The episode begins media res. Men are gathering outside Halal Designs and throwing stones at the store. In the symbolic world. men are putting up semi-naked pictures of women on clothespins. In present time, Batool is in the hospital. She has been found and rescued by Jugnoo who doesn’t leave her sardonic wit, even under the circumstances. Zubeida is also present for support.

In the police station, we get a glimpse of a cop (perhaps the same one interrogating them this whole time?). He is watching items songs in a sleazy way. Shehna has been taken into custody after her husband’s Nihari dish is discovered. Shehnaz sings like a canary and tells the police about the Churails. The first cut is the deepest.

The policemen begin investigating the Churails. They visit Halal Designs with the hope that they can find the undercover operation. The main officer sees Batool at the store and he stares at her? Either he knows her, or he’s attracted to her? We see that he’s sitting opposite her in another scene. He’s clearly the man interrogating her in the flash forward scenes. 

Sara Khan can anticipate that this will happen and has cleaned up the shop. The police find absolutely nothing. He threatens Sara saying that she should close her shop. Sara stands tall and refuses to do so until a valid reason is given to them. 

This angers the main investigating officer. He calls the media and leaks the news about Churails out of frustration. A media shitstorm is brewing. People appear outside the store and start trying to get interviews from Jugnoo and Sara. A couple of them stand outside trying to keep the reporters out. 

A jeep is summoned for Sara from Jameel. As she walks through the media circus, she gets flashbacks to the time she defended Jameel against sexual harassment claims. She stood up for him then and she’s doing the same for herself now. Jameel asks her if the allegations are true. She remembers that many years ago, she asked Jameel the same question about the sexual harassment and he lied. She lies now in the same way. Jameel is adamant that Sara needs to shut her shop down but she refuses. 

The other Churails are sitting at the beach. Chutki tries to call Sheela so that she can give her an acting audition. She feels that everything is ending. But the Baby Doll and Pinky convince her that they have each other. Meanwhile, Batool goes to the police officer and tries to take the blame for everything. This is noble, but also kind of true. If it wasn’t for Batool, this shit would not have hit the fan. The cop and Batool definitely seem to have some chemistry. 

Jugnoo is having financial troubles. She goes to the “gays” to ask for help, they give her a contract for a circumcision party. She is not happy about this, but she takes it because she needs the money. A woman leaves her baby with Jugnoo and we see Jugnoo’s softer maternal side for one brief moment. The woman then whispers to Jugnoo that she knows all about the Churails and she’s really impressed with the work that they’ve been doing. 

The police hasn’t found anything at all. So the police inspector tells his boss that they need to bury this case due to lack of evidence. Maybe he’s doing this because he likes Batool? I’m not the only one who thinks so because back in the interrogation room in present day, Batool asks him the same question. 

In our main story of the past, the office makes an announcement to the media that the Churails have been given a clean chit. The media wonders if the police is relenting because of political pressure exercised by Jameel Khan. 

We see Jameel gardening. This is clearly a hobby that he enjoys. Sara and Jameel seem to be reaching a place of mutual respect. But I don’t trust this man still.

Despite the press conference, the media is not leaving Halal Designs alone. Men are feeling “threatened”. *Cue the eyerolls*

When the rock hits the glass, the women come out wearing burkhas and holding hockey sticks and steel plates. Man start throwing stones at them and while a few of them get hit, they take the fight to the streets and hit back. While I love the idea of women taking a fight to the streets head on and protecting themselves, this is not the smartest thing to do…realistically speaking. The policeman breaks up the fight and then tells Batool to take it easy for a few days. 

Jameel Khaan is worried. There is a mob of people outside his house. His children get home safely. He calls someone named Ifti and asks him to handle Jugnoo. The women decide not to hire security and stay at the store at night themselves. The two ex-cons are arguing. Babli is staying the night and Pinky does not feel good about this. They are in love and Pinky is worried about Babli’s safety. Babli reassures her saying that she wants to do this and convinces Pinky to leave her. Shams tell Zubeida that he wants to leave all this, but he knows that Zubeida has too much fire to not be a part of the Churails life. Sara leaves to go home to come back in one hour to the store. 

Meanwhile, Jugnoo is visited by her Chachoo. This must be Ifti (Iftekar?) who Jameel had called earlier. The Chachoo starts by saying “I love women but…” and I know a sexist rant is coming and it’s the usual BS women have to hear from men all the time. He offers to leave some guards for her, but she refuses them. He tells her to go meet her father but she refuses. 

Sara gets home, only to be confronted by media vultures. She is about to leave, but Jameel is too concerned. He does not let her leave, telling her that her kids need her. Sara calls Chutki and lets her know that she will not be able to come. Chutki reassures her saying that they have everything under control. Everyone goes to bed. 

Sara remembers the time when she lied to protect Jameel. The woman that comes to her tells her that she’s lying and asks her why she won’t accept the truth. Sara is ruthless and tells her that she’ll do anything for her husband. This is a very different Sara from the one we know now. She thinks about this moment and deletes the pictures of women from Jameel’s phone. Nooo! Don’t do the girl. Always keep evidence of your husband’s indiscretions in case he becomes an asshole in the future. Never cover or hide or destroy - at least not from yourself. Anyway, it seems like Sara has forgiven her. 

At the store, things escalate quickly. The angry men throw molotov cocktails in the store. The store catches fire. Chutki and Dilbar immediately wake up. Babli is in the bathroom. They try to get to her but she’s locked the door, is wearing headphones and smoking weed. The headphones stop her from hearing Chutki, she confuses the weed smoke with the building smoke and no one is able to enter and tell her otherwise. This seems forced. Everyone knew that things were bad, it was the very reason that they were spending the night at the store. In this situation why you would incapacitate yourself from being alert makes no sense. At the very least, she would have smelled fire. Babli does finally figure it out and she jumps out the front window. But she’s caught fire in the process. 

Sara gets a call from a woman and goes to meet her. The woman tells her that she’s friends with Sheela, and that she is missing. She hasn’t been seen in weeks and her stuff is lying at someone else’s house, unclaimed. Sara refuses to help find Sheela. She seems to be losing the confidence and drive that we’ve come to expect and love from her. One question - how did Sara manage to leave the house when the paparazzi was outside her house? Hmmm…

The Churails are at the hospital. Jugnoo is heading that way, but Sara has no courage left. She was supposed to be at the store. Both of them seem shaken and lost. This episode is titled Hudood which is a set of laws and punishments that will be levied on people. People will be punished for their hubris, their sins and even their hope. No one can escape that. Not women and especially not Churails. At the hospital, Dilbar and Babli are burnt and injured. The cop visits as well and sees Batool. They share a moment of tenderness. 

I like that this show explores unlikely relationships. Batool is an older woman. Jugnoo comes from a different class than the Dilbar. Babli and Pinky are queer as was Ehtesham Khalid. People can fall love in so many different ways. By showing these relationships, Churails takes a big step in normalising them (though perhaps not in Pakistan, where this show is banned). 

Batool decides that she can no longer sit and throw herself a pity party. She finds a photograph of her daughter from her adoptive parents and gives it to Shams asking him to find her. 

There is another mystery though. Since the first episode we’ve been seeing a girl tied up in a warehouse in a red dress. We finally get close enough to see that it’s Zubeida! Zubeida has been missing from the interrogation room scenes. She has bruises on her face, her hair is dishevelled. A man pulls her hair back roughly. Seems like this is not the lowest point for the Churails. More Hudood is just around the corner.

Episode Rating 4/5