We’ve gotten used to the show beginning with symbolic openings. This episode begins with mannequins burning. Then little boys appear and stuff a human skeleton with tiny sized barbie dolls. What does this mean? Let’s discuss that in a second. 

Right now, the Churails business is thriving. They begin helping underprivileged women out. Women hide the “Mard Ko Dard Hoga” posters in their bras, tiffins, kitchen cabinets. Once again the symbols of female oppression are turned into a source of power. The Churails are distributing free rape whistles and pepper spray. 

We see the skeleton from the first scene exploding. Women are made from men’s ribs and they play the role of protectors. But the manner in which they’re expected to protect is by sacrificing themselves. Back in the interrogation room, the Churails tells the police officer that they wanted to play by the rules but the rules were written by men to favour them. The rules were written to ensure that women become sacrificial lambs. So they had to write their own rules. This episode is titled Ghulami which means servitude. Men expect unquestioning servitude from women. In this episode, we will see for the first time, questions being asked, rules being broken. This is where the dissidence begins. 

While staking out a man, two of our older Churails, Batool’s friends who were in prison together say that they don’t men, just each other…for all their needs. There is a subtle nod to lesbianism here which introduces the idea without becoming the main problem in a story. This tasteful inclusion of diversity is why I find Churails such an interesting show. 

They beat up the man they are staking out and threaten him in a simple retaliatory manner. He is a wife beater. They tell him that every time she is injured, they will show up and beat him up in a similar manner. She loses a nail. They yank out his nail. 

The women are feeling enabled. They go to a restaurant and observe men harassing girls. Zubeida immediately walks over, burkha in tow and beats up all the men. This incident makes it to the news and Sara is unhappy. She says that incidents like this can really blow up their cover, but the others find it amusing. Zubeida apologises insincerely and they move on. 

Sheela is one of the Churails. Her family appears at the office with some awful news. Sheela’s mother has been murdered by a moneylender who they owed huge debts to. The father is in a wheelchair and unable to support the family. Shown in flashback, we see that Sheela’s mother tries to pacify him, but he gets angry, locks the father in a room and stabs the mother with a knife. Jugnoo asks if they’ve gone to the police, but the police is in cahoots with the money lender and there is no refuge. 

Sheela begs Sara to take the case as a lawyer but Sara refuses. This immediately draws judgement from her team. Honestly, Sara is doing a lot already. I don’t think it’s fair to ask her to solve everyone’s problems. She is outvoted by her team and they agree to go Hyderabad and take the case. Batool is furious with this story, so Jugnoo stops her from going. She thinks that Batool is volatile and some distance would likely be better for her. 

When they get to Hyderabad, immediately, everything seems fishy. The bloodstains are not in the kitchen, which is where Sheela claimed her mother died. Then her story changes. Jugnoo wonders why Sheela’s father didn’t call her with the news. Batool has hacked into Sheela’s father’s phone and knows that he did not appear suddenly in Karachi. Jugnoo overhears Sheela telling her sister to continue hiding the truth. She asks Zubeida to investigate, so Zubeida spends the night chatting with Sheela’s sister who caves in and confesses that her mother killed herself. 

Sara confronts Sheela. Sheela says she lied so that Sara would come down and help her. Sheela already knows that her mother killed herself and she wants revenge. She wants the moneylender to forgive the debt and rot in jail for the emotional trauma he offloaded on to her family. 

We see another flashback of what happened. This time it is the truth. The money lender asks for the money, but leaves giving them four days to clear their debts. The mother locks the father in a room and says that this man will never leave them alone. She wants that their debts should not affect their children. The mother kills herself so that her daughters can be free. 

Sara is furious. She has been tricked into this trip. But Sheela tells her that she knew she needed her and this was the only way. Sara is all but ready to leave and not get involved in the situation any further.

Sheela’s little sister intervenes and takes Sara, Jugnoo and Zubeida to a nearby bangle factory. Everyone from the village works there. She talks about the factory conditions and how all the workers are exploited. They get diseases and have short life expectancy. But they tolerate everything because it is their only source of livelihood. She tells them that Amma wanted to end that life for herself and her daughters. And this was the only way. As a viewer, I find this storyline a bit incredulous. How can murdering yourself be a reasonable way of getting out of debt? 

Sara is upset, but she tells Jugnoo that she can relate. She says “A mother can do anything for her children.” Except Jugnoo’s parents weren’t there for her and Sara immediately apologises. But we’re still not getting any hints about what happened with Jugnoo and her parents. Sara wonders if they should go ahead with their plan. This feels like a point of no return to her. This is first time they will be doing something illegal. Jugnoo tells her that there is nothing in the past to return to. Sara makes a call to Jameel and asks him to pull some strings. 

The next day she goes to the moneylender and gets him arrested. He asks them to take it easy on him because he’s innocent and because he too has a family to support. Sara asks him to pay the family compensation in exchange for not going to jail. The money lender agrees. 

Sheela is grateful and asks Sara if she can come back to work. But Sara refuses. I don’t blame her. If you can’t trust someone, you cannot have them work with you or around you. 

Everyone goes home and contemplates. Sheela’s photo is shred at the agency. Sara reads to her kids. Jugnoo looks at a photo and downs her hip flask. It’s a photo of an ultrasound. I really wish we’d get to Jugnoo’s issues quickly. There is so much hinted at - bad marriage, problems with parents, maybe sexual harassment and now this seems to hint an abortion to me. Sheela settles into a new life away from her village. It seems like she may finally have a shot at happiness.  

Batool too is contemplative. She looks at old photos. She then goes to an adoption agency with a bag of cash. With that bag, she bribes them to find out where he biological daughter lives. Aha! That’s the photograph in the locket that she stared at from the first season. 

Back at the interrogation, we see the policeman questioning Batool. What crime did she go to jail for? Batool tells us with no regrets that she murdered her husband by burning his penis with an iron and then cracking his skull open with the same iron. She had a child from that marriage, a daughter. Most likely she had to give her up when she went to prison and now she’s decided to track her down. 

This episode had some strong themes, but for the ridiculous storyline of the mother killing herself it wasn’t my favorite. The previous episodes were stronger and I hope the upcoming episodes are able to keep up because these characters are fascinating. 

Episode Rating 2.5/5