WU: Jungle Ka Darinda - II (14th July, 2013)

Scene 1 ' The Jungle

The episode begins where Part I left off ' Shreya grows still as though in a trance, and her eyes start glowing with an eerie green light. The rest of the team comes up behind her and says that they haven't found anything in the nearby area, and ask her to recollect details. As she turns to face them, her eyes turn normal and she says that they need to move to the right. They follow her lead.

Scene 2 ' The Forensic Lab

In the forensic lab, Dr. Tarika is seen repeatedly calling Abhijeet to no avail, worried about him. Dr. Salunkhe softly reminds her that there's no network coverage in the jungle, but Abhijeet will be fine as he is with Daya sir and the others. ACP sir enters the lab with Freddy, Purvi and Sachin and reassures her as well. Dr. Salunkhe explains that although the three victims' wounds resemble claw marks of an animal attack, they actually died because of the greenish substance found on their bodies. They found the same compound in Jenny's blood as well, implying that they were injected with it. This compounded caused mutation of their DNA, resulting in their death. ACP sir says that the culprit must be some mad scientist using innocents for his twisted experiments.

Scene 3 ' The Jungle

Our duo and the others are seen following in Shreya's wake in the jungle. All of a sudden, Shreya pauses and again her eyes glow green with reptilian slits for pupils (imagine them red, and you have a dead ringer for those of a certain Tom Riddle). Noting her peculiar behaviour, Daya sir slowly reaches out for her shoulder. Without warning, she lashes back and knocks him down with a single strike (whoa! 😲 Mutagen mein Red Bull bhi mila hai kya?), and runs off deep into the jungle. Her colleagues chase her but she disappears into the woods. They split up to search for her.

Scene 4 ' A Laboratory

ACP sir, Dr. Salunkhe and Tarika are seen meeting a scientist, who explains with the help of his records that he knows of another scientist named Dr. Abhinav Prakash who had been obsessed with an experiment to turn humans into animal hybrids. When the experiment failed and the chemical he developed turned out to be hazardous, he halted research. Dr. Salunkhe says that this guy must be the one who developed that green compound they found, but the scientist reveals that Dr. Abhinav Prakash passed away a couple of months ago due to a heart attack, and thus cannot be involved with the murders they're investigating. He adds that Dr. Abhinav had been working alone and employed no assistants whatsoever. ACP sir asks for his address and says that the research notes must definitely be at his home. Dr. Tarika is seen quietly pondering over his words.

Scene 5 ' Dr. Abhinav's House

At nighttime, Tarika walks up to Dr. Abhinav's house and thinks that she needs to obtain the scientist's notes and develop and antidote to save Abhijeet and the others from the mutagen. The doorbell goes unanswered; she cautiously enters the apparently vacant house and looks around with a flashlight. She's startled by an uncanny sound which turns out to be a cat's meow. She finds a stacked shelf and starts examining the files there. Just as she seems to find the one with Dr. Abhinav's notes, someone/something sneaks up behind her, growling. She turns and eyes him/it with horror.

Scene 6 ' Dr. Abhinav's House

Sachin and Fredericks visit Dr. Abhinav's house. The caretaker, a creepy-looking guy with unmatched eyes and crooked teeth, meets them and says that Abhinav has dead, and has no family since he didn't marry for fear of being distracted from his research. Sachin remarks that he seems to have been very dedicated to science. The caretaker leads them to the room where Dr. Abhinav used to keep his files. On the way there, hidden from her colleagues' sight, we see an unconscious Dr. Tarika lying bound and gagged in one of the rooms. Sachin and Freddy search the scientist's room but find nothing. The caretaker shows them another room, but they don't find anything of use there either. They leave after thanking the caretaker, who quietly eyes the captive Tarika through the window.

Scene 7 ' The Jungle

In the jungle, we see our duo and the others regroup after failing to find Shreya anywhere. Abhijeet sir says they need to locate her fast and find out what's wrong with her. All of a sudden, Shreya emerges and stands ahead of them, still apparently in trance and with the Voldemort eyes, and doesn't respond to anything they say. As they approach her, a large humanoid mutant creature (resembling Killer Croc from Batman) leaps out of the bushes at them and orders Shreya to finish off her colleagues. Shreya slowly approaches her bewildered colleagues and starts viciously knocking them down. Killer Croc Jr. joins her in the attack.

Scene 8 ' The Forensic Lab

In the forensic lab, Dr. Salunkhe frets that Tarika is neither at home nor answering his calls, and might be in trouble. Purvi reveals that she contacted two of Tarika's friends but they don't know about her whereabouts either. Dr. Salunkhe suddenly wonders if she decided to go to the Moti-whatsitsname jungle to help Abhijeet and the others, but ACP sir says that she wouldn't do something so reckless. Sachin and Freddy arrive and explain that they couldn't find Dr. Abhinav's mutagen formula anywhere in his house. ACP sir cannot believe it, since Dr. Abhinav was allegedly the only Indian scientist working on that experiment. Sachin construes that they could've possibly been stolen. Fredericks suggests that Dr. Abhinav might've destroyed them before his death to prevent them from ending up in the wrong hands. ACP sir laments that that's precisely what happened, and requests Dr. Salunkhe to develop the antidote to the mutagen. Dr. Salunkhe is shocked and reminds him that the substance's composition is unknown and anything they develop could have disastrous effects, but ACP sir argues that it cannot be worse than the alternative and says that he has full faith in him.

Scene 9 - Chamber

The scene switches to the green-lit experiment chamber Shreya had seen in the previous episode, where the three mutated victims are writhing in agony. We see Shreya tying up our duo and the others in chairs there under Killer Croc Jr's watchful eyes. An unidentified man walks into the cave and observes live footage of the scene in his control room, and delightfully says that he'll soon attain his long-coveted goal. Abhi-Daya try fruitlessly to bring Shreya to her senses. On the unidentified man's command, Shreya unties one of the three mutated victims and then, along with Killer Croc Jr., proceeds to relentlessly thrash her teammates. After a while, the shadow man tells them to stop and return to their positions.

Scene 10 ' The Jungle

ACP sir and Dr. Salunkhe are seen driving to the jungle. The latter reveals that Tarika's family has failed to contact her and doesn't know anything about her location. ACP sir worries that the mad scientist might've performed his insane experiments on their teammates; Dr. Salunkhe hopes that he correctly developed the antidote. They find the empty CID cars parked up ahead and proceed to enter the jungle. They start calling out for their colleagues, and somebody/something is seen growling at them from behind a tree. ACP sir feels this, and they draw their guns before proceeding cautiously.

Without warning, Dr. Tarika leaps down from a tree in front of them. She stands disheveled and motionless, and doesn't respond to anything they say. As she looks up, ACP sir notices with shock that she too has Voldemort-esque eyes. Dr. Salunkhe construes that she must've been injected with the mutagen, and ACP sir worries if the rest of their friends have been treated to the same. As Dr. Salunkhe prepares to inject Tarika with the antidote, she violently hits him down and knocks away the syringe of antidote. Dr. Salunkhe remarks that victims injected with the mutagen seem to lose most sentience and develop beastly strength (aka, the Red Bull effect, huh?). They start looking for the fallen syringe. After watching them for a while, Tarika abruptly seizes Dr. Salunkhe and drags him off.

Scene 11 - Chamber

Back in the experiment chamber, the unidentified boss finally reveals himself to the captured CID officers and turns out to be none other than Dr. Abhinav Prakash himself. He reveals that he had faked his own death in order to achieve his goal ' a twisted transhumanic desire to turn all humans into so-called superior animal-hybrid mutants like Killer Croc Jr. Abhijeet sir angrily lambasts him for harming innocents in the name of science, but Abhinav continues to egomaniacally try to convince them of the so-called benefits of his experiment.

Scene 12 ' The Jungle

In the jungle, ACP sir manages to retrieve the syringe of antidote but finds Dr. Salunkhe and Tarika missing. Tarika is seen tenaciously dragging Dr. Salunkhe through the woods while ACP sir follows. Dr. Salunkhe pleads Tarika to pause and let him inject her with the antidote. Abruptly, she stops, her eyes become human and she seems to have turned normal. Dr. Salunkhe is delighted and tries to remind her of their mission to rescue their colleagues. It almost seems to work, but the Voldemort effect returns and Tarika begins dragging him again. ACP sir observes from a distance and sees her pull him into a cave of sorts. He decides to enter it and investigate.

Scene 13 ' Chamber

Tarika pulls Dr. Salunkhe through the cave into the chamber with the rest of the imprisoned officers, and ties him to a chair as well, ignoring his and Abhijeet's shouts. A gleeful Abhinav watches from his surveillance console and taunts that he'll soon turn them all into monsters, and enters the chamber with a syringe containing the mutagen. Dr. Salunkhe tries talking sense into him, but Abhinav says that he yearns for fame and injects Dr. Salunkhe with the mutagen, following which he faints. ACP sir is seen entering the cave. Abhinav gloats that Dr. Salunkhe will now awaken as a mutant. Daya sir flies into a rage; all the officers struggle against their ropes and manage to break free, just as ACP sir enters the chamber. A battle breaks out. ACP sir unties Dr. Salunkhe and throws over the bag containing more antidote to Daya sir. He overpowers Abhinav, but is suddenly ambushed by the mutagen-affected Dr. Salunkhe.

Tarika and Shreya violently attack Abhijeet sir and Daya sir, leaving them no choice but to defend themselves. Abhijeet sir manages to inject Tarika with the antidote, before doing the same to Killer Croc Jr. who had been assaulting Daya sir. They and ACP sir manage to similarly inject Shreya and Dr. Salunkhe as well. They gather over their three unconscious colleagues in the chamber and try to awaken them. The captured Abhinav gloats that nobody can prepare the antidote to his mutagen, and their friends are either dead or permanently mutated. However, their colleagues soon regain consciousness, completely normal. Tarika recognizes Abhinav as the creepy caretaker who had been in his house. Abhinav growls that he faked his death so that nobody interfered in his research, hoping that it would finally succeed and gain him fame. ACP sir says that he'll now be known as a criminal, and he needs an extended stay in the asylum.

Scene 14 ' The Jungle

Our team is seen walking back out of the jungle. Shreya apologizes to Daya sir for attacking him, who waves it away pointing out that she was under influence of the mutagen. When Tarika thinks of apologizing to Dr. Salunkhe for the same, Abhijeet sir and Rajat jokingly inform her and Shreya that the two of them had attacked everybody else in the team as well. Shreya apologizes again before ACP sir calls out for them to hurry up. The episode ends with a shot of them walking back to duty.

THE END

P.S ' We've already discussed about this episode in length and I'm personally in agreement with the general assessment. However, considering the very similar track seen in this week's Adaalat episodes, it's likely that the production was under obligation to deliver something on these lines. I tip my hat to the actors, directors, writer and technical crew for making the best out of this (IMO) absurd premise and delivering an episode that was, at least, watchable to an extent. I fruitlessly hope that this was the last of such stories.