Churails Episode 2 begins with mannequins lining the floor once again. We see Sara getting interrogated by the police. She says that there was no dearth of betrayed women in Karachi. 

In the flashback, we see the Churails recruiting a team. They use all their networks and source people wherever possible - from Zubeida’s college to Batool’s cell mates. They test women on various skills - computer hacking, seducing men, pickpocketing, opening locked briefcases, etc. From these tests they hire seven women with different skills. 

The next phase is finding clients. Jugnoo starts using her position as a socialite. She goes to weddings, funerals, any function she can and starts talking about Churails. Whisper networks have long been used by women as a means to arms themselves against sexual harassers. I love seeing it used here to enable women to find out truth. 

The team also starts distributing fliers that say Mard Ko Dard Hoga. It is a covert operation where they advertise the clothing store to the men, and the agency to the women. They wear burkhas as they do this. Churails shows women using symbols of oppression - the burkha, the high heels - to snatch power away from themselves.

Despite all the publicity, no one comes to the store at first. So Jugnoo does, what she does best - create hype. She pays a bunch of actors to stand in line outside the store. This is simple but effective. And soon Halal Design is buzzing with customers. A woman comes in and is not interested in the clothes…it’s showtime!

She is taken to a back room where she shares her concerns that her husband is about to cheat on her with his secretary. She keeps repeating over and over again that her husband is a good man. It’s the secretary who’s seducing him. And the Churails have their first case. 

Sara and Sheela go on a stake out. They are tracking the man. While following him, Sheela confesses to Sara that she had dreams of becoming an actress. They follow the man around and establish a pattern - he takes his secretary to a restaurant regularly. 

Jugnoo happens to know the owner of the restaurant. Using her contacts (and a little bit of blackmail) Jugnoo gets a waitress position which they fill up with Munni. Munni’s job is to wait on the man and secretly leave a camera and audio recording device behind while serving them. She does this expertly and the Churails catch the man trying to seduce his secretary. He says that if she sleeps with him, he’ll give her a big raise. Yuck! What a horrible man! His wife can’t bring herself to believe this, so she passes moral judgement on Sara and leaves. 

Sara wonders if they’re doing the right thing and she shares her concerns with Jugnoo. Jugnoo loves the money they are earning. But she also points out to Sara that they can only uncover the truth, not pass judgement on people. Sara, the lawyer, is convinced by this argument. 

Next, we see a montage of business booming. Lots of women, lots of cheating husbands. Everything is going great for the Churails. They are making lots of money. The girls are shopping. Zubeida sends money home. Things are great! This montage is set to Da Da Dasse from Udta Punjab. I must take a moment to give a huge shoutout to the music of this episode. From the opening credit scene to the background music, the music accentuates the plot exceptionally well. 

Zubeida is going through the accounts and realises that they’re only serving rich women. She takes this up with Sara and Jugnoo, who dismiss her concerns saying that it’s early days and they need to focus on making money first. 

Zubeida gets a call from her parents who apologise for the way they treated her and ask her to come home to meet them. Zubeida is touched by this warmth and decides to go see them. Batool and Shams think something is fishy and try to warn her. Batool feels maternal towards Zubeida, while Shams is in love with her and offers to go with her for support. Zubeida doesn’t listen to them and leaves to go see her parents alone. 

At her parents’ house, her mother fusses over her and puts on make up. When the phone rings, her mother puts the phone away and says that this day has to be reserved for family only. Shams is trying to call Zubeida, but she does not pick up. He starts worrying about her and reaches her house.  Shams sees a baaraat at Zubeida’s doorstep. 

Sara meanwhile is reading to her children. The children know something is wrong between the parents, but Sara brushes off their concerns. She gets a call and immediately asks to be picked up. She tucks her children in bed, opens a cupboard and contemplates taking a gun. But then changes her mind. 

Zubeida is teased by her brother. He says she’s put on too much weight and couldn’t fit into her mother’s wedding dress now. Zubeida accepts the challenge and tries on the dress. No! They are obviously going to force marriage on her! And sure enough, Zubeida comes out to find the house decorated with fairy lights and a boy’s family sitting in there living room. 

The prospective groom and Zubeida are getting some alone time in another room. Zubeida tries to talk him out of the wedding, but he just wants to get this over with, it seems. Zubeida tries to protest, but the maulvi is present and he starts the wedding ceremony. Just at this point, a group of women, our Churails, enter the room and hold guns up to the parents. They force the father to look at Zubeida and recreate the iconic dialogue “Ja, jee le api zindagi.” In the seriousness of the situation, this moment breaks the tension and provides comic relief. As they run to the car, we see that the guns they are holding are toy guns bought at the kids store. Zubeida is reunited with her friends. She is also grateful to Shams for looking out for her. She is finally in a safe space where no one is judging her. 

Sara goes home only to find her husband trying to make up with her. But Sara does not relent. Instead, she brings up a sexual harassment scandal and asks him if it was real. This man is much worse than he looks. 

Jugnoo is sitting alone in her office thinking about Zubeida and parents. She tells Batool that parents should protect their children but they fail so often. The poison passed down in blood. Clearly, Jugnoo is dealing with some past trauma of her own. 

Zubeida comes in and once again tells Jugnoo that they need to focus on underprivileged women as well. Jugnoo agrees. She then gets up to leave the office, when her team invites her to join them for dinner. Jugnoo sits next to them. Looks like all these women have found family, friendship and love in each other. Aika means unity in Urdu. That is the theme of this episode as well as its title. 

But the show is not letting us off on this happy note. We end with Batool being interrogated at the police station. A reminder that this story does not have a happy ending. 

Churails is available for streaming on Zee5. 

Episode Rating 4/5