Great discussion about (as DQ aptly named it) the Tripathi tragedy! I especially loved your post, Geena, but I have a slightly different view on the situation -- maybe not even a differing view, just a different perspective on the same points you touch. In short, I think Mami's greed and Vicky's greed are two different beasts, because they originate from different sources.
In my view, Mami's sense of the injustice done unto her is somewhat valid. She married a man who rarely showed her affection and lost no opportunity to taunt and malign her. Moreover, Mamaji made for himself exactly the kind of life that *he* wanted without much consideration for her needs or wants. This is very similar to the conflict that happened between Neha and Ranveer, but imagine if Neha was not allowed any say in the matter and had to live a life completely different from the one she envisioned for herself. I imagine that Mami had very similar desires but she was not given even an iota of agency to pursue them other than through the Dixits. Her husband also poured all kinds of resources into helping the Dixits, and not just financial resources. All his emotional wealth also went to Ishwari and her children while she and Vicky were made to feel second best.
In that sense, Mami's shikayats with her life are very concrete, and while she is still entitled and greedy, her greed is manageable. She wants that position, power, and wealth that her husband never gave her, and she envied Ishwari's power and the respect she commanded from the beginning of the show. She never had the capacity to envision a long-term plan for earning that herself, but once she could see it readymade in front of her eyes, wanted it. When Sona first came to IN, both as a nutritionist and then as Dev's wife, she unconsciously made herself a threat to Mami, an impression that she reversed with the act of returning the keys to her. Mami's "job security" so to speak, was further solidified when Dev apologised to her; just look at the difference between her chugli to Riya and her proud talk with Neha!
Vicky is a different ball-game altogether. I completely agree with Timbarucha when she says that everything that Vicky is today is a product of his parents' dysfunctional marriage, and it's fascinating to me how Mami and Vicky are a warped imitation of Ishwari and Dev. Mami passed on her sense of injustice to Vicky -- that resentment against his father and his side of the family -- but in Vicky's case, that resentment and sense of injustice was abstract and inherited. Greed became a deeply ingrained personality trait, rather than a response to something that was denied to him. So, unlike Mami's, his greed can never be satiated because it's greed for greed's sake; the more you give him, the more the greed grows. He's never known or seen what it looks like to be content, and he has no clue what he is actually after when he tries to steal what Dev has.
He has merely inherited this resentment, and the feeling of being wronged from his mother, and on the other hand, his father, far from doing anything to correct that bias, only confirms it with his neglect (at best) and constant taunts. Ishwari and Dev sense this bias against them, and they have gone out of their way to try and balance it, but without Mamaji's initiative so late in the game, they can barely crack the surface of Vicky's developmental issues. And this is where Mami and Vicky mimic Ishwari and Dev, on a different plane. Mami was so obsessed with the injustice that had been done unto her that she moulded her son's entire personality around the her desires -- a tool that she could deploy against her indifferent husband and his family. And the funny thing is, in her own way, she genuinely believed that she was doing it for his happiness too -- that what made her happy would make him happy.
Today, Mami stands at a very similar crossroads as Ishwari did when they first moved in to IN. They have everything they worked for (no denying that their definition of "work" is very different!) but the mothers breathe a sigh of relief and turn around only to find that their sons are still rushing full speed ahead, because they don't know any other way. Ishwari taught Dev to work himself to the bone, and even after he had "made it," Dev couldn't sleep, drank too much coffee, and didn't know how to relax. Similarly, even after Mami feels that they have "made it" (they tricked the Dixits into sharing their wealth for life!), Vicky is not able to shake that feeling that he can't stop "working," i.e. destabilising the Dixits, even if it against his own interests. It's only now that Mami is content herself that she is getting a good look at what has become of Vicky in the midst of her struggle to get her way. Alkaji's expressions, especially during the family photo scene were spot on as Mami begins to perceive monster she's created. If Dev was a manifestation of Ishwari's ambition, then Vicky is a manifestation of Mami's greed.
In the end, it is the same cautionary message the show started out with. If we, as a society, don't give women agency and a voice of their own, they will find alternative ways to make themselves heard. This imposition of their feelings on their offspring results in the toxic relationships that were and are explored on the show.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
