So this episode saw the demise of Hassan which obviously did not come as a surprise as previews from two weeks ago had given us enough time to brace ourselves for his death (sarcasm). Hassan felt his end was near – maybe he had seen the previews too? Jokes aside, maybe the heart attack has scared him but we see he is working himself into a frenzy and is adamant he must have his ‘affairs’ sorted as soon as possible – affairs that apparently only his trusted friend Junaid is privy to.
Mehru wakes the next morning to find Hassan has passed away in his sleep. Samina Peerzada is no doubt an amazing actress and her expressions from confusion to awareness that something is not quite right and then her distress made me all teary, especially when she lays her head on her dead husband’s chest at the end. However, the whole scene gave me goosebumps as well, not only because of Samina Peerzada’s powerful acting but because he is her husband in real life and for a while there I was not able to really distinguish between the characters they are playing from their actual relationship.
I felt sad for Mehru that the only women who seem to be around her are Alia’s mother and Saman (Minahil’s mother). What a sorry pair! Alia’s mothers comments made me cringe. At this point, I find Alia’s character a bit confusing. She is a little short with Mehru and self obsessed but maybe on her own she would not be so bad if she did not pay so much heed to her mother’s ‘priceless’ words of wisdom. She does however seem to love Haider and seemed to feel his grief when she talked to him after his father’s death. Not sure right now what and how important a role Alia plays in the whole picture.
Anyhow, Junaid stands at his dead friend’s grave talking about the ‘secret’ and not having enough ‘himmat’ to tell Mehru all. I really want to say aray bhayee, na Hassan ko himmat thee na Junaid ko, please mujhay bata do mujh mein himmat hai Mehru ko bataanay ki- bas ab bata do keh raaz kia hai?! When I was watching the episode I thought I would finally write in my review that the cat is out of the bag and in my mind I had an image of Saima Noor being the cat poking its head out of the bag! Ah, but Saima did not make an appearance in today’s episode. Maybe her temporary dementia has caught on and the director forgot about her. Oh well.
Hamza, in his grief reaches out to Zaina who ‘is there for him’. Two months lapse and apparently Junaid is still gathering himmat (sigh) to tell Mehru anything. I say that because Mehru is slowly recovering from the shock of her husband’s death and does not seem to be dealing with any dark secrets. Hamza goes back to university and we see he and Zaina have become close. Bhai (I should just refer to him as Imran Aslam until someone calls him by his name) spots Zaina in a car with Hamza and asks her about it. I liked how he did not yell at Zaina or threaten her etc but also made it clear that he does not approve.
Samina Peerzada’s acting was probably the best part of today’s episode. Everyone else is doing their bit but besides the annoying crickets sound that plays in Khalid Malik and Sana Askari’s scenes, nothing else about anyone’s acting stands out just yet. Affan Waheed is getting a bit too comfortable with the same old ultra sensitive, voice cracking with emotion roles and couple that with Neelum Munir’s deep voice makes you want to throw in a bit of Sanam Choudhary’s characteristic shrieks to pull up the pair’s vocal chords a bit and not put you to sleep!! I would like to have seen a bit more of Imran Aslam though. It is obvious that Hassan’s secret is linked to Saima’s family but I suppose there will be more of her and Imran Aslam later.
Overall, the episode was not bad. I am losing patience with the ‘secret’ being dragged out and would prefer Alia and her mother to be sidelined a bit and see more of Saima so the story can progress. At this point, there are so many conspiracy theories running through my head about how Saima is linked to Hassan that it is almost giving me a headache. I did not get to see the preview of next week’s episode as I watched this episode online and could not find the link. I would love to hear your thoughts on this episode!
Kunwal Javid