Alright you guys, this was a great episode. I'm not going to keep my hopes up that every episode from now on will be this good, but man, we got a little bit of that MoNa spark back! If we could get even just like 1-2 scenes of that per episode from now on, baat banjaye!
I'm going to start with the kids/Alia since I didn't care about their scenes at all:
Ok, first of all, THANK YOU RAANIA for telling Taabi to fight her own fight. Ok, like I get that a mom should technically stand up for her daughter more, but Taabi has no idea what Aina had to endure with Mohsin all these years, and Taabi's constant "your life sucks, Aini" jabs at and to Aina were really getting on my last nerves. Even though it was our precious baby Aina who once again put herself on the frontlines, at least someone told Taabi to stop being a little bitch (ya, I'm not a fan of her right now).
So, Afaaq is a legitimate creeper. I swear it feels like every precap must dedicate at least 15 seconds of showing just how skeevy he is. His mother is far more interesting to me, because sometimes you think she's evil, and sometimes she just comes off as stupid and unknowing how to live with another family. I honestly couldn't tell if she was trying to instigate Mohsin or if she really was idiotic enough to think Taabi would throw her ring at her? Still, there was a line from one of the extended promos that had Alia saying (to someone) that a brother-sister bond is thicker--I am assuming that the line has to do with comparing Mohsin-Alia's connection to Mohsin-Aina's connection. I think there's more *negative* to Alia's character than meets the eye.
It is SO in character of Mohsin to give Taabi a choice between the two guys, but still sort of pressure her into choosing Afaaq. I love how he at least tried to justify it using his love for her, but still couldn't help but layer on his own feelings into her decision making process. Very Mohsin. To be honest, I would've expected him to say these things even if the writers had stayed consistent with the pre-leap Mohsin development.
Raania is so cute with just the thought of meeting Maaz. Her curiosity on if Sajjal is calling is too adorable, and I seriously love Aina-Raania's bond. It's written so consistently. Aina is a little more strict with Raania, but also, more of Aina's feistyness comes through with Raania. With Taabi, Aina has to be careful and collected to not upset her too much (too bad Taabi can't employ the same respect to her mother), but you see bits of the original Aina poking through with Raania.
I loved, loved, loved Raania's conversation with Aina about the MoNa marriage. I loved it when Aina admitted she thought Mohsin was handsome (she has never admitted that; be still my little MoNa heart!). I also, as a stark contrast to how I felt whenever Taabi brought up MoNa's imperfections, loved when Raania brought up the fact that Mohsin doesn't respect Aina. I loved it because Aina seemed surprised; she was shown dwelling on it, too, like "really?". She herself either doesn't think it's true or never noticed it, otherwise she wouldn't be shown being so surprised or thinking about it. Either way, it sets the perfect stage for Imran to come sweeping in. Now I'm 100% expecting Imran to try and persuade Aina away using something along the lines of "I (will) respect you", and cause Aina to second guess herself.
TOO BAD FOR YOU, IMRAN, THAT THE WRITERS GAVE US PLENTY OF REMINDERS THAT MOHSIN RESPECTS AINA IN THIS EPISODE ALONE.
👏 MoNa, EmNa! Raise the roof--you two are the reason I watch this show! Let's go! 🥳
It's like the writers had to juxtapose that while the kids feel a certain way, the way MoNa act behind closed doors is a world all their own. It's a side of Mohsin that only Aina knows. Everybody else in the world thinks she's crazy for staying with him, but she knows there's good with the bad. The fact that the writers threw in those scenes right before Raania made her respect line was very obvious. They want you to compare what everybody sees and what Aina sees. It'll make Aina's choice--when she will obvs choose Mohsin, c'mon--more obvious, but the pressure she receives to leave Mohsin will be justifiable, too, because that's how everybody else sees them.
Ahhh, the MoNa scenes. Where to begin, where to begin???
Mohsin observing Aina is so cute, and poor guy just wanted Aina and couldn't even watch her do a dua. This is our developed post-leap MoNa! Could you ever imagine Mohsin telling Nadia to stop her duas? Na baba Na. Mohsin would probably tell Nadia to do more namaaz LOL. But our little guy is so in love with his wife.
His line about her being sweet and sour was the perfect contrast to Aina's line of Mohsin being hot and cold. And, most importantly, the fact that Mohsin called her sour means that she must have been feisty with him throughout these past 18 years. We may not have seen it a lot in the past few episodes, but the fact that he said this before she spoke up for Taabi speaks volumes.
It reminds me of the book "The Catcher in the Rye". Ok, I have no idea how many of you read it, but it's pretty much required reading for every school aged child in the Western world. Basically, it's a novel about 200 pages of this really bratty, spoiled kid leaving school for a day and just being negative and emotional about everything. He complains about everything. Literally, everything. When I first read it, I told my literature teacher I hated it and couldn't see why it was a classic. Then my literature teacher said something to me that lasted with me my entire life, "Fobby, this book takes place in a day. We saw a teenager having one, single bad day."
What we've been seeing of MoNa these past few episodes are just a glimpse into their lives together. Due to Alia and Afaaq's entries and the proposal, the tensions between MoNa have been high. But given Mohsin's lines on how she can be just as sweet as she can be sour/bitter, there was still a two-way relationship and communication between them. It's not like their entire life was Aina being submissive to Mohsin. Otherwise, his line wouldn't really make sense. He would just call her sweet and obedient. Again, it's something that only these two are privy to, but it's there.
Aina's smile when Mohsin listened to her, Mohsin's tear...omgomgomgomgomg. I'm dying. I cannot handle this level of cuteness.
And YASSS they are sleeping together. The way he reaches for her hand without looking, the way she doesn't even notice when he grabs her hand, her shoulder touching, him asking her to cut her namaaz short because we all know what he wanted in that scene, Aina's shock that people think Mohsin doesn't respect her...yasss, slay my babies, slay.
Like I said, I'm not going to get my hopes up that all episodes will be this good. My prediction going off this episode alone is that this episode set up "Aina's choice"; I am positive now that Imran will re-enter and offer Aina a life with him, and perhaps MoNa will have gotten into another fight by then and Aina will consider the offer, but this episode setup why she'll (hopefully) choose Mohsin.
Let's just hope there is a happy ending for Aina and MoNa after all.
9/10 (still feel like there's too many scenes of the kids, and no, precap, one MoNa scene intermixed with the usual Afaaq being creepy and the sisters being just...there...is not enough to cut it).
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