Amazon Prime’s latest thriller “Pataal Lok” kickstarts with a decent mystery interwoven with thrilling scenes with a nice canvas to build its characters upon. Season 1 Episode 1 of Pataal Lok begins with Hathi Ram Choudhary talking to Ansari about the three universes, referred to as “Swarg Lok” which consists of the gods, “Dharti Lok” which consists of humans and the “Paatal Lok” which is the netherworld consisting of Insects. As the cops continue to discuss the cockroaches of their Outer
Jamuna Par area, they’re called to a domestic disturbance which is an everyday occurrence for these officers.
Meanwhile, unable to get on call with “Master ji”, the team consisting of 3 men and a woman, decide to leave their hotel in a hurry without even paying the cancelled bills. While they’re on the road, they are chased by undercover police cars that corner them on a bridge and holds them up at gunpoint, bringing the chase to a standstill. In the middle of this chaos, one of the team members, throws a yellow phone off the bridge into the river below. According to me, this scene was the
highpoint of the episode as it raised questions of the content of the mobile phone that was thrown deliberately.
In the aftermath of this, DCP Bhagat introduces Inspector Chaudhary to the four accused who are detained and taken down to the station under charges of conspiracy to murder. At the station, the constables try interrogating them for their names. With all of them remaining tight-lipped, a lady constable takes the female aside and forces her to strip down while slapping her numerous times while constantly being on her phone. The sheer ignorance portrayed by the female constable while
interrogating could be a problem in the future.
Chaudhary becomes the leader of this investigation and feels very useful, after ages. The News of their target leaks to the press who catch wind that journalist Sanjeev Mehra is the one they were after. Sanjeev has a bad day at work and heads home but finds reporters swarming around his house, causing disturbance for his wife Dolly who remains stuck in the house, suffering with serious anxiety. When she goes outside to feed “Savitri” her dog, she is blinded by the media paparazzi and
feels attacked. Unable to deal with this stress right now, Sanjeev heads to a bar alone and starts drinking until one of his colleagues, Sara Matthews, approaches him and they share a drink.
Meanwhile, Choudhary gets back home and discusses his new job to his wife, believing if he can crack the case, he could be looking at a promotion soon.
The next day, Choudhary gets a lead on one of the names behind this conspiracy; Tope Singh.
Believing he’s the ringleader, he heads over to speak to Sanjeev. He inquires if Sanjeev has had any old enemies or suspects related to the case. Unfortunately, he gets no proper replies and the plot remains confused. Then, Ansari starts to find the criminal histories of the suspects and finds out that one of the men is the infamous “Hathoda Tyagi” who is the most wanted criminal in Chitrakoot with cases of kidnapping, extortion and committing 45 murders throughout his life without being
convicted. The revelation of Tyagi’s background makes the plot very interesting as It shows the extremities involved in this conspiracy to murder. As Choudhary and Ansari visit his cell, he stares at them holding his hands up, revealing he is one finger short and the episode ends here. This mini cliff-hanger on the first episode itself excited me a lot.
With a strong foundational built and the cinematography, this series remains very gripping. The slow uncovering of events really keeps us on the edge and think about possible narrative outcomes. Can’t wait to see what’s more in store!
 

Episode Rating 4.5/5