Episode 203: Woman power

I look forward to your comments.

Traveling again today so will be late with reviews. Won't get a chance to watch the episode until much later so look forward to live updates if possible. 😉

Also please don't hit like on this post until I've updated it with the review, otherwise I won't know if you've read it.

The opening scene had Anusuya reminding Ambhiraj that she was the one who taught him how to set up a perfect phalanx formation (vyuh) at Taxila, even though he was the elder to her. She bitterly reminded him that he could never understand how to do it, but that today her efforts to teach him had borne fruit. I had almost forgotten she was from Taxila, because she is such a strong symbol of PR.

Ambhiraj asked Anusuya to surrender instead of talking, and that if she did so, he would let her go.

He had no malice in his voice when he said that the still had some feelings left in his heart for his sister. Anusuya did not accept his words and countered him, saying when there is no love for the motherland than showing sibling love is just a trick. The only relation between them was that of a patriot and a traitor. She declared that she would not let him win until her last breath. The most important thing she pointed out was that she would not give traitors the chance to surrender.

Ambhiraj warned her not to be foolish, because no one would come to her rescue, but she defiantly told him that her husband, the lion of PR, would come for her. On his way to PR, he was already instructing his soldiers on what to do. He really looked and led like a king today.

That messenger managed to get to Bamni but fell off the horse just as he came in front of him. Very strange! How many soldiers does Taxila have? Where did this wing of soldiers come from to attack Bamni?

Anusuya explained the difference between counting on her husband or her son to support her in the fight vs. being a weak person who needed someone else to defend and protect her. She wanted to fight on behalf of all the women, and send a message to men who thought women were weak and defenseless. For the sake of Taxila she wanted her bravery to counter her brother's treachery.

There were more lame fight sequences today and the biggest blooper ever. Alexander sent Cleitus after Bamni yesterday, or so I thought. But today he called for him, and Cleitus appeared out of nowhere with some archers, in perfect formation. What on earth was Alexander's new maqsad? Yesterday's dialogues were misleading. When Alexander asked him to be ready as soon as he saw the Sindh army leaveing, it made us think Cleitus was going after Bamni, but after watching today's episode I went back to watch that scene again. Yesterday, Alexander didn't actually ask Cleitus to go to PR, rather just to be prepared, but the scene was shot to make us think that.

Thriller show bana diya hai, twists and turns.

Alexander probably realized Cleitus was useless with a sword so he asked him to show his archery skills today, or at least to bring their archers. Alexander yelled so loud that even Porus got alerted. Then came the dumbest move ever - blowing a trumpet. That would alert not just the Macedonian army but everyone else on the field too. The shot of the trumpet being blown was reused from the one we saw in the Battle of Issus - oh those glorious days that seem to be a distant memory!

I don't know why Cleitus said "akraman instead of "yalgaar ho or "hamla". It's jarring. 😕

The speed at which the arrows were flying in gravity-defying slow motion, the whole world would have found time to grab a shield and get behind it. The Dasyus didn't have any body armor and were taking hits from the arrows. What's with the obsession with flaming arrows? Normal ones do the trick too. Dasyuraj got stabbed by Alexander's spear but before anyone else could do something, the Boy Scouts arrived with perfect aim and synchronization so that all the Macedonian archers fell in one go. Chanakya was still missing in action.

Of course, the CVs wouldn't show Alexander having any success with archers, so they had PR, Sindh, and then even Chanakya's Boy Scouts come out for archery practice. Since when was this planned out? In between all this, Alexander has to shield himself while still listening to Porus' lectures. I don't know what he was talking about! This son of Macedonia is out to save his mother, he didn't have time for Porus' lectures! In another scene, Hephaestion got thrashed by Laachi, as expected, but at least his sword fighting was better than Cleitus. Wait till she finds out he killed Dasyurani. 😲

Rati was fantastic in action as was Suhani. Their body language was perfect, and they had few slow motion shots so it looked much more realistic than the men fighting. I repeat, that their scenes were filmed by the same unit who did the Macedonian battles. It felt like he main battle was happening there and not the one Porus and Alexander were fighting. The Sindhi army was there but their general looked really anxious about not being able to break the phalanx formation.

Olympias' stress levels and worry was increasing. She could feel something was wrong - maybe she'll just die of a heart attack there sitting in her blue tower. 😕

Alexander threatened to kill Porus and Chanakya for what they did to his mother. If he wanted to kill Anusuya, he would have said that too. Porus said that even Yamraj couldn't kill him until Alexander had been ousted from Bharat, but the fact is that the real Porus was killed by one of the generals Alexander had posted there, which would not have been possible if the real Alexander had lost the war. The real King Porus was also given control of Taxila by Alexander, wasn't he? I don't expect the CVs to show or remember any of this, of course. 😡

And now to the scene that everyone is furious about, where Anusuya gets slashed and both Bamni and Porus sensed something. I am glad they showed that connection. They knew she was outnumbered and had faith in her, but this feeling made them expedite going to PR.

Porus and Alexander were charging at each other with their swords just like in a previous episode. When Alexander swung at Porus and their swords clashed, Alexander just continued through with the momentum of his swing. Porus stopped for a second when he sensed something about his mother and got distracted, that's why he could not defend himself and fell off his horse. I understand you guys are thinking that Alexander swung at him to stop him from getting to his mother but how on earth was he to know mother and son were having telepathic communication? He was just sword fighting with Porus in order to continue the battle. If you flip things the other way round, the longer Porus fought against Alexander, the longer he too was keeping Alexander from rescuing Olympias. So this is not even a point of debate in the first place. 🤪

When Alexander told Porus that it would be too late by the time he got to his mother, it sounded like he meant that the Taxila army would have reached PR by then and forced a surrender. I watched this scene many many times just to make sure I got both sides right, but Alexander said nothing about killing Anusuya. If you think he knows about Mahabharat and Chakravyuh, then I don't know what to say. That was clearly Ambhiraj's plan. At least until today's episode. These CVs will do anything to turn words and scenes around 180 degrees so expect something else tomorrow or next week. 😡 Porus is shown physically stronger than Alexander so he would always win in their hand to hand combat. Telling him about his mother only angered him further and he sent Alexander flying with a massive kick.

Now comes the part that was hardest for me to watch and even harder to write about. Bucephalus, the most loyal companion of Alexander's reared up to attack Porus, who of course, was able to grab him by the hooves. If he could pull an elephant than Bucephalus is ant-sized in comparison.

Ambhiraj finally answered our question: what revenge was he talking about? Surprisingly, I found his response actually made sense to me. Let me explain why. I've repeatedly said that Ambhiraj is the most consistent character on the show. He has always made it clear that for him, his kingdom was his whole world, his motherland, and his number one priority. Nothing else ever mattered to him.

Anusuya has always thought about the entire Bharat, not just Taxila, but to Ambhiraj, anything outside of Taxila was never important or worth fighting for. He never bought into the Akhand Bharat concept and never pretended to. Today he showed his frustration and feeling of helplessness at having to submit to Alexander and blamed Anusuya for it. He accused her of betraying him and Taxila, by marrying Bamni because, as he mentioned before anything outside Txaila was outside his "matrabhoomi", hence videshi as far as he was concerned. The fact that Anusuya chose Bamni his old rival made him consider her a traitor to Taxila. That feeling hasn't changed in all these years. 😲

Now this is what I call a real difference in soch. The brother and sister are each firm in their beliefs and considers the other one to be in the wrong. Anusuya considers anyone who sides with invaders to be in the wrong, while he maintains a separation between filial bonds and patriotism. 😕

So I guess I was wrong about Ambhiraj. His first course of action was not to murder his sister as soon as he saw her but to surround her and ask her to surrender. I don't know if you guys noticed this at all, but Ambhiraj's warning, almost pleading, to Anusuya was to give her a chance, and that attacking her was not the first thing he wanted. At least, that's how I read it. When she refused and continued to fight, he sent his soldiers to fight her, despite knowing that they could not win against her.

I found it very strange that he kept signalling his men to go and fight anusuya but did not raise his weapon against her before or after the phalanx formation. He said he wanted to end this chapter, but I wasn't sure if he meant her life, or the rivalry between PR and Taxila by him taking over PR. We'll see.

Surbhi, I know you are very upset but look at that scene again closely, you will see what I mean. The dialogues are becoming increasingly misleading so the CVs can change the meaning whenever they feel like, but this is how I felt about that scene today. I am not defending Ambhiraj's actions. He's completely wrong, but he didn't attack Anusuya himself for a very specific reason. Perhaps that's the twist that Rati mentioned, or maybe he will do it later on under different circumstances.

Alexander was still stunned as he went to Bucephalus, as if someone had severed a part of his body. It is a side of him we've never seen before - he was devastated. I hope we get a mourning scene though, when he wakes up in Taxila.

Why did the CVs ignore their bond for 196+ episodes, knowing that we would have wanted to see it before and then start to focus on it suddenly? Why make people feel emotional about it? Bucephalus deserves an honorable death and proper funeral. 😡

I don't know what the point was of having Cleitus there aside from telling Alexander to stop for the day and coming back to fight another, which is the smartest thing he has said in about 80 episodes. I don't know why he thought Alexander would listen to him - he should know his Shah well enough by now, that he would die in battle but never retreat. That killer look that Alexander's gave him was enough to stop him in his tracks. It was strange to see Alexander's rage build up to the point where he could not think strategically as he went straight to attack Porus. Cleitus, instead of providing backup just seemed to stand there.

And then came the famous Bharati explosions, with perfect aim by Chanakya's Boy Scouts that sent Alexander flying. The Boy Scouts don't have any armor on but don't get injured at all. I wonder why Alexander took his helmet off, before losing consciousness.

Porus was for once ready to kill Alexander once and for all, until he was stopped by the arrow Cleitus 2.0 shot at him. Where did he get a bow from? Clearly Alexander has been expecting him to use the wrong weapon, for he is a far better archer than a swordsman. Of course, Porus pulled it out of his arm like a toothpick. Now Cleitus too must be convinced that the PR people are immortal. 😕

In a strange turn of events, Dasyuraj ends up saving Alexander unwittingly, by asking Porus to go help his mother and assures him that they would finish up here. His plea to Porus not to spare Ambhiraj sounded ominous. The CVs are as usual, terrible at math. They can't seem to make up their minds which side has lost more men. 😕

Normally, I would expect Dasyuraj to lose or die after Porus leaves, but with those Boy Scouts shooting flaming arrows and explosives, I won't be surprised if Cleitus is shown asking his men to return to base and then eventually taking a wounded Alexander back to Taxila. I also think this might be in preparation for Cleitus dying at the hands of Alexander after insulting him by saying he saved him or taunting Alexander for failing to rescue his mother. Or maybe, Alexander will get into a fight with him for asking his men to retreat.

I was wondering yesterday how Alexander could expect him to chase after Bamni and do anything productive after that dismal performance and how he would continue to fight without his generals. Even with Cleitus around, he got injured, so the only reliable companion of his tried to save him but got wounded instead.

I cannot forgive the CVs for this one. Why make Alexander or any son, say those dialogues about his mother and show him failing to save her? Why? Why? Why? It was completely unnecessary. They are insulting the basis of this mother-son bond and Alexander's devotion. This is exactly what I have been afraid of, ever since we saw Alexander planning to rescue his mother. 😡

Normally, I'd say let's see what happens tomorrow, but I don't really want to this time, especially if Bucephalus dies. The CVs probably won't even give us a meaningful mourning scene after all the emotions they stirred in us about the Alexander-Bucephalus bond.

The guessing game continues as to who kills Ambhiraj: Porus, Bamni, Laachi, or maybe Anusuya herself. Or maybe all of them combined. It's also possible they just capture him and take him to the palace where he makes another move to kill Anusuya as we see in the pre-cap. Who knows? It's possible that Anusuya doesn't die, and like Olympias she fights for her life but is saved by Chanakya again. Ambhiraj is going to die sooner or later if Ambhikumar has to become king. There was a photo on Instagram of Gurpreet patting his horse - but unlike the case with Alexander this time the horse would survive but his owner will die.

I would prefer that Bamni be the one to get there first and rescue Anusuya, to be there for her when she needs him, so that his character could come full circle: from the Bamni who tricked her into marriage, mistreated her, then later mistrusted her, and finally became the husband and partner that she had needed all along. The way things are going, it won't make sense for anyone else to duel with Ambhiraj than Bamni, but the pre-cap makes it look like Porus will be the one to go after him. 😕

I guess the Ambhikumar track must be coming up, from the looks of things. I just don't see how Taxila and PR can be allies after this. They have destroyed their relations irrevocably.

I refuse to believe this is the final war, what with all the sloppy scenes. There will be more indoor scenes after the incident with Ambhiraj. We will get an even more stressed and sad Olympias, and a wounded Alexander who will be taken care of by his wife for several days, unable to fight or move, worried sick about his mother, so that Roxanne finally falls in love with him. 😕 The CVs are mixing the Hindu Kush/Afghan battle experiences of the real Alexander, where he was severely injured, with this particular track, just to drag the story further. I expect we will see an Ambhikumar who will either continue to be a double agent and play for team Alexander this time or just go to war outright alongside Alexander. Though after this skirmish, I'm not sure how much of the Taxila army would still be alive.

I remember the scene where Ambhikumar was riding alongside Laachi on the beach and told him he wasn't as much into patriotism as Porus and she were, so it would not be difficult to believe he could turn against PR permanently. If Ambhiraj dies, the last memory Ambhikumar will have is of his father telling him he wants to get out of Alexander's grasp. So he will assume PR betrayed Taxila or something along those lines, unless SidT distorts history and shows him allying with PR.

Porus is quite likely to send Olympias back to Taxila, because this would be the best way for the CVs to insult and degrade Alexander further, by showing him incapable of rescuing his beloved mother, the most important thing in the world to him, especially after all his planning and determination to succeed.

The pre-cap makes it seem as if Ambhiraj will kill Anusuya and then manage to leave PR without being caught, so that Porus will start mission to hunt him down. If this is not the case and they end up with Porus reaching the PR palace and fighting the Taxila soldiers then I don't think there will be much of an army left. So who will fight alongside Alexander? Probably the Farsi soldiers, if Seleucus appears, as I am hoping he will.

The PR people don't seem to need many more soldiers - it looks like they will outnumber Alexander's army any day. Unless of course Porus manages to use the Farsi army against Alexander. The way things are going Barsine will probably succeed in bringing them back. I don't want to see the Farsi fairies again, but Barsine won't just disappear from the show. I bet she will have another takhta palat move up her non-existent sleeve. 😲

I don't see how the CVs will show this Alexander winning the final battle. Is he the same person who saved Philip in the battle of Chaeronea, even though they were outnumbered? Is he the same person who, with a very small number of men, defeated the Thracian army, even though they attacked from behind and the Thracian king was twice his size? You just have to go watch the previous episodes to see that the CVs are deliberately making him look worse than a normal solider, never mind a military commander. It's ok to show Porus fighting with him and winning if that's what the CVs want, but to show that Alexander can't even defend himself, and can't even keep a grip on his own sword is ridiculous! As for smart moves, I don't see Alexander making many or any of those lately. Is this the same person who knew that his hammaam had been poisoned and had smarty dealt with the enemy's trap? Here he is being repeatedly ambushed and waylaid, and failing every mission of his, including now the most important one. For goodness sake! 😡😡😡

I'm not going to talk about the blackening of Alexander because it's just a waste of time. It will get worse and worse in degree and by the 260th episode he would be pitch black. Even those who support PR will find it beyond ridiculous, so whatever the ending of the show, Sony Alexander's character will have had the most absurd graph imaginable. 😡

Off-topic: Those Instagram photos we saw of Rohit, Sameksha, and Roxanne in Dasyulok made us think the Macedonians would visit there, but that scene never happened. Maybe those there were just chilling out on the sets there, but the way they were dressed up made it look like there was some special scene to be filmed. Or maybe it was just cut out.

PS Too tired and upset to proofread. Please excuse any errors. I know the post is long but would love to read your comments.