Honestly I'm touchy about the phrase reality check, so that combined with the quote triggered a overreaction. I apologise for that.
The CVs clearly don't know what they are doing. What I have gathered from clips is that they had a story for Raunak and Prarthana but it fell flat because the actors didn't have chemistry and majority audience thought Raunak's actor isn't hot enough (chemistry is subjective, attractiveness or looks are subjective but mostly viewers agree on somethings and for majority he didn't meet the requirements but Namik does). They then decided to rope in Namik but didn't think of a plot instead of getting them married. And now they don't have a story.
Nothing can be done to erase the marriage bit, and they can't jump into normalcy because there relationship is not normal. He treated her like an object, not thinking about the effects this would have on Prarthana. But the CVs can't project him as hero material if he remains ignorant, so they are trying to show that he cares but his ego won't let him accept that and blah blah.
All this could have and 100% would have worked if they didn't go with the Shivansh marries Prarthana route.
Instead, they should have shown that he discovers the groom swap, exposes Bhavesh, and the marriage is canceled. Then they could have postponed the marriage track with some stupid excuse. They could have changed the reception to some other celebration at Shivansh's where both Raunak-Prarthana were present, still giving us the dupatta scenes.
Shivansh would have blown up at Prarthana, accusing her of always knowing what's best and playing detective etc. Prarthana would have been hurt but also confused because she couldn't figure out why his words hurt that much.
Payal's call should have been received by Raunak, he should have blamed her, and that misunderstanding should have sent her out late at night. Then the kidnapping track could have gone the same way except Shivansh's lecture on patidharm that was mostly to distract the goons
Clearly, that's too much thinking for CVs. They made a huge blunder and no matter how many scenes they give us nothing will change that, and Shivansh's character is a mess because they cannot justify what he did by deceitfully marrying her. The rest can be explained if we put too much effort in it, because regretful MLs and the trauma card do a great job at smoothing things over, but it still won't fix the marriage issue.
And I sure as hope Shivansh doesn't become a puppet in Bua's and Sonalika's hands, but I doubt we will get to see anything else. They didn't even reveal that Bua manipulated her into leaving (I so hoped that Prarthana would mention that on top of holding him accountable for his words). And Prarthana's recent characterisation / shift in tone hints that it will be the same old FL gives it back to people who hurt her / accuse her of stuff and using her Kumkum Bhagya 😒 (Preeta sounded so preachy, hated that).
ITV never stops disappointing me so I try not to think too much, even if my favorite part is being neutral and discussing things. It's easier to mindlessly ship and then stop watching when that's going against my values / expectations. But I promise not to overreact when you are trying to properly discuss things (I hope our previous encounter doesn't turn you off from interacting with me (or others)).
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