In the previous episode of Breathe: Into the Shadows, it was revealed that Avi himself is the kidnapper of his daughter, Siya and the medical student Gayatri. The sixth episode of the series starts with Avi looking at some drawings. We’re taken into his childhood to explore his psyche. 8-year-old Avi is travelling in a bus with his parents. He sits with his mother while his father is busy drinking and gambling with other men on the bus. He looks like an absent and abusive father. The next moment, the bus has a filthy accident. All the passengers are injured and unconscious including Avi and his mother. His mother tries to give strength to her son while dying herself. Her last words are the lullaby that Avi as the kidnapper is often seen singing. Avi survives but his parents don’t. The little boy is in trauma after seeing his mother die in front of him. He sees a ‘Jogi da Dhaba’ and walks towards it with a limp as he is injured.

Orphaned at a young age, Avi’s extended family sends him to study at a boarding school in Nainital. He is inducted into his class but other boys are cold and unwelcoming towards him as he has joined mid-session.

Back to the present, Abha continuously calls Avi but he doesn’t pick up. He is coming back from visiting his hideout where he has kept Siya and Gayatri. He changes his clothes and cars and gets back on the road to Jodhpur. He is tired and pulls over to nap for some time. When he finally picks up her call, Abha tells him that she messed up. She was trying to save a contact but instead accidentally sent a video to it. It is a blurry video of 2-3 seconds. Avi assures her that as long as the video doesn’t reveal anything, it is okay.

In the flashback, the school principal takes Avi to a psychiatrist. The principal is concerned for Avi as he is a very quiet and introverted boy but indulges in fights every day with boys older than him. When Avi fights, a wave of unseen anger and aggression takes over him which is very unlike him. The psychiatrist asks Avi questions to be friendly with him. Avi tells him that he likes school more than home but he doesn’t have any friends in school as everybody has their friend groups and nobody wants to talk to him. The mention of Avi’s mother triggers his trauma. Suddenly, he starts shaking and hums his mother’s lullaby. He gets up and walks out in a limp. This looks very creepy. The principal tells the doctor that Avi doesn’t have a limp but still walks with it sometimes. Avi weirdly calls himself ‘J’.

The psychiatrist starts counselling Avi to get to know him and his past better. After spending a lot of time with Avi, the doctor concludes that the child has Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). It’s like having two people living in one house together - Avi and J. When one wakes the other sleeps and vice versa. Avi doesn’t remember any actions of J and when Avi is active J isn’t there. J is aware of Avi’s presence and that he lives inside Avi but Avi knows nothing about J. This disorder can be traced back to his traumatic childhood when his father physically and mentally abused Avi and his mother. His mother was everything to him and his mind couldn’t handle her death. His mind fractured and created J to help him cope with this trauma. For example, J was born with a limp on the day of the accident and it remains with him to date. J’s role is to protect Avi. The psychiatrist isn’t in favour of telling Avi about J as he fears it will lead to the child’s social ostracization due to the stigma around mental illness. He suggests that Avi’s psychotherapy be started.

In the present, the DNA reports of Pritpal’s pen arrive. The blood group on the pen is different from Pritpal’s blood group. This means that the pen has the killer’s blood group, i.e., O +ve. But they don’t have any suspect to match it with. Kabir, Prakash and Jaiprakash head back after taking this report and get stuck in a traffic jam because of a politician’s birthday. Kabir engages in a fight with the workers of the political party which is recorded on video by the bystanders.

Natasha and Abha check out from the hotel and get back on the road. Avi follows them. There is an awkwardness between the two women because of the kiss that almost happened last night. Abha initiates a conversation about it. Natasha apologises to her while Abha says that she isn’t sorry as she wanted it to happen. Abha makes a move on Natasha.

Back to young Avi’s story - his family doesn’t come to take him home for vacations. The principal assures him that he can stay in the hostel with him. Avi feels lonely in the hostel. He tries to take his own life by attempting to jump off the school building. The principal sees him and rushes to stop him. The next moment we see Avi coming back and walking with a limp. This is actually J who saved Avi’s life. Avi’s psychiatrist suggests that they should let J be with Avi till he is mentally stable.

Avi and Abha continue their plan to take Natasha to Shiv Teela. Avi guides Abha on the directions and tells her what to say to Natasha to make her turn left. Abha does so and says something about living in the moment to Natasha. Abha seduces her and tells her to take the next left as there is a deserted spot. Natasha follows her lead and takes the turn. They stop and get out of the car. Abha handcuffs Natasha to the car and Avi comes into the picture. Natasha is confused as to what is happening. Abha starts recording and Avi deliberately limps in the video to leave a clue for the police so that they go after a man who limps. Avi pushes Natasha’s car off the cliff and with it goes Natasha. Abha sends the video to the contact she had saved on Natasha’s phone as directed by the kidnapper.

Avi and Abha don’t talk on their way back. They leave their car mid-way and sanitize it to clear their fingerprints and take a bus back to Delhi.

In the final scene of the episode, we are again taken in flashback to the moment when young Avi and Natasha formed a bond in Nainital. Natasha insists on going inside his hostel and Avi reluctantly takes her. Natasha makes a move on him and they almost kiss when Avi’s class teacher spots them. Natasha puts all the blame on Avi so that her parents are not called. This makes Avi switch to J. To punish him, the class teacher makes J slap himself. So, this suggests that J took revenge on Natasha by killing her.

The sixth episode of Breathe: Into the Shadows was quite interesting. Now that the killer and his motives are revealed, will J continue to carry out murders or will Avi get any psychological help?

Episode Rating: 3/5