Spoilers Ahead

Tandav is hailed as Amazon’s hottest new show. The trailer made it appear as though we were going to see excellent political moves and chess-like strategic thinking in this drama. There were enough chess sets in the background of various scenes to make that point subtly. 

The story begins with a man, Samar Pratap Singh, so drunk with power that he murders his own father to gain political leadership of his party. His wife in-tow, this Macbethean story sets up a fantastic premise, when we discover that the dead’s father grieving mistress, Anuradha Kishore, knows about the conspiracy and blackmails the son for personal political gain. I was really excited at this point.

However, this was the pinnacle of the show and after this moment everything stopped making sense. 

Samar Pratap Singh decides that bringing a young man, Shiva, into politics is the key to beating Anuradha. Then we spend the next 4 episodes watching some inane student politics and this “next Prime Minister” of India being far too involved with these students for some unknown, but hopefully exciting reason. Except…it never comes. 

SPS’s right hand man, Gurpal, just investigates Anuradha like an intelligent person and gains an upper hand over her. And thus, she is diffused as an enemy. So my question is - if they had that option then why did we spend 4 episodes watching random student politics and a whiny Saif Ali Khan? He should have just gone for the jugular from day one.

Side note: The way that Anuradha’s team unravels is also really silly. Once again, I was expecting master political moves. Not the secretary of the Prime Minister of India crumbling at the first empty threat that came her way. Seriously! If our Indian politicians were so weak, we would have no problem of corruption anymore!

After going through this entire ordeal - we finally see Samar getting what he wanted. Remember, he’s a ruthless and dangerous megalomaniac. This is the man who was willing to murder his own father for power. He has caused riots in a village, stolen land from farmers, gotten innocent students knocked off for some far off, maybe, future gains. 

He’s finally becoming a Prime Minister and we’re excited to see how he will truly play out the role of a politician now that he no longer has obstacles in front of him. 

Except that he decides that he doesn’t want the power?! He decides that he’d rather continue playing politics for no reason than actually go after the power that is finally at his feet?

Bah! No characters’ story arc is smart or makes any sense. Give me a break. And the eight hours of my life back.