This episode may well be an argument against sending your children to Ivy League Universities. In between crying myself into exhaustion I managed to get incredibly frustrated with Asher; despite all the supposed critical thinking skills and analytics he should have learnt at Yale, he still needs a full confession from his mother to believe in Khirad’s innocence. Sarmad, Fawad and the Dop do a masterful job of showing Asher fighting himself over the growing holes in the story he had accepted against his wife and here lies the crux of the matter: why were they just holes? Any sane man would have questioned Khizar, any sane man would have questioned his mother or at the very least questioned Khirad.

There are two letters in this penultimate episode and full marks to Mahirah who managed to bring just the right amount of pathos to those lines. The end of her letter leaving Hareem with Asher asking permission to speak to her daughter occasionally and begging him not to cast aspersions on her character always has me in tears .The second letter and the way it was presented is a tour de force. So much of the power of this old fashioned story of love and betrayal lies in the modern way it was shot and the way the director visualised each scene.Farida’s confession can be heard in real time but Asher is shown listening and walking at a slightly slower speed as if he is slowly waking from a dream or breaking free of the alternate reality he had held on to for so long. This episode was skilfully edited and each track skilfully woven together so at no point did anything become overbearing or the audience left wanting.

 There are two camps in my household: team sympathy is me who feels Sara should have lived and team Judgment aka my husband who thinks that was the only logical end to the Sara-Asher-Khirad love triangle. Either way we both agree that Hina Bayat tore our hearts out with her performance in this episode. She is an amazing actress and an asset to any production lucky enough to have her. That telephone conversation between Farida and Zarina was amazing and then her grief as she sat in her dead child’s room. Bass kamal hogaya.

 At this point Humsafar had the entire nation (Including the non-resident diaspora) in its thrall so when the producers (?) decided to increase it by one episode there was much gnashing of teeth. As I remember it (do correct me if I am wrong) there was also a religious holiday which meant that the actual finale was delayed by yet another week. Considering the merciless way perfectly good serials are being diluted now it seems our disappointment was misplaced. The finale did require two episodes or at the very least an hour and a half “super episode” to tie up all the loose ends.

Now my complaints which my poor husband has to sit through each time:

• Why on earth did Khirad leave her child to the tender mercies of Farida? The woman was a monster and Asher was not going to be home all day.
• Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him for the love of God, tell him.
• Who is looking after Hareem when her guilty as hell father runs of to Hyderabad?
• What is wrong with Asher, why can’t he question his mother?
• How is that four foot ka Security guard going to “throw six foot of well-honed muscle that is Khizar out exactly?

There are people in my house who insist that this should all be swept away under the blanket term “dramatic licence” and yes it did make for the most amazing viewing. I know this is a long review but I cannot resist talking about Asher and Khizar’s confrontation. Finally……….. Asher did what he should have done in episode 11.

written by  Sadaf