WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
I want to start this episode review with an applause. For the past few reviews, I have had mostly bad things to say, but today, credit where credit is due. The writing for the episode was good, crisp yet slow enough to let the emotions sink in. They created some much needed angst which felt more visceral than anything else in the constant flip of storylines till now. I do not know what trp will look like for this episode and I know trp is not dependent on a single good episode, but I do hope that cvs will take note of the pace. You cannot create high voltage drama on a consistent basis without hitting the emotional sweet spot if you want to keep the viewers hooked. Yesterday hit that emotional sweet spot and lingered just long enough. BUT the crowning jewel of the episode, for me, was the acting- sonalikaji as always and the lady playing saku tai, even maya with her little expressions seeing raghu and dhanak fighting (maya IS the kind of character who'd take glee in such things even amidst some real high stake situations) were exceptional. Shruti was finally every bit as good as i knew she could be- she took down dhanak's unnecessary rigid stoicism atleast 10000 notches and gave the character emotional depth within an episode span and did so believably. However, Abrar stole the show yesterday. The boy (man? idk how old he is. Probably around my age but lets stick to this adage) is blessed with eyes that do the emoting for him and a latent understanding of how to modulate contort and change body language to suit a scene. The way Raghu went from distraught to confused to monster to tamed to monster in 11 odd mins gave me shivers. Kudos!
Now onto the story:
THE GOOD:
1) Gangster Mother- Maayi's reaction: She stopped Dhanak out of hatred (yes hatred), she slapped Raghu out of anger, she danced out of disappointment and then she played her cards against Dhanak- dhakke pe dhakka- giving her sonbai a much needed reality check. Her reaction yesterday was a culmination of things, the least of which was Savant and co. She is not just a mother/mother-in-law scorned but a woman who has been betrayed. That too by her ONLY child. The betrayal was not just disrespect brought on by the act that happened to her or the heroic act commenced by her son and sonbai but the disrespect of everything that she's done in her life. She's worked damn hard to establish something. You may not respect that something but she's due the respect of the hard work. Mehnat sirf mazdoori mein nahi hoti, chori karne mein bhi mehnat lagti hain aur dehshat jamane mein bohut zyada mehnat lagti hain. You need to show respect to that mehnat if you want to divert the direction of that mehnat to something else. That brings us to Dhanak and the basic problem of her character and by extension the problem maayi has with her- she has no regard or respect for anything beyond what is the textbook definition of right and wrong- black and white. And that is the lens that she is trying to instill in Raghu as well through the sath vachans, which take shape as per Dhanak's qualms of the hour. But the world she has entered into by choosing to be Raghu's wife exists in varying shades of grey, something she's chosen to disregard until now.
She respects maayi as she's been taught to- saas ma saman hoti hain. But she doesn't respect maayi as a person. You do not need to respect maayi's profession but you must respect the single widow who built a name and wealth for herself, you do not need to respect the way she brought about the wealth but you need to respect the money that fed, clothed and raised your husband along with three other children (Maya, Batli and Aslam). She doesn't respect maayi's autonomy as a person or her desires. You do not have to cater to her desires but Dhanak's actions so far have completely disregarded maayi by resorting to hefty miscalculated deceit which led to no positive consequence on anything- she played don to change maayi but instead she hugged maayi for continuing her drinking and hafta wasooli as long as she wasn't planning to kill children, she played don to accomplish a mission which she could've completed even without the charade, she played don to get a clean chit but alienated the people she wanted the clean chit for.
She lost sight of what she had decided to do when she chose Raghu over IPS, she went back on that choice the first opportunity she got- choosing her mission over her family by becoming don. She went about this deceit as if it had no consequence for anything or anyone beside herself and her relationship with her husband- someone who is precious to maayi but someone Dhanak was all too willing to compromise for her professional goals, till the moment she realized she wasn't. But for maayi- this deceit cost her everything she's built to date. Maayi's tirade, her anger, her humiliation- was not at Dhanak and Raghu saving those kids. Heck! she may've even been proud of them for that. Her anger was at being tricked, disregarded and alienated by her own children. The sad thing that Dhanak does not get is that her deceit made a complete mockery of maayi's hopes and dreams, rather than just breaking them. She's like a colonialist bringing civilization to the natives- it comes from a point of (subconscious) self-service and a lack of respect and an unwillingness to understand local wisdom. In maayi's world you have to give respect to get respect, Dhanak does not give respect and maayi will not change for someone who does not respect her.
2) Raghu's Reaction: No secret- I loved Raghu in the episode. The power of that performance was amazing. It returned the spark to the character that'd been completely missing since dhanak's muh dikhayi. He was confused, he was sad and then it hit him- the gravity of what had happened and finally- it shocked his sleeping brain awake along with the animal inside him. He remembered that he's not just Dhanak's husband but his identity has more than one source. He's his mother's son but he's also someone whose name carries weight and fear. And what was attacked was not just his mother but also his ability to protect his own. I loved that this translated to Raghu's ego (atleast we know he still has one) because lets be honest, there is no way that the silent lion sleeping inside him had no ego or pride in the fear he instilled in others. The episode finally clarified what I had been harping for ages- criminality is a one way street- you enter at will and leave at death. It finally showed that it is not as simple as Raghu has been showing it to be, everyday is a struggle for him and what might seem as an overnight walk out is a monster inside that he fights on a regular basis. He left crime overnight but crime will not be leaving him anytime soon. Infact, he's been exposed to crime on the constant throughout the sath vachan arc. And it wont be stopping anytime soon. But somewhere within all these jumble of track after track the cvs seemingly completely lost the fact that everyday is a test and the scale can tip any second for Raghu. The reminder was much needed for me as a viewer to frankly value Raghu AND Dhanak's struggles.
3) The Gangster's wife- RaNak Scene: This in my opinion was the best scene between Raghu and Dhanak so far. The emotional quotient was high, abrar and shruti finally managed to hit the chemistry note bang on and there was gravitas to the context of the emotions. It did not feel random or out of place. The only other time it translated well was when Dhanak apologized during the muh dikhayi incident. I think for the first time Dhanak appealed to Raghu as a wife rather than lectured as a person. She started with trying to appeal to reason but then quickly changed tactics to the more organic desperation she felt to calm the beast. She would've done anything at that moment to stop him whether it is forcing him to look at her, speaking to and touching him affectionately, yelling at him, forcing him to focus on her- she really tried. It didn't for once feel like manipulation. Even the way the scene was framed was great in terms of the body language of the actors. One example of that was- as soon as Dhanak said- please don't do anything that will tear us miles apart again, Raghu's body language got even more aggressive as if trying to tear himself away from her and wouldn't look her in the eye but as soon as she forced him to look at her, the physical aggression remained the same but he pulled her hand to his face as if subconsciously trying to calm himself and remind himself of what he has to lose. It was really well directed. kudos! But the most beautiful part of the scene was in its failure for me. It was Dhanak's first real taste of what it means to be a criminal's wife and I'm glad she failed to 'fix' him. Because what she's trying to 'remedy' is not easy and she needs to realize the extent to which Raghu has by and large sheltered her from his past and from himself. Failure is a bitter lesson that Dhanak needed to learn.
THE MEH
1) Dhanak's Naivety: I realized something yesterday- what can seem like Dhanak's arrogance at times is actually her total naivety. She really doesn't know anything about the darker sides of the world in general. She's lived a very sheltered life within the comforts of a middle class home, within the security of a middle class life with her rather timid and gutless father who is the classic example of-the 'keep your head down' mentality that plagues middle class India. She's like the Jon Snow of this show. (aila! that rhymed!) I think 90% of the things she says and does is just out of that understandable naivety. It really shone through yesterday when she was speaking to Raghu about how savant will be punished by the police and law- how? you can file a defamation case for what he did but thats it. you think a goon will care about a defamation case? no. there's not an equal and effective punishment for every crime in this world. if there was, there would be no criminals. When she spoke about how hard they've worked to be in the space they are in their relationship and how raghu has left the criminal world behind a long time back, I realized that she really believes all this. she believes that her husband can just walk out, that criminals can just leave if they walk out. She BELIEVES that they've worked hard and come far in their relationship- they haven't. She hasn't. The hard work has just started. She's scratched the tip of the iceberg. I'm supposed to believe that she's hella clever, yet her understanding of what is tangible reality is very very concerning and frankly boring. i dont mind it breaking gradually, but break it must for the story lines to pick up emotional weight.
2) Pappa: Dont have much to say- just...weak. so weak. anybody can threaten him into anything. whats worse is that he didnt even struggle to save the woman who just saved him. gidar.
3) 1 Plot Cycle: so here's the show's plot cycle- dhanak being a smartass--> savitri cancelling her IPS--> romance--> Dhanak's dumb steps and mission to prove her worth--> raghu saving her behind--> romance--> consequence of mission for savitri--> raghu going bizarre and dhanak trying to stop him and failing--> raghu self-harming to bring Dhanak and maayi on the same page--> repeat. Its tiring, especially when there are no long term consequences or impacts of these storylines on the wider picture and if there is no clear wider picture. this show needs to clarify and build a wider story.
Well friends I am happy with this episode. Sound off below!
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