Episode 204: Bal vs Chhal

I won't write a full review today, but will instead address two main points.

I say mad because that's what he looked like to me towards the end of the episode - his eyes too bright and desperate to get out this situation, knowing that there was really no other way out. By situation, I do not mean just the phalanx formation, but also the psychological chakravyuh that he had gotten himself into. Why is Ambhiraj so hell-bent on revenge? None of us is convinced about the reason he seems so put forward: that he considers Anusuya to be a traitor to Taxila because she married Bamni and sided with him.

Behind all the accusations he threw at Anusuya, I think I finally saw what the main source of the problem was. Insecurity. From what Anusuya said yesterday about how she had taught him to perfect the phalanx formation and his reaction to it, there was a glimpse of sibling rivalry. A younger Ambhiraj would have probably engaged in healthy competition with his sister, but as they both grew older, their ideologies diversified. Ambhiraj wanted to hold on to what he knew, where he felt comfortable: Taxila, whereas Anusuya had no problem with broadening her horizons. So she grew to care about all of Bharat, while Ambhiraj remained focused on his own kingdom, his own world. He must have grown up with the sense of entitlement that a crown prince tends to have, but to see his sister become powerful and fearless without needing to be backed by a potential throne cannot have been easy for someone like him.

I still hold my ground that his first instinct was not to kill her, that traces of his affection due to their sibling bond momentarily made him give her the option to surrender, but then, true to her nature she remained proud and defiant in the face of danger. The brotherly affection was then gone, only to be replaced by the same hatred towards her for always being better, smarter, wiser (in his eyes), and for not siding with him in his decisions, because she was a woman! How could a woman best him, after all?

Anusuya's words towards the end about men having to defeat women through chhal instead of bal was not just about his physical strength but also his mental strength being no match for hers. I think she had always known subconsciously that this was the root of the problem. The more courage and leadership she showed, whether it was many years back or now in the face of death, the more insecure and inadequate he felt as an older sibling. The fact that she had married Bamni, his rival, only worsened his opinion of her and gave him more ammunition to hate her, but this was not the main reason for him considering Anusuya to be a traitor.

Anusuya highlighted his lack of courage and determination to fight Alexander or reject an alliance with him in response to him saying he had no choice but to submit to Alexander's will. If it had been another king, I could have argued that he had chosen to make peace with Alexander to avoid bloodshed in Taxila. But not Ambhiraj. All these years he has been wanting to attack PR but had neither the strength of will, nor the military capacity to do so. This was his opportunity to fulfill his lifelong ambition of destroying PR, not in terms of infrastructure, but its very soul. He knew that with Anusuya dead, PR would be brought down to its knees (or so he thinks) and with that the only person he had subconsciously ever considered as competition, gone forever. He believed he could finally be the winner. I had wondered why he hadn't struck her inside the phalanx formation, but I understood today that he had to deal her the final blow, break her heart in the last few moments of her life and condemn his own soul to hell.

Alexander has always been a person with extreme emotions, be it rage, courage, love, devotion, or steely determination. These emotions have always been his strength, have always fuelled the fire of his grand ambitions, and have given him the self-confidence to never say die.

Of late though, his emotions have gotten the better of him, as seen with several rash decisions he has made. His obsession with Roxanne led him to become tunnel-visioned about Porus' kata hua sar, derailing him from his goal of conquering the sone ki chidiya. His focus on besting Porus at every step made him lose focus from the biggest treasure of his life: his beloved mother. Now, at this stage in his military career and his quest for eternal glory, he is evaluating the meaning of his life on many levels and is wondering how he could have failed to protect and keep close the most precious thing to him, the mother who is an inseparable part of his heart and soul.

The force within him that believed nothing was impossible, that propelled him to achieve the heights of success that no man had ever dreamed of or aimed for, now seems inadequate. It is never enough, never complete, and nothing seems to reach a conclusion nowadays. I daresay he is beginning to look a little weary.

Coming back to today's episode, although it was purely to keep driving the "story" forward rather than a show of mercy to viewers like me, I am relieved that the CVs at least gave us a scene of Bucephalus' funeral. It was hard enough watching him being wounded on the field yesterday - did they really have to show Alexander's flashback with that gruesome detail of how Bucephalus was injured? That hurt me so much to watch again today, and I can't tell you how I felt when he was being buried.

Bucephalus was introduced in the show even before Alexander was, as he first appeared on our screens in episode 17, nostrils flaring, mane flying in the wind, galloping at a rapid pace to reliably carry his master, his companion to his destination. This wonderful horse stood his ground as Alexander ambushed the Thracians soldiers, as he galloped through the fire, carrying his master on to the battleground to charge the Thracian army. As the Macedonian boy-king traveled to faraway lands and faced grave dangers, it was always Bucephalus by his side.

The sadness could be felt throughout the camp, Alexander's men standing around him with their heads bowed as he tenderly patted his horse one last time. Today, as Alexander summarized in a few but very explicit words what his horse had meant to him, it was clear that Bucephalus was ranked as his dearest and closest companion.

His companion since childhood died protecting him, leaving Alexander with immense heartache, coupled with the first real sense of loss. His death also re-surfaced Alexander's deep-seated fear of being unable to save his mother, of losing her forever the way he had lost Bucephalus. That feeling of inadequacy, of failing not just in this rescue mission but in all his recent endeavors, is now forcing the demigod to come face to face with the more human side of himself, one that is actually not invincible, one that leaves him exposed to raw human emotions that he had not previously stopped to think about in his never-ending quest for glory.

Porus did not just put the spear through Bucephalus, he put it through Alexander's soul. Something in him had snapped, and it was all in the body language as he leaned over the lifeless body of the once vibrant, brave Bucephalus to see him one last time, knowing that a part of himself had died too. In that moment, Olympias, the one person he really needed by his side, who he could openly grieve in front of, was too far out of his reach. Hephaestion was nowhere to be seen, either.

As Bucephalus was lowered into his grave, Alexander bent down to pick up a handful of the soil that he had put in so much effort to take over but which had taken so much away from him instead. In all the previous scenes of him picking up the Bharati soil, he had always made a fist and pledged to conquer this end of the earth to become immortal in the pages of history. Yet, while farewelling his closest companion, he encountered the harsh reality of mortality: that nothing was forever.

We have seen on many occasions how Alexander has always sought Olympias' approval, a recent example being the bringing of Chanakya to Taxila in chains as a present for her. Today her words echoed in his mind, that she was waiting for him, and it reinforced the guilt at knowing that he had failed his mother, had disappointed her undying faith in his ability to overcome any obstacle, especially in the one area he had outdone any other man till date: war. He could not let himself be overcome by grief because his mother was counting on him. He would not, could not let her down again.

With a haunted look in his eyes and a voice devoid of emotion, Alexander ordered Cleitus to prepare the army to rescue his mother. This time there was no fire in him and no mention of conquering Bharat. It was all about having his mother back by his side that night. He would not let time defeat him once again.

I don't know whether Alexander will be successful in fulfilling his promise to the late Bucephalus or not, and who, if anyone, will suffer or die this time in his attempt to avenge him. However the future events play out, I am quite certain he is in for more emotional wounds.

So Chankya's real yojna of breaking the spirit of this Macedonian sher to make him leave Bharat seems to be on its way to a roaring success (pun not intended)!