(Not my usual style of review today, contains quotes, is more abstract and full of metaphors / analogies. Guess that's what an intense IshRa episode does to you 😆)
I've been thinking about the episode and analysing it, figuring out whether I'm more hurt for Raman or more mad at him for behaving the way he did, and there's still no conclusive answer. I guess that itself speaks for the brilliant narrative of the episode 👏
The entire episode can be summed up in these 3 brilliant quotes, one of which being my all-time favorite.
"You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it." (J. K. Rowling)
"If you don't deal with your demons, they will deal with you, and it's gonna hurt." (Nikki Sixx)
"We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality." (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
Ishita's confusion, disappointment, hurt, pain was screaming out from the screen, pleading her Raman to look at her once, say one kind word, hold her hand. Her pleading eyes, unshed tears, shock at the roughness of those beautiful twirls, and agony at being swirled into loneliness was so palpable that all I wanted to do was go and smack Raman straight in the face, knock some sense in him.
Only I couldn't, because his pain was so intense, the anger it converted into, so acute, that I could not only feel for him too, but also felt like cowering away by the sheer raw passion he exuded. The forceful jerk with which he pulls her towards him and tells her what's bothering him - goosebumps!
And her eyes, her eyes are haunting me even now. And so they were haunting him too, which is why he couldn't look at her straight in the eye all throughout, and when he did, he found himself drowning in them, hence pulled back.
She was the precious queen, madly in love with her Lion King, questioning her own desirability, trying to fight her insecurities. He was a wild man tonight, madly in love with his extraordinary Lioness of a wife, caught in his own web of demons again, unable to fight his insecurities, thereby failing to support her come out of her dark zone too.
And there was the lone wolf, who wanted to gnaw at the Lion as much as he could because the Lion's scratches are the source of his solace. Found the Lion's heart in the Lioness' chest and is now going to hurt her to hurt him.
Plus points: Past insecurities paving way to Pain, Passion, Possessiveness, Hurt, Anger, Helplessness in a way I hadn't thought possible. The sequence took the build-up to a different high altogether.
Minus points: Raman treating Ishita like she was, well, Shagun. (I couldn't find another word / object that would fit in the analogy.) Ignoring her, deserting her, that too in front of his professional contacts, in front of the man who would only benefit from his impulsiveness. Never before did he hold another woman in his arms, even when he hated Ishita, and today, he couldn't brush Mrs. Tondon off.
Acting: KP, DT and Sangram - Take a bow! I'm short of adjectives today for these 3. I know DivAn are truly a class apart and today, everyone is going gaga over them, but Sangram was no less in portraying Kameena Ashok to the T. The fact that we all felt disgusted by his looks is a proof of how well he captured Ashok's essence.
All in all, super impressed by the episode (except for Raman's dance with another woman, but I guess have learnt to take everything in YHM with a pinch of salt)
Now all this intensity build-up from Monday till today makes sense if and only if there's a passionate confrontation. Abuses hurled, accusations thrown, insecurities shared, and then, pain lessened. Otherwise the brilliance of these wonderful scenes will be lost, and C will become meaningless.
Wonderful, wonderful collage Gan! 👏 👏 Even in the stills, their eyes speak volumes!
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