Shantaram Season 1
Episode No 8 Recap And Review
Episode 8 of Shantaram starts with a flashback as we see how Dale met Gemma. He was placed in a university protest where he was a Bachelor of Philosophy student. Gemma was on drugs and after the protests turned violent, she and Dale took refuge in an ambulance. And so Dale became addicted to heroin.
He has this memory of the meeting and how he abandoned Gemma when she was caught and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He even confesses to her that he did the robbery for her, but she tells him "goodbye". Today, Lin is actually infected with cholera. He doesn't know it yet, but Carla cares about him.
Sunita tries to escape but fails in her attempt. Zhou now keeps it under even tighter security. Carla talks about Lynn Ahmed. He was her friend and Zhou found someone to throw acid on his girlfriend Christina's face. That's when things got heated and he was unfortunately killed in revenge. Lin confesses his love for Carla and she seems to reciprocate his feelings. But his decision to distance himself from his feelings sees him telling Lin to leave Bombay as soon as possible.
Prabhu finally gets Nandiat's permission to court Parvati and he is over the moon. That same morning, Lin wakes up and leaves his hut for the first time in three days. Prabhu greets her and tells her the good news, to which Lin replies that she "needs to have a bowel movement." The entire community is excited to heal Lee, except for Ravi, who hears that Lee opened fire and admitted to killing Lakshmi. Ravi tells this to Prabhu, who is shocked but lies to Ravi about Lee being with him when the fire started.
As a bit of a digression, how annoying is Lin every time she blames herself for everything that isn't her fault? A lot, is the answer. Couldn't that explain a little more that he's always caught at a bad time? It honestly shows such a weak character. Anyway, there are echoes of Lee's decision in the last episode. Rafiq arrives with his henchmen and water bottles and warns the crowd not to make any more deals with Khader. They start breaking the glass and when the people resist, they beat them.
Lin blames himself for this (again) and tries to right the "wrong". Carla meets Sunita at the Palace and Zhou eavesdrops on her. Karla wants Sunita to call Pandey to come to Sara and she can go freely and her debt will be considered paid. But Sunita is determined not to follow suit and says that her love for Pandey is stronger than anything else. He tells Carla about his ordeal. Zhou was left in India by a KGB spy and his enemies followed him.
He suffered a lot at their hands, but he quickly found a way out. The only way he survived was his hatred for his spy. "The only thing stronger than someone's love is the hatred of their absence after they're gone," he says. To break Sunita apart, Karla has to take this love away from her. Prabhu confronts Lin about the fire and she comes clean. But Prabhu makes him see what we see from here – all of Lin's actions don't easily hurt anything that happens. He is indirectly inclined to it, but he is not responsible for everything.
When Modena arrives to collect the money, she is met with ridicule at the hands of Raheem and his men. He speaks cheaply of Lisa and Modena is forced to vent her anger on Lisa. Maurizio suggests that they sell the remaining drugs at a discount and take the money and run. If they stay, Zhou and Khader will have their necks. And so they begin. Lin goes to Khaderbhai after processing Qasim's application. Khader tells her about his plans to buy Sagarwada and Lin feels cheated. But he realizes that Khader's heart is not bad and takes him to Qasim instead.
After that, he will no longer be an intermediary and will deal directly with Gasim. Khader tells Qasim about his plans and is honest about demolishing their house. But he also promises to help the community get out of the situation and do good in their lives. Gasim seems satisfied, but we don't have a clear answer. To counter Rafiq's henchmen, Qasim went to battle with Abdullah and other Sagarwada people the next day and successfully pushed him back. The water and the sun are theirs, they rejoice with festivities.
Abdullah saw Rawit trying to hit Lee but stopped him from harming him further. Abdullah will accept Ravi as a soldier, but he needs to learn and train more. Lee agrees to make the right choice but realizes that he still needs to escape as in this episode too we saw Nishant bringing Red Notice boxes to Kavita from Interpol to see if Lee has committed a heinous crime.
Episode Review
One of Lee's greatest strengths is also his greatest weakness. And watching these episodes is very annoying. The lack of communication with those around them often leads them to believe something else. Even when he has done nothing wrong, he always manages to take the blame for everything.
This observation aside, episode 8 was all about highlighting the unity and oneness of the people of Sagarwada who are battling a disease that the government rightfully needs to fight. Most notably, they do not blame the failed system. Instead, they accept the reality of their situation and rely on each other to get out of a difficult situation.
Even in the last episode, the makers highlighted this inherent part of Indian society where narcissistic decision makers and administrators shirk responsibility. Among other key developments was the improved relationship between Khaderbhai and Qasim, which could see the former actually take over the reins of the place.
He was wise to tell Kasima that their only option was to choose "who" to buy the place, not if it was to be sold. Madame Zhou's backstory certainly pushes her character to the warmer side of our judgment line. He was positioned as an antagonist and his small scene with Carla shows him in a new light.
For Lin, the road ahead looks very difficult. Since he doesn't believe in violence or killing, the only way he can stop Kavita and Nishant is through his own will. Or through Khaderbhai. But the latter is unlikely to happen, as Lin is tight-lipped about his secret.