This was a facinating episode ,which kept me glued to the screen . It still hasn’t reached the potential the fabulous first episode promised but the tenion is building fast and at least we see more natural reactions from the victim of this heinous sexual assault. Sajal Ali is still too perfect ,not a hair out of place , not a shadow under her eyes and always well dressed. She never dwells upon her misery and we never see her blame anyone not even her perpetrator but she is scared , very scared . Not a realistic view of rape but it still makes for  compulsive viewing. Yasir Nawaz may actually have been on set for this episode because for the most part it was well edited , slick and fast . So fast, that the audience barely has time to think about the inconsistencies in Sajal Ali’s portrayal.A good director or perhaps a not so busy one would have pointed out these little mistakes.

Numair gets Ramin and Azar to move into his house . Syed Jibran was brilliant ; one moment he is menacing Ramin , the next he is manipulating Azar and in the blink of an eye he is suddenly afraid for his daughter . Much kudos to Sameera Fazal for this well written episode . Numair knows that when he plays with Ramin he is gambling with his life . Ramin is not just ‘any ” girl , at some point the whole truth about him may come to light and he will lose everything. Numair’s one weak point is his daughter Naela. When Manal and Azar both pray for Naela to get a husband like him he is visibly disturbed and even decides to let Ramin go becuase of a sudden attack of conscience . Like most munafiqs he would hate to see his daughter treated the way he has treated other people’s daughters. But just like most munafiqs he cannot control his nafs for long and immediately changes his mind when he sees a beautiful , laughing Ramin interracting with Azar.

One of the reasons I wanted to watch this drama were the issues raised by this story. Numair is so lost in the power of his own lust that he literally thinks Ramin is leading him on , that her interactions with Azar are a lure to seduce him. Whenever a rape case is brought to court the character of the victim is usually on trial rather than the character of the perpetrator. The rapist will often claim the victim invited the attack.. the headlines are full of people saying that a woman’s dress or lack of is an enticement ,by that logic every doctor in the Western world should be a rapist by now … As Azar says Jihad e Nafs is the greater Jihad and self control is possible perhaps not always easy but not so difficult either . All these moods where captured perfectly by Syed Jibran who was as menacing as a great white shark cruising quietly in clear waters.

At this point I have given up on Ramin’s stupid mother . every time I think of her I get angry . We saw more of Manal and Azar this week . Manal seems like a bit of an air head but Arjumand Rahim ,though a good actress ,looks too mature and intelligent to be that stupid. Feroz Malik is fantastic for a new comer , I still have my reservations about those awful acid wash jeans but his acting is perfect. I saw  an Eid play of his last weekend and I think with a little work we can expect good things from him in the future. His Azar is a not stupid but he is inexperienced. He picks up on Numair’s lightening changes of mood and even knows when to quit a job he cannot understand but he too is a victim of his nafs. Money and ambition are making a fool of him , blinding him to what is going on before his very eyes.