This was another well-acted, well directed episode but my complaint from last week’s episode stands: the story is not moving forward. By now everyone’s motivations and characters are more than well established , in fact I am almost certain that I have met some of the characters they seem so familiar. Natasha’s change of attitude last week, in allowing Bilal’s family to share her baby lasted all of five minutes and was actually part of some master plan she has to manipulate the entire family into putting the house in Bilal’s name. What was most surprising was that instead of producing the usual slavish acquiescence on Bilal’s part, I got the feeling he had finally been pushed too far. Bilal seems to have finally woken up especially after Zaib reminded him of how much he should know and trust his own family before believing anything  Natasha tells him. So Zaib and Bilal meet in secret and I have a feeling that a plan was hatched which might just upset Natasha’s little game plan.

Natasha’s sazishey might easily have turned this serial into some dreadful soap opera instead it  was quite funny to see her little plans fail in front of the simple common sense and basic good will of the other characters. First she tries to connect Mikaal to Zaib by calling him out of the blue to accuse him of breaking her sister’s heart. Mikaal very sensibly points out that they are both married to other people and have no interest in each other. Then she tries to put words in Muneese’s mouth, suggesting Zaib is out visiting with Mikaal but Muneese is so busy with her badly stitched clothes that she doesn’t even pick up on the hint. The best part of this whole episode had to be when she tries her little game with Rayaan who immediately puts her in her place. He saw through her right from the beginning and even overheard her trying to manipulate Muneese. All this despite the fact that Zaib is not talking to him and even avoiding his calls after he sent her out of his room last week .

Which brings me to Zaib: She is upset with Rayaan so….. Cue swelling background music and doubts about whether she should have gotten married in the first place…..actually no, none of the above. She just carries on interacting with everyone as normal and neither of them allows anyone else to even notice their quarrel. In fact she uses her time away to meet Bilal and talk some sense into him, not once mentioning her own troubles. This couple is in serious danger of being so sensible that they have their drama visa’s revoked. Come on Rayaan you are supposed to look off darkly into the distance and wonder if Zaib is having an affair and Zaib dear, you should have had some accidentally incriminating meeting with Mikaal by now. Thank you Sameera Fazal for writing about normal people with normal reactions. In fact the only annoying behavior was Durdana’s, what kind of a mother is she? She really seems to have the worst effect on Natasha by constantly coddling her and believing everything she says.

I did enjoy this week’s episode and I think the winds of change are blowing for Natasha, especially in her last conversation with Bilal. It cannot be soon enough for me .Adeel Hassan has done a simply fantastic job bringing Rayaan’s character to life. It is such a relief to see a rational male figure that resolves issues rather than creating them. Though I loved Rayaan’s put down of Natasha, I think the most memorable dialogues today were Zaib’s when she said “Hum apni saadgi ki vaja sey nahin ,apni chalaki aur lalach ki vaja sey phasthey hain “. Roughly translated :we don’t get into trouble because of our simplicity but because of our own greed and cunning , which I think is a very important truth many people miss

Written  By -Sadaf