This is a good idea, to post your take on each episode regularly. I used to do it for some shows that interested me a lot, but I always numbered the episodes. You might like to consider doing that. It prevents confusion.
Your take is neat, succinct, and yet comprehensive. Very nice.
Now for the episode. I am afraid I don't pay much attention to the background music, which is in any case often not in accord with the mood of the scene. So that angle hardly bothers me.
Shaan/ Rocky hammed from one end of the episode to the other. His ranting to his sister jarred the most, for me at least. And I don't like the way he sucks in his cheeks, probably to change the shape of his face.
A little subtlety, some smouldering menace in the voice, some suppressed fury, were called for, but they were marked only by their absence. In his scene with Happy, neither came off well.
It would seem that there is a special tunnel.between the jail and the hotel! 😉
Saniya is a treat to the eyes and ears alike. 😉 She would scare any sane person. I look forward to what she will try to do to Rocky once the gaff is blown.
As for the neck massage scene, there would have been a red mark from Rocky's fingers all around RV's neck, though Happy sees it only on the right side. So her making a thorough and prolonged job of it is not so odd as it seems.
She looks at RV as more than a friend, rather like a brother. So she is perfectly comfortable doing all that. It is only when she looks into his eyes that she begins, for the first time in their relationship, to feel uncomfortable, and she withdraws.
All this only points to RV's error of judgement in not giving Happy some inkling of his feelings for her much, much earlier. She would most likely not have responded, but at least the equation would have been clear.
The way he behaves during those 3 years, like a platonic but utterly devoted friend, a sort of William Dobbin, makes things easy for her. All she has to do is to lean on him for everything, and give no thought to the key question: why would a man like RV devote himself totally to her affairs without wanting anything in return? After all, there is no free lunch, and men are not saints. Every girl knows that, sivaay apni Happy ke
But it queers the pitch for him. Now that he senses trouble ahead, he wants to win Happy's heart as well as her gratitude before disaster strikes, and is forced to shift to the fourth gear. Shipwreck lies ahead if he crowds her too much. But she leads him on as well, perhaps unknowingly, not just today, but when she hugs him before he tries to kiss her.
If only Happy could portray all these nuances, what a treat that would be! But no such luck.
The only part I really liked today were the shifting shades of emotion in RV's eyes as Happy tends to him: first bewilderment, then dawning hope, and finally open yearning. Rohit is an extremely good actor, and he excelled in that sequence.
As also afterwards, when the paramount need to prevent Happy from learning the truth prevails over all else. The eyes are now hard and ruthless, for he now has his back to the wall. It is a simple arithmetical calculation; his survival equals a renewed jail term for Rocky. And the voice of his conscience that gnawed at him all these three years has been throttled.
If RV must become a villain, I would want him to be shrewd, resourceful and mostly successful almost till the end, when of course good, as represented by Rocky, will triumph.
What I DON'T want is for him to be bested at every turn, and dragged along in (metaphorical) chains, like a defeated enemy in the victory parade of a Roman general.
Long before that happens, I would have left.
Shyamala Aunty