I wonder whether the Mahabharata track has been good or bad for the serial, which was doing really well during Sudama (I posted a poll on that on Friday's update). One thing I find - just like during the initial episodes of the serial, they've completely messed up Krishna's messages. At that time, he was all about peace & love (except that he really wasn't - he was about dharam destroying adharm) and now, he keeps worrying about the safety & well being of the Pandavas, despite knowing how it's going to proceed. And that's just one distortion - they also show him appearing as Vishnu b4 Bheeshma & Vidura, and then b4 Kunti whenever she worries, when in fact, such appearances were rare. Not to mention Vishnu describing the Pandavas as his brothers. At least on Friday's episode, Krishna didn't give the miners a Vishnu darshan.
The other thing about it is that in this Mahabharata track, everything about the Pandavas seems really gloomy. Arjun looks like he desperately needs anti-depressants, Bhima is almost always angry and lacks the sense of humor that the original Bhima (of the Mahabharata) was known for. I won't comment at all on Karna missing, since this serial has from day 1 had the policy of vilifying Krishna's enemies and glorifying his allies, and if they show Karna, they also show Kunti as a Swairini (heanton) - something unthinkable for this serial 😆 But the entire environment in Hastinapur is one of gloom. And empty too. If Dwaraka looked empty due to the absence of Ugrasena, Vasudeva, Devaki (except for a brief while), Satyaka, Uddhav, Hridhika, and so on, Hastinapur too seems empty due to the absence of Kripa, Ashwatthama, Karna, and so on. Hopefully, during Yudhisthir's Indraprastha rule, we'll see a return to Jarasandha & Sishupala, since the former had to be killed by Bhima and the latter by Krishna.
On the acting, I'm okay w/ Satyabhama now - she's somewhat improved (and Jambavati has disappeared since Krishna's return to Dwarka 😕) Kunti's problem is not so much her acting - even though she doesn't look old enough to be the mother of the Pandavas: her problem is that her role is totally distorted. In the original story, it was Yudhisthir who balked @ accepting thrones be it Hastinapur Yuvraj or such, but Kunti who kept pressing him to follow his father's path. It's as bad as Rukmini always being fearful of something bad happening to Krishna, and trembling @ all apshakuns. As far as the casting goes, Yudhisthir & Duryodhan are good, Bhima and Arjun are just about okay, while Nakula & Sahadev - where did they get these guys? And couldn't they have picked a thuggish guy to play Dushashan?
On the above list, I don't agree w/ all the ratings. CGM and BBGC are right now pretty interesting, Shani episodes are generally good, Preeto is downright boring - I've stopped watching it, and BAVD - I've been sick of for a long time and just read the updates. I'd have put BBGC @ #3 in the above list, DBSK @ #4, and BAVD @ #5 - that's as much as last weeks episodes went.
Anyway, hope DBSK is back on top next week. I doubt they'll dwell too much on Bhima's killing of Hidimba & Bakasura, or his marriage to Hidimbi. I think it'll go on straight to Draupadi's swayamvara.