Tandav Season 1 Episode 8 Recap - Tandav
Tandav has meandered it’s way into some kind of storyline that makes less sense with each progressive episode.
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This episode picks up right where the last one left off. Gurpal and Maithili are sitting in his car and drinking. Gurpal realises that Maithili wouldn’t chase a tip so aggressively unless Anuradha’s team didn’t have proof. Maithili’s face is transparent as glass. Really, you would think a woman in a position of so much power would be a better politician herself. She immediately lets it be known that they genuinely don’t have proof and that Anuradha knew about Samar’s plans to murder his father. What a fool she is! Gurpal then threatens her family and tells her to do the “right thing”.
He wants proof implicating Anuradha. After all a co-conspirator to murder will also not be eligible for the PM position.
Ayesha calls up Gurpal because she can’t get through to Samar. Gurpal tries but is similarly unsuccessful. We see that Samar and Aditi Mishra are having an affair. No surprises there. Aditi wonders if their relationship mirrors Devki Prasad and Anuradha’s affair. This leads to a fight between them.
Samar is back at home with his wife and Gurpal. They decide to trace how the information about Aconite could have leaked. Remember, the anonymous caller is still unidentified. I don’t understand why this wasn’t done sooner. Tracing that loose end should have been their first priority.
Shiva and Sana speak. He informs her that he is forming his own party and obviously wants her by her side. She seems distant. Most likely the guilt of her actions is catching up with her.
Sandhya informs Kailash that she is pregnant. She expects him to be happy but he is pissed off. Thanks to Jigar and Samar, everyone already knows. The news has been leaked in the media. The problem is that Kailash is still married to his wife. He lied to Sandhya about his divorce getting finalised. Sandhya is obviously upset. She wanted to marry him and have kids. Sandhya tells him this and that she wants to come clean in public and no longer hide their relationship. But Kailash is not ready. He tells her that it’s not a good time and asks her to leave from the back door. I feel bad for both of them. Here’s one more #toxicrelationship.
The administration is giving Shiva a hard time. They refuse to postpone the elections. Shiva has studied the University handbook and tells them that they have to do since people in their party have…what was it?…oh yeah…DIED. He brings the students body to protest against this refusal and the administration relents.
Shiva then unveils his news party. He talks about the rage he feels at the injustices of his times. He is not the politician or the leftist, he is the everyman. His party name is Tandav. Apt both for the rage metaphor and the fact that his name is Shiva.
Sana tries to visit Chetan in jail. Gurpal gets an immediate notification of this. This man is everywhere. He informs Samar Pratap Singh. Sana is about to tell Chetan of the scam that has locked him in, but she receives a threat on her phone, chickens out and leaves. Samar calls up his friend Jigar and tells her to take care of Sana because she is getting out of hand. Jigar promises that Sana will not be a liability. He thanks his friend for leaking to the press about Sandhya’s pregnancy. This has thrown a spanner in her relationship. This professor is really an asshole. He just wants to screw up the lives of all the women around him.
Shiva is giving more fiery speeches on campus. He goes to Sana and tells her that he loves her. When she doesn’t respond, he doesn’t get angry. I really like Shiva’s character and I am filled with dread at the thought that he too will be corrupted in this game of politics.
Gurpal is testing the doctors with what appears to be truth serum to ensure that he can trust them. This is highly illegal everywhere in the world. So this scene came across to me as almost comical. Maithili calls Gurpal and tells him that she has what he needs. She has recorded Anuradha confessing to the crimes.
In this episode all the women are making dumb decisions. This include Anuradha who has given this long speech to Maithili about her sins allowing herself to get implicated. Everything we know of Anuradha so far suggests that she would be too smart to give herself up like that. These plot progressions seem contrived.
The episode ends with a love scene between Samar and Ayesha. Ayesha has an indecipherable expression on her face. Ayesha is such a great character, but remains unexplored. So far she’s only been the supporting wife. But her ruthlessness reads to me as having more complex layers. I would honestly, love to see more from her. Wouldn’t it be great if she’s the anonymous caller trying to take revenge on her husband for his infidelities? And perhaps amassing power for herself along the way?
These are of course, wild theories. More to come in the next recap.
Episode Rating 2/5