I'll try to make sense. I was as equally disappointed as you were after the 11th July episode. Like I said in another thread, it was such a wonderful opportunity for character development. It was wasted away. But more than anything, it went against Yamini's nature to be OKAY with something like that. Okay, she did not speak up. But to really be okay with what her father did? No. I was furious when Nikumbh said he would have reacted worse, because it came from Nikumbh! He should have been the one questioning it. He should have known that Raghu was capable of psychotic behavior!
But in spite of everything, it did not define the show for me at that point. It took me a while to see things a bit differently. I'll explain why, and I hope it will help you get your zeal back!
My Title, which to be honest was the last thing I wrote, and by that time I was tired of using my brain so didn't feel like dwelling on what to put for a title, 😆 was taken from my introductory paragraphs, which is that I had been reduced to reading simply WUs rather than watching the episodes. And actually the title was/is apt, even if harsh and I used a better title--It really was difficult for me to bring myself to watch, and for that to me was equivalent of losing me.
Yamini is still naive when it comes to her father. For all we know, it probably wasn't the first time Raghu behaved like that. Nothing could justify her brushing away the issue, but I think I can now understand. It was still wrong, but I can understand a little. She has been conditioned to this kind of behavior and all her life, she has taught herself to be okay with that. As in, she has learnt to tolerate such maniac-ness. Raghu behaves in a similar manner at home with his wife. Nobody ever speaks up against it.
I agree with this, but this was outright violence and assault. Unless we say this is not any new behavior for Raghvendra. Which I can totally buy. But then, that begs the question. How is this man deserving of any respect? I am willing to wait it out and let the story play out. That is not a problem for me. My problem is how the immediately afterwards went on to their 'Raghvendra's other side' aspect. This to me signaled that they went this far with Raghvendra, but are still going to try to show him as good father and man at heart. I was prepared for that already all throughout the show, but after what happened at the party, that was/is unacceptable for me. Now in hindsight, I realize this may have just been a plot device for Nikumbh to show up at the house and get into the confrontation with Raghvendra. I would also say maybe it was done to show how Yamini can easily bring herself to convince herself of her father's goodness--except we already saw her unaffected and telling her mother all was fine. She really should've been affected. Like, it speaks to a the whole mentality of people and society that she wasn't affected.
She has grown up with this and it will take a lot before she begins to question it. While the tasks brought out some of her more latent qualities, what I realized is that she still has not learnt to question people she has never questioned. And it is a fundamental thing. She needs to question if she needs to move on from it. Even during the tasks, she never QUESTIONED Nikumbh. She was surprised, yes. But she never asked him, "what makes you think you can make me do tasks?"
This brings me actually to the first real problem I had within the show. But I ignored it and let it go. It was the Mutton Jalfreezi task. If you watch the episode prior to it, and that episode, you see that it started off with Nikumbh both talking to himself as well as to Yamini and others that this is about her adapting to situations. But then by the end of the episode, after Yamini takes the bite, it became about trust. To me it really was flimsy and didn't flow very well. It was not cool for him to expect her to take a bit out of meat when she is non-veg. If it was about her WANTING to try other things and new things, it's one thing (but let's face it, they would/could never show that here with the non veg issue). But here he was expecting her to do it because he told her to. Which is ridiculous. But I gave it my own explanation and reasoning. My thing was that if she was willing to go break that barrier (which is a big deal for a veg to take a leap and bite into nonveg), then it makes it easier for her to get past other things. For her to do things in situations which she may not have done earlier, or do things she feels needs to be done regardless or what others/society says. Even then, I feel that whole task as well as how it was written was weak.
So yes, she never questions Nikumbh, and even more so, when she should've she didn't.
But after that episode the story moved onto her convincing and making Nikumbh make promises ot her, and her demanding things from him, and for her talking back to him and demand he let go of some of his hangups. So I let the Jalfreezi thing slip away.
I do hope that one day she begins to question. She needs to see that she is nobody's puppet. Not Raghu's. Not Nikumbh's. Not anybody's. And I do have some faith that it will come.
Yes. I think with Nikumbh she is being her own person, since we are seeing their disagreements and arguments, and her asserting her opinions. With Raghu it remains my hope. And I hope it happens.
And like you said,
Nikumbh was not present when the fiasco occurred. So I guess the only version he heard was that the waiter was being a creep and I guess he could understand Raghu's behavior. It did not help that Yamini did not clarify things. (And that is something I cannot sense of, still. She KNEW that the waiter had not done anything. She could not have made her father see any sense, anyway. But why did she not clear things with Nikumbh?) But it redeems him in some ways. (His scene with Raghu where he stands his ground and attacks him with that deceptively polite smile more than made up for any lack in his character that I may have found.)
See, yes. I read the WU for that where he doesn't back down with Raghvendra. And I applaud him for that. But still as I said the whole thing overall didn't sit well with me, and still doesn't. The way everyone just brushed past it. That being said I am no longer as down on the show as I was. I already had made up my mind after reading yesterday's WU to try to start catching up again over the weekend or so.
More than anything else, I think the show is SO MUCH MORE than these shortcomings. Neelesh Misra's narration remains untainted and it is still the USP of the show. The dialogues remain rich. And the poetic quality remains intact. Nikumbh's scene with Raghu was pretty much OUTSTANDING. And in spite of everything, their journey with themselves and with each other makes for a show really worth it all. In spite of shortcomings, I want to see how they grow out of it and how these things change. I hope they make you stick to the show.
I agree it's a good show. The fact that I had more expectations and thought more highly of this show made it affect me that much more I guess. I still can't say that it doesn't bother me what happened. But it may be easier for me to pick up where I left off now.
I guess we take the show a little too personally. There will be bumps along the road. But because we love the show so much, they bother us greatly. Perhaps we all should loosen up a little.
