Abhimanyu and Akshara both have been dealing/dealt with depression and anxiety due to their individual traumatic experiences stemming from their childhoods and subsequent adulthoods. This has been clearly stated/portrayed in the show-
Akshara started with being a music therapist who suffers from panic attacks and anxiety while Abhimanyu has always been shown to be in emotional pain who uses music to hide him himself from the world. Both use music as a therapeutic tool. Abhimanyu has also used anti-depressants after Akshara left him (first leap) and has been in therapy (second leap). He used stand up comedy as a therapy tool too. Akshara was never shown to have gone to therapy but her panic attacks and anxiety has persisted (though more controlled) over the years. Manjari clearly has anxiety issues and needs therapy (she also has a lot of medical problems). Manjari has also faced tragedy -divorce from Harsh (even though it's her decision and it was a loveless marriage- it still is a massive change) and loss of Neil. I always think that Manjari's mental issues compounded her medical problems.
Anyway my point is- writers have clearly highlighted mental health as a major theme this season. Abhimanyu and Akshara's main problems have been because of their inability to deal with their trauma due to family. They have both symptoms, they both admit they are suffering due to their trauma. Abhimanyu is a surgeon and he uses psychiatric help, Akshara had studied therapy- why are they not showing how they are recovering? And how they are actually using medical techniques to get better? I have seen some character growth in both - way more in Abhimanyu to be honest but I was surprised that they showed him actively using medication and therapy to get over Akshara and become happy, but he wasn't told professionally that how toxic it is to hold on to one person like that. Therapists or psychiatrists will aways tell you to go over the five stages of grief when you lose a person (in this case- through divorce), no matter how dear the person is to you because one has to move on. With what they showed, I would have loved to see Abhimanyu really try to get over Akshara professionally at least so he can rid of all his guilt and anxiety around her.
I would have also like to see Akshara and Abhimanyu go for pre marriage counselling because there is still a lot of miscommunication between them. I still don't feel they have cleared the air about the past between them- Abhimanyu can be sorry that he divorced Akshara in anger but he needs to get over it and not blame himself constantly about it. Akshara needs to realize that what happened in WD was also her fault- she was extremely careless. Yes she didn't kill Neil and yes Neil went out of the car on his own accord, but she was extremely impulsive and irrational. Abhimanyu had cause to mistrust her because she had been careless in the past- it's a pattern and they had discussed it.
She was simply lucky to get Abhinav who protected her and her baby. That's a matter of luck or chance, not something that she came with. People prey on vulnerable women all the time-what she did was extremely dangerous. She lied to her family that she was staying with her college friend while she stayed with Abhinav and used his generosity. Abhinav did tell her to go to her friend's place or her BP but she was adamant. He didn't want to leave her on the road, so she stayed with him. I don't blame Abhinav at all for what he did- I think he did his best and she really lucked out. I think he loved selflessly as much as a human being can and I liked that he couldn't restrain his emotions or tears-he tried to be honest.
Akshara was able to hold her head high and gain confidence solely because of Abhinav. It's really obvious that she felt ashamed in her part in Neil's death and making her sister a widow and niece fatherless- she couldn't even face her own family because they would also blame her. It's like Abhinav is the sun and she's the moon, she is shining because of him and her craters also get hidden. Now that he's no more- I do want her to face what she did. Her own actions and how they negatively affected her own family. Even saying how she was lucky to marry Abhinav but still sorry because she did Abhir from Abhimanyu and was unfair to him. By regretting or expressing remorse for her actions, it wouldn't mean that she regrets or is tarnishing her 6-7 years with Abhinav. I don't why it's so hard for her to be accountable for her own actions- she's always coming across as a victim.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and Akshara's case it's absolutely. We know she doesn't meant to hurt anyone. She's not an evil person. But her lying, escapist tendencies and her inability to be honest and forthright do end up hurting people. For instance, her conversation with Manjari. I liked that she asserted that she can't simply forget Abhinav and her bond with Abhimanyu is now based on friendship and parenthood. That was honest. But then she promised to not hurt Abhimanyu and grow love between them. I didn't like that-it seemed she's doing a favor on him. I wished she had subtly told Manjari to butt out of their relationship and that they will figure it out. That she and Abhimanyu will both have to work on their relationship given their history. Just because Abhimanyu is madly in love with her, and she's not doesn't mean that she's obligated to love him or guilted to love him. It really does feel like Akshara is being told to love him.
Abhimanyu's love for Akshara- unhealthy and toxic. Abhimanyu can love Akshara for a number of years. But he needs to love himself more. I always felt that Abhimanyu put Akshara on a pedestal where he claims to love her for her all her faults and quirks but in reality cannot deal with it. He is mesmerized by her, is extremely attracted to her and really believes she's his soulmate. But while he has changed somewhat, he still in the same position because he never moved on. But Akshara did. She got married, became a mother and had her own life. She also changed. She fell in love with someone else. She still has her flaws, more now actually. I am unable to understand why he still loves her after all what happened because Akshara legit had no memories of their good times. And Abhimanyu's whole family was also devastated by WD.
They have also shown the couple to be so incompatible. Unlike other ITV shows, there are no evil people separating them, but the fact that they didn't even have one year of marriage. They should have really covered this in therapy- they fact they had a lot of problems before WD too.
Abhir: I like the phase of Abhir undergoing therapy after Abhinav's death-poor kid had been through a lot. But it didn't make sense for him to want Akshara and Abhimanyu to get together that too so soon. It felt very unnatural. He was already used to Akshara being with Abhinav, it should have been jarring for him to see her with Abhimanyu. They are using a common ITV trope but it doesn't even make sense here. In the other cases, kid is raised by a single parent and is craving for other parent. Here Abhir was raised by a couple, he had both mother and father. Considering, they had subverted the leap trope this season, they should have subverted this trope too. Like YHM, Pihu didn't want Raman and Ishita together because she thought Raman and Shagun were married. Even later when she learns Ishita is her biological mother, she still chooses Shagun, only later she returns to her parents. But it makes sense, based on what she knew growing up. I liked that Abhir embraces Abhimanyu as Dadda but him clamoring for his parents' remarriage is weird and does not fit the storyline.
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