Tandav has set up a great premise. Now the question is - can they keep up the excitement?

We are transported to 16 hours before the funeral. Maithili is the personal assistant of Anuradha Kishore. She gets a call from an anonymous caller. He tells her that Devki Nandan has been murdered by his son. He asks for 100 crores. Anuradha is listening on speakerphone and refuses. 100 crores is too big a sum of money on what might be a prank call. The caller then asks for 1 crore for a bit of proof. He says that he will provide the full picture after they’re convinced that he has something real. 

I have so many questions. Who is this caller? How does he know about the murder? And why does he go to Anuradha with this news?

Anyway, Maithili follows his direction and drops of the 1 crore. In return she gets a slip that has the word ACONITE written on it. Aconite is the poison that Samar has used to murder his father. 

Back in present day, Samar is sitting with his wife Ayesha, Gurpal and two people Ajay and Divya. Presumably these are the people closest to him. They are talking about the leak and wondering who could be behind it. The only people that they don’t trust are the two doctors who were involved in providing the diagnosis for his father’s death - Dr Pathak and Dr Sooraj. Gurpal takes charge of finding out more. He sends someone to install CCTV cameras in both the doctors’ houses so he can track their whereabouts. 

Samar is worried. He confides in Ayesha that if the doctors are behind the leak, that’s a good thing because he can take care of them. If it isn’t them, then the situation is worse because he doesn’t know where to start looking for a tattle tale. 

Anuradha has figured out that the tip is true because Samar has acted on it. She now wants the full proof. 

The students of VNU have now joined hands with the farmers and are organising more protests. Sana is meeting someone romantically (and secretly) in the library. He turns out to be a professor - Jigar Sampath (played by none other than the gorgeous Dino Morea). We soon learn that Jigar is married to another professor Sandhya, who is soon to become the dean of VNU. Jigar and Sandhya are separated and she is now romantically involved with Kailash, a senior leader in the JLD party. Jigar piles an accusation - that she’s only getting the dean position because of her political connections. Sounds like a case of sour grapes to me. 

Samar is feeling guilty as he keeps get flashbacks of his father sitting dead on his throne. While this moment gives off Macbeth vibes, Lady Macbeth is absent. Ayesha has been stoic this whole time. She tells Samar that he did what he had to do and that she should not feel guilty. She is starring in her own show and it’s called House of Cards, methinks.

Shiva Shekhar meanwhile is rallying up the crowds at the latest protest. This man is meant to be a politician is seems. 

Anuradha gets voted in, uncontested because of support provided from Samar and Gopal Das. Samar is deeply unhappy and realises that he needs a catalyst to diffuse Anuradha’s position of power. On the television, Shiva Shekhar’s speech is being aired. Samar smiles. He’s found his pawn.

Episode Rating 3/5