If I don't do this now, I'll probably forget and won't write it again which would be a shame cuz the episode was BRILLIANT!
Can I just say Obi has made a mess out of me? Wali has had more than small moments where his actions are, to put simply, problematic but I can never hold it against him for the most part. Why? Because when he's all rage and authority with Farah, he is deserving of some curses cuz urgh! Y U DO THIS WALI?! But then in the very episode, chances are in the very next scene, I'd see him in a completely different light where he's gentle and loving and sweet and basically on mission to make a gooey mush out of me. And both these sides, the good and the bad, they are so genuine. There's no fakeness there. Hai..Wali buss aisa hi hai. He may be a different Wali for different people, but there isn't a big giant hypocrisy or conspiracy in his actions. You take the good, and you take the bad, then you mix it all up and you'll get a Wali who is grey. Not a typical goody two shoes or the evil bad guy. Wali's good doesn't eradicate the problematic wrongs that he has, similarly all those wrongs don't take away the good from him. So, what we get is this interesting, fascinating, frustrating, a complete stand-out character who is what he is. And it's very hard to do that, to have all these shades and properly portray them.
I remember this IV I read of Obi when DeD had just started airing and there he had said that Wali wasn't an easy character to play. That had me thinking, "why does he say that? Wali [the novel one] isn't really hard to crack." But FI has written Wali for the drama so differently from novel, she has made us a witness to all his sides and there are so many. It would be tough for anyone to do justice to them all. Any amateur actor or one who didn't really grasp Wali would've butchered Wali by now. Because it's so easy to slip into either the good side or embrace the darkness. But making a distinction between the two and staying in that grey territory so that the good and bad both get to be shown equally...that's tough. But from episode 18 to 24, Obi has done just that. And he has done it flawlessly.
And of course, then there's Maya who has always showed Farah's emotions so perfectly. From her chirpiness to conflict to her loss and resolve, her fear, frustration, doubts; more than any other character it's Farah who went through all these emotions. And she had to be relate-able at all these stages. Why does she cry so much? Why she chooses to remain silent? What pushed her to speak? What makes her tick? What makes her happy? Farah is supposed to be this khuli kitaab type character who shows what she feels and feels what she shows. There's no hypocrisy within her. Any time she tries to defy what she feels and do something opposite, it shows on her face because she can't convince her own self of it let alone deceive the world. She might not say a lot but her expressions, body language, the slight change in tone are the tell-tale signs of what's going on with her. And Maya does that with her performance.
It took all these 20-ish weeks for the story to get the point where Wali and Farah take the center stage. The wait has been long but God, it was so darn worth it. The disappointment that usually comes with elevated excitement isn't the case with DeD nowadays. What we have is only the need to want more and more of this.
Coming to the episode:
Major revelations and developments. As Ayeronic says in her DP reviews, DeD episodes seem to have an overall theme each week. This week I think it was "PardaFaash". Are people really as we think they are? If not then what are they? And how do we get to see them in all their reality? It wasn't just Farah seeing and acknowledging AJ's love, we also got to see Moiz in all his ugliness which was not much surprising considering last week's precap butt woah! I'd be lying if I say I wasn't shocked at the extent of his shatir schemes. He was probably the oldest player of this game Tajamul and Zohra were playing with Ruhi and we never got to see that. He was the good guy, the son-like-nephew, the pillar of support for Ruhi and Farah. But ye tou full on aasteen ka saanp nikla. Though I'm wondering, were we meant to sympathize with Ruhi when she was begging Moiz to bring Farah back and it was revealed that Moiz was the one who had put the inheritance clause in the first place? Because the dramatic music that played there just as we saw Moiz for what he was for the first time made Ruhi seem like a helpless pawn who doesn't even know she's been played with. Though sorry not sorry, I can never sympathize with Ruhi. It wasn't her behavior with AJ which annoyed me, it was her behavior with her own daughter that made me dislike her so passionately. Whatever Moiz's plan was, I don't think anyone ever dictated Ruhi to push Farah away from her and make herself emotionally unavailable to her only daughter.
Beherhaal, as my father said, Moiz needs some Caesar Treatment. Lock him up with Caesar and let the cute little dangerous thing (the cute is the hint that Caesar is the one I'm talking about here) give him some well deserved biting and scratching. But that aside, I gotta applaud Moiz for the way he has no illusions about Farah. He knows this girl and the way he so surely said that Farah rebelling isn't an overnight thing, her frustrations had been building for years, is the proof of it. When everyone was going around reacting to people as their own perceptions than what actually was the reality, Moiz had a firm grasp of what the hell was actually going on.
Wali-Farah scenes are all kinds of joy because despite their banter and "hatred" being the main theme of them, we don't get repeated stuff forced down our throats in the name of screen-time. First we get a scene where Farah is legit taking out all her frustrations at Wali and all Wali does is take it all in with a smile on his face and not react violently. I had fully expected him to snap or go off with a sour mood but surprisingly, he was all good humored about it as if he had resigned to the fact that this girl will never speak to him in anything but a biting tone. So he just stood there, telling her to give her best shot and once she was done, he be all, "Hogaya?" and off he goes.
Then the second one was totally different. Here he actually snapped but not in the violent way we've been seeing him do. His rage was more controlled, his tone more chilly than impulsive. Oh, I loved this scene so much. Farah was going on and on about AJ and tricks and one could see the hurt lingering there along side the anger on Wali's face. While in the restaurant scene, Wali's disappointment in Farah was very evident, here it seemed like he had completely given up on this girl jisse akal aati hi nahin! One who refuses to see things as they are and refuses to take off the glasses which makes the world such a dark place for her. Specially that line, mera buss chale tou main Agha Jaan ko jhinjhod kar unhen tumhari haqeeqat bataoun..because let's face it, Wali can order Farah all he wants ke achi poti bano and blah blah blah, but he is no kid. He knows that such fakeness won't really do any longterm remedy. AJ can be temporarily satisfied with having his granddaughter there by his side, serving him and taking care of him, but things don't work out well like this if there aren't any genuine feelings involved. He knows he is doing wrong by bringing Farah here like that and forcing her to show AJ his love but what can he do? He was pushed to the limit, this was his only and last chance to try to give AJ some peace of mind. He may not say it but the obvious fakeness there does affect Wali, a man who has always been true and genuine in his feelings.
The horse scene was...meh? Idk. I randomly commented to myself seeing Wali on horse and approaching Farah, is he gonna give her a horseride? Aaja mere ghode pe beth jaa?' and had giggled at the very prospect but khudaya, this man and his actions. He actually forcefully took her along with him..on a horse. Nope, no feels were involved there. It was cringeworthy, my feels from the previous two scenes actually died seeing that. Unnessecary stuff.
What I did absolutely enjoy was Farah being a restless soul and wandering around here and there. She explored the haveli, she went out in the BEAUTIFUL valley, trying to make sense of all her emotions but not finding peace. It wasn't until she was with AJ and that she cried on his chest that Farah found peace. It was so symbolic. We go out, search far and wide for the missing piece in our life, and then we come home to realize it was always right there in front of us but we never realized it. The AJ-Farah scene could've had better audio as Abid Ali expresses like a boss but he does end up munching a lot of words so it's hard to understand him. And Maya cries wonderfully but when she speaks while crying, it comes across as very loud. But it was acted very well. Farah clinging to AJ desperately when he said he didn't want to die without reconciling with Farah and Farah's sheer desperate way to avoid that by holding on her grandfather so tightly...the scene which was a long time coming and so worth all the build-up.
The feels came back when Wali visited AJ's room late at night and saw AJ-Farah sleeping so peacefully. Oh, it was wonderful! Wali's open love for his AJ, the content on his face seeing AJ's face so at peace...and then the more confused emotion when he saw Farah there. It wasn't dislike or hatred which he felt for her previously in the day but something warmer. Satisfaction? Relief that she wasn't all lost and that her nafrat nafrat chants were just her stubborn nature making problems again? Jo bhi tha...zabardast tha. Wali was the kindest to her in her sleep than he has been around her awakened state.
The follow-up scene was even better. Farah's confusion that she could sleep so peacefully with AJ and then that relaxed smile of her face as we saw her let go of the constant struggle and embrace AJ's love as something genuine than a drama. How long has it been since she last smiled and laughed like that?
"Baba khush honge na?"
This line hit me the right in the feels. For years and years, Farah was denied the simple luxury of indulging in her father's memory and talking about it. She couldn't even worry about him not coming in her dreams because she was labelled as being childish. All Farah wanted was some love and attention, not only for herself but for the bond she had shared with her father. And AJ in one night gave her all that. Now Farah wouldn't need Wali's orders to be with AJ. Wo khud humak humak ke wahan jaegi cuz she has been so desperate for this peace that she finds beside that old man on his sick bed. She has sufferend so much for it, she won't let go at any cost now.
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