than most in this respect, partly because the ETF team is so small and compact - and they are invariably the first to be bumped off.

I shall name no names so as not to violate the IF rules, but the fact is that in the only other such series that I used to watch till 2008 (I dropped it when the team became too unwieldy and the stories too trite and run of the mill), the only officers who died on duty, by being stabbed or shot by a criminal, were the women, The men survived the most appalling attacks, including losing gallons of blood, and even being walled into a tiny cubicle, almost miraculously, exactly like the heroines of old time films. I never saw any of these male officers kicking the bucket in the line of duty.

It is same here, and it is Riya who has been cashiered abruptly and unnecessarily. It is a great shame, and I am sure all of you feel the same way as I do. It also seems to me to indicate that in the future, the focus will be more and more on the crime solving aspect of the show, and much less on any emotional bonding within the team, except in terms of loyalty to each other. I had been almost sure that there would be an Arjun-Riya love story eventually, but that is obviously over now.

As for yesterday's episode, it was remarkably good, gritty and realistic - rather like a LAPD show- with the vignettes of corrupt cops (and honest cops), of protection racket and payoffs, of adultery complicated by mother-love, and of the very misleading clues that initially lead the ETF totally astray, There were shades of the Harrison Ford thriller Witness, and of The Client., but only shades, and the end came as a shock.

In that sense the episode was very successful, but I was far less ready to appreciate it than usual, for obvious reasons. Or to write about it, as I would have otherwise liked to do. We are not going to be able to get back to business as usual as soon as the ETF team.

Shyamala B.Cowsik

Originally posted by: ValleryRose

Excellent post!!!
Hmm.. the last part is in fact very much true.. They should have at least shown Riya's attempt to free herself before she was captured that easily. That didn't go down well with me as well..

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Dear Haruhi, Valleryrose, and all the others who were as hopeful as I was,

Well, I seem to have fallen flat on my face, and I have learnt once more that where the CVs of a TV show are concerned, whether it is a saas-bahu soap or a crime thriller, neither logic nor good sense have any meaning.

How can one explain why they have murdered a very popular character out of the blue, and that too as abruptly as extinguishing a candle? I felt very depressed watching that long drawn out death scene, and I can imagine how much it must have hurt all you young people who are far more emotional than I. One could hardly be expected to admire or relate to the high emotional content, or the very good performances by all concerned when one was sick to the pit of one's stomach. It was incredibly stupid and totally unnecessary.

Now I expect that they will wait for a week or so before landing us with a new female officer, for that is necessary for gender equality, like the African-American or female partners for tough guy cops like Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson.

But why kill Riya at all? If they had to change the actress, they could have packed her off on a month's leave to recover, and then eased her replacement into the show. She was a fully rounded out character, and a back story was called for to explain her mental block against shooting anyone, not to speak of filling her family history etc, out. Why have they decided to waste all the build-up of Riya as a person and as an officer so far, and just junk her without a second thought just because Sana wanted to leave?

I sometimes feel than in crime series on TV, they treat the female officers like interchangeable props. They are rarely shown as contributing anything substantial to the detection process - Riya was better off than most in this respect, partly because the ETF team is so small and compact - and they are invariably the first to be bumped off.

I shall name no names so as not to violate the IF rules, but the fact is that in the only other such series that I used to watch till 2008 (I dropped it when the team became too unwieldy and the stories too trite and run of the mill), the only officers who died on duty, by being stabbed or shot by a criminal, were the women, The men survived the most appalling attacks, including losing gallons of blood, and even being walled into a tiny cubicle, almost miraculously, exactly like the heroines of old time films. I never saw any of these male officers kicking the bucket in the line of duty.

It is same here, and it is Riya who has been cashiered abruptly and unnecessarily. It is a great shame, and I am sure all of you feel the same way as I do. It also seems to me to indicate that in the future, the focus will be more and more on the crime solving aspect of the show, and much less on any emotional bonding within the team, except in terms of loyalty to each other. I had been almost sure that there would be an Arjun-Riya love story eventually, but that is obviously over now.

As for yesterday's episode, it was remarkably good, gritty and realistic - rather like a LAPD show- with the vignettes of corrupt cops (and honest cops), of protection racket and payoffs, of adultery complicated by mother-love, and of the very misleading clues that initially lead the ETF totally astray, There were shades of the Harrison Ford thriller Witness, and of The Client., but only shades, and the end came as a shock.

In that sense the episode was very successful, but I was far less ready to appreciate it than usual, for obvious reasons. Or to write about it, as I would have otherwise liked to do. We are not going to be able to get back to business as usual as soon as the ETF team.

Shyamala B.Cowsik

i dont understand why they are adding a new character aur agar karna hi tha to at the time of riya's death why they show riya says about her secret to shree-chotu about those letters,the traning thing to rathore,& arjun says pyar ka dard sirf wahi samajh sakta hai jiska pyar adhura reh gaya ho,aur marna hi tha riya ko toh 1 week ke baad kyun dikhya usi din dikhate all were in hopes ki woh bach jayegi ya phir arjun would develop more feelings for riyu isliye aise kar rahe hai then those flashbacks of riya ispite of too many characters the show has lost its charm,atleast charcater ko wapis laate arjun has really become football from roshni-riya then riya to ayesha then ayesha to sakshi dont know ab aur kaun baaaki hai, if u go out & ask any of those who are watching it they call Arjun football,i agree arjun never loved riya but they have shown him mellowed down towaards her & taking care of miss statistics,god knows for what reason they are wasting such cute ariya moments,if sana couldn't do that doesn't mean u chop off the character,there are bags of tricks to replace,or they want to create a new record how many girls can come in Arjun's life & even i want him to move in life but the way the productions are taking the story is i dont have any words to explain,sometimes i wonder if it is the same 4 lions productions which has given hits like Geet,iss pyaar ko kya naam doon,qubool hai etc...etf & arjun is definately incomplete without riya mukharjee & i m very upset why sana's name has been chopped from here if u feel bad i m really very sorry...kaash aisa ho riya wapis aaye aur sakshi bane vamp bohot interesting hoga bubbly girl sakshi bani vamp arjun ke liye i know its not possible..Mr Gorky ne kasam khayi hai TRP aur Serial ke cast ki waat lagane ki...only riya could understand him well as she knows his past but i think sakshi must be knowing it as she was a ex-crime reporter but she is too childish & talks nonsense during cases she is playing a bubbly girl but that doesn't means she should do that,i haven't seen her doing any of the journalist work yet,where as riya was cute,innocent bubbly but very sincere & dedicated to her work,even now i wish riya would be back atleast the character sorry if any 1 is hurt its only my POV,share ur comments friends plz...ARSH