Tandav has an interesting storyline, but the way it’s told is a bit jarring. There is a lot of unnecessary shifting of timelines which only serves to confuse the viewer. The first scene is set 18 years ago and doesn’t really add much to the story. If there is some relevance that will be revealed later, then I don’t know, but at this point, it is just annoying. 

Devki Nandan is speaking to a politician and they disagree. After he leaves, Devki Nandan asks Gurpal to dispose off him in an accident. Samar is shocked, but Devki Nandan tells him that all is fair in politics. I guess they’re trying to establish that Samar gets his ruthlessness from his father, but did we really need a random scene to establish that?

Anyway, back in the present day Gurpal informs Samar that the doctors are too scared and he doesn’t believe that they would betray Samar. So that’s a dead end. Samar asks Gurpal if he believes that Shiva will join politics. Gurpal tells him that Shiva is a leftie. The conversation is left inconclusive. 

Samar is being haunted by his father’s ghost. For someone who’s supposed to be a shrewd “taanashah” politician, he sure seems to be weaker than everyone else around him. Neither Gurpal nor Ayesha have even a moment’s guilt. Samar also hasn’t orchestrated anything brilliant since his take down of Gopal Das. Yawn!

The cops in the police station discuss how they are going to frame all the students as terrorists. Having said that, the VNU protests yield results and Imran is finally free. He goes on to give a speech to the students and is lauded as a brave activist. 

Elsewhere, the dumb son of Anuradha, Raghu wants to throw her a party in celebration of her becoming Prime Minister. Anuradha immediately shoots down the idea. They are in mourning over the death of Devki Nandan. She is smart and doesn’t want to make the mistake that was very costly to Gopal Das. 

Samar faces backlash from his decision to nominate Anuradha. Aditi Mishra, a senior party official who is close to him, is annoyed that he didn’t tell her about his decision. He also gets condemnation from Vijay Shekhawat, a party leader who rallies support for Samar amongst party workers only to find that Anuradha is getting the Prime Minister’s seat. His son has died in the meanwhile and he is ruthless in expressing his anger and frustration with Samar. 

JLD holds a press conference to announce to the press the decisions being taken. In the conference, Samar stands by Anuradha. However, Anuradha announces that she will be forming a Special Advisory Committee which will be headed by Samar Pratap Singh. 

What a huge blow to this young megalomaniac. Forget the prime ministership, he is not even getting his own ministry. A Special Advisory Committee will have no teeth and no real power and everyone knows it. Ayesha is pissed off. She realises that Anuradha is trying to cut Samar out of the party. Samar states that the only things they need are Home and Defence Ministry. He asks Gurpal to reach out to Jigar Sampath on his behalf. Anuradha’s team isn’t naive. They are well aware that this is what Samar will want. They plan their moves dependent on this piece of information. One key piece here will be Aditi Mishra - since she seems to be up for the Defence Ministry which Anuradha wants to give to her son Raghu. Anuradha is a close ally of Samar and therefore, not trustworthy to the new Prime Minister. 

Anuradha attends a TV debate against Shiva Shekhar on Samar’s request. She tries to invite Shiva to join the party, but he declines. He doesn’t want to be in politics, preferring to stick to Civil Services. 

Gurpal connects with JLD’s youth party called CJLD. CJLD students at VNU inform his that they will be unlikely to win. There is a wave of support for the left party SAI on the back of the farmer’s protest. Gurpal needs to solve for this. He asks the students to collect all the information possible on Chetan Kranti, the leader of the SAI party. 

Back at the offices of JLD, Anuradha offers the Home Ministry to Gopal Das. He refuses because he doesn’t want to report to a woman (sexist much?). Instead, he would prefer to hold on to his position of being a party leader. He then tries to tell Anuradha how to divide the ministries but she refuses to engage. She also calls Aditi and tells her to take Women and Child Welfare - a ministry with less importance that Defence. 

Back at VNU, Sandhya is concerned about her appointment as dean. Kailash is going to get the HRD ministry. Sandhya thinks that people will gossip that she only got the appointment because of her connections with Kailash. She wonders if she should reject the offer. But Kailash tells her that she deserves it and she should take it. 

In another corner of the campus, Sana and Jigar are having sex. Jigar is still hung up on his ex-wife and he says as much to Sana. She gets pissed off and leaves. Jigar is really giving off creepy vibes. Sana is intelligent and gorgeous - she can do better than be stuck in this toxic relationship. 

SAI is trying to convince Shiva to run for elections from their party. Shiva is oblivious to the influence he casts, until the farmers show up on campus to thank him. Thanks to his mobilisation, the factory that was to be built in Malakpur is cancelled. The farmers are able to get their lands back and for this they are grateful. 

Jigar meets Samar covertly - turns out they are college buddies. We learn a little more about Samar’s past. He too was a student politician at VNU once upon a time. 

Sana and Shiva are walking and she tries to convince him to join politics. He tells her that the video that went viral was fake and that was wrong. It’s great to see that he still has his conscience intact and understands the difference between right and wrong. But Sana explains to him that not everyone can wield the kind of influence that he does. He needs to be a politician for that reason. With this logic, Shiva relents and decides to join SAI. Everyone in college is excited, SAI leaders are excited. But person the person most excited is Samar Pratap Singh. 

Episode Rating 2/5