As for today's episode, if you happen to be short of time, you can safely skip it. In case you do, here is a resume of the episode for you.
It opened with one minute of Alexander getting the news that Takshashila had agreed to his proposal, where he made his standard juvenile wisecrack directed at Roxanne. It was so silly that I felt like clouting him good and hard. š” For a change, Roxanne nibbled at a nut , and though she looked agonised, as if she had bitten on a rotten oneš, she kept her mouth shut, which was a mercyš.
Copying from my other post in yesterday's thread just for consistency:
As for today's episode, thanks for providing the overview, I went and watched the beginning just for Alexander and Hephaestion. It drove home the point to Roxanne, that not only Olympias thinks the world of Alexander but so does Hephaestion, going by his dialogues full of praise and admiration for Alexander's strategies.
Why do I have a feeling that Roxanne might actually be the one to pre-empt Chanakya's scheme and might even directly or indirectly point Alexander towards handling this threat the right way? Based on what she saw him do with Bessus and how he reacted to the ghaddaari vs wafadaari because they killed Darius, she will likely draw parallels with Taxila giving up their ally Porus. Her look of concern did not seem to me to be because things were going according to her husband's plan. She appeared to be thinking beyond that while Alexander is still taking digs at her soon to fall apart afsaane.
The missing Aristotle: Alexander was then shown, in the closing shot of this segment, wondering about whom Takshashila would send to greet him.
As he was earlier shown standing face to face with Chanakya in a precap, Alexander is evidently going to get up to greet him, instead of remaining seated, as kings do, despite being told at every turn that he is the Shah-e-Asia (clearly neither he nor anyone else around him has any notion of the existence of China, not to speak of Japan and Korea!š).
Alexander is not shown to be vain in this sense. He was fine with remaining standing, that too with his back to the audience, while Oxyartes was seated, as well as cheering him on as the new Shah of Bactria.
As for his knowledge of the far east, well the map in Macedonia didn't go beyond India and neither did his mother's ambitions. š
This gesture must be because Chanakya reminds him of his own guru Aristotle. It is one of my two great regrets about this show: that they completely axed Aristotle, and that they omitted the scene of the 12 year old Alexander taming Bucephalus.
The latter omission was probably because they would then have had to have a balancing scene of a 12 year old Puru taming 4 elephants - for he has to tame a bigger animal, being the hero, and four of them in line with the 80:20 screen time ratio between him and Alexander.š Four elephants would have cost a packet!
Oh how I would have loved to see the taming of Bucephalus! Without it, I can't imagine the CVs showing the impact of his death on Alexander. He was devastated by it and had entire cities named after his beloved horse and real sukh dukh ka saathi. There's still scope, in theory, for showing this backstory via flashbacks of a young Alexander, but I am probably more likely to get the moon and the stars than this little piece of treasure from the CVs! š
It would have cost less than filming the entire track of the Pauravengers going to Faras, Alexander hiring wrestlers for the gladiator match, and the Pauravengers damaging property on their way out. In the process they could have saved time and money on the Vishkanya and crocodile sequences.
š
Unique intellectual inheritance:As for the former point, Alexander had the kind of education that could never have been replicated any time after that in the western world. For Aristotle was the pupil of Plato, who was the pupil of Socrates, and Alexander thus was the inheritor of the entire western philosophical and intellectual tradition of thought. No wonder he loved libraries, and was receptive to other cultures that he encountered during his conquests, and even sought to assimilate them with his own Macedonian civilisation.
Beautifully put! I do believe that without this valuable inheritance Alexander would not have gotten this far in terms of his ability to strategize not just military initiatives but also administrative and cultural affairs.
He was also respectful of savants. and even of eccentric sages like the philosopher Diogenes who, having refused to come and meet Alexander (who was then setting out for Persia from Corinth) , found the king coming to meet him instead. He was basking in the sun, and did not even deign to notice Alexander standing before him. When Alexander asked if he could do something for him, all that Diogenes said in reply was" You can get out of the way so that I can get the sunlight again"!
Alexander's escort was furious, but all he did was to laugh and say " If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes!" This brief scene too would have been wonderful to watch, and would have shown us a very different facet of Alexander.
It was thus a huge pity that neither this one, nor even a small scene with Aristotle and the 13 to 16 year old Alexander, could be included, if only to establish Alexander 's intellectual lineage. But perhaps that was precisely what the CVs did not want to do!š”
Completely agree! Aristotle and his teachings had a major influence on this boy-king and was instrumental in laying the foundations of what was to become a brilliant mind, not just as a military commander, but also a lover of people and cultures. If the CVs had any sense, they would bring him in now even if it's just in reference or through letters, but wait? Who am I kidding?! Anything that can make him look even remotely concretely "positive" and the far better warrior of the two, would further undermine their attempts to show him as an out an out villain. As it is, they have failed to convince us that Alexander is the bad guy, instead much of the audience is sensitive to and sympathizes with his actions, feelings, and decisions. Here we are lamenting at his 2-3 minute long so-called "romantic" scenes with Roxanne, or the lack thereof, and are less interested in the rest of the story depicted in the remaining 80% of the episode. š
Ominous hint: Then there was 3 minutes of conversation between Chanakya and Puru, during which Chanakya let a feather float in the air, which was promptly borne off by the wind. His warning to Puru that the very feather, which had been a symbol of his victory over Darius, would now be the symbol of a challenge posed to him, and his stressing the fact that pawan ka rukh hamesha ek nahin rahta, seemed to be a broad hint to Puru that the situation might now become adverse for him. He did not name any names, but he could only have meant that Ambhiraj was likely to switch sides.
This seems like a plausible explanation. I had actually thought Chanakya meant that they would initially face unexpected defeat or obstacles at the hands of Alexander.
The feather finally being blown back towards Puru was probably meant as a prediction that after a bad spell, things would right themselves eventually.
I don't know if this is referring to the victory or defeat of Alexander or Porus or to the fact that Alexander may win but give Porus back his land, so things would "right themselves" so to speak. It all depends on the definition of "right" and the perspective in question.
Chanakya then left for Alexander's camp. Alexander and he will meet only tomorrow.
Admirable little Malay: The rest was all unrelieved, obscene Shivdutt, leavened by a truly wonderful little scene with Malay standing tall - as tall as he could - and defending Anusuya. That kid was the hero of the show tonight. He was totally adorable, mouthing long lines with his baby lisp, with his round eyes opened to the fullest in grim determination while he stood on guard like a little soldier, holding a dagger that he had found on the floor. ššš
As you know, I usually skip the PR segments, especially the ones featuring Shivdutt, but went back to watch Malay's scene because of your post. He was truly adorable and what I loved best was this kid was so natural without trying too hard to be a kid as is often the case in TV shows. Puru had entrusted him to the care and protection of his family, yet it is this kid who ends up in the role of protector to his mother. I am glad Shivdutt at least let Anusuya send him to play hide and seek.
There were a few interesting social messages too.
Firstly, even with the child's bravery and good intentions in the face of adversity, he was too young to be taking up arms. Secondly, Malay said that if he closed his eyes, then Shivdutt would hurt Anusuya. I took this as a subtle reference to the bigger picture here. There were many people standing there who had closed the eyes and ears of their conscience, not just physically, which is why Shivdutt was able to hurt Anusuya. It is often the case that people are overcome by fear in the face of oppression and the cycle of torture and abuse never ends. Thirdly, we see that Malay speaks no evil, only good and Anusuya ensures that this continues by asking him not to show aggression and use weapons. With the hide and seek game, Anusuya ensures that he hears and sees no evil either. In spite of the state she finds herself in, she is trying her best to protect the little boy's innocence.
The scene was a beautiful contrast of extremes in society - the most innocent pitted against the most vile. I do hope the child is not harmed in any way in upcoming sequences or the final battle. š
Why Anusuya did not grab that dagger and stab Shivdutt is a mystery to me, but perhaps tonight was her abla naari night.š”
Maybe Malay's innocence will spur her on to take a stand for herself? I don't think Puru will be here any time soon, rather Bamni is more likely to go and rescue his wife.
The precap was as horrible as the bulk of the episode, with Shivdutt planning some more atrocities.
Characters like him make me long for interactive TV, and if I had it, I would have switched him off the second he appeared!š”
Bigg Boss 19
