The major twist in Pamaal is here and it’s really not the one we wanted. The bad guy turns good because surprise, surprise the only way an emotionally abused woman can leave a man is if the man dies, that too an early death with stage 4 cancer. Gone in 40 days, quite conveniently.
It’s just not the trajectory we hoped for, especially for Malika (Saba Qamar) who was supposed to find strength on her own, not because the pain was ‘tragically’ taken from her. We now have to feel bad for this guy who turned her into a beychari, albeit a rich beychari and she should be happy with that (right), and now he’ll have to die for her to find herself.
Exactly the lesson we do not want women to learn. It is very, very clear in episodes 18-19 that Malika would’ve never left Raza (Usman Mukhtar), if fate had not given him cancer (that is also so advanced, he’s only got a few days to live).
Would we want a Malika who will now make it on her own because of a dead husband or did we want the one who found herself even if he was alive?
Obviously, the latter but it’s clear that we won’t get that because it is now emotional abuser Raza who is telling Malika that she needs to be stronger, more independent to take care of her child since he won’t be around anymore.
Malika’s mother is no less obstinate, talking about how life ends when the husband dies and its almost like the first 15 episodes were a joke compared to what we are seeing now.
It makes little sense that Saba Qamar would pick a drama that was going on a very different trajectory and is now turning into an entirely new one. Initially when we saw this drama it prompted women to relate to Malika, telling their own stories or stories of other women they knew who were feeling trapped in their marriages to controlling men.
And all of a sudden the drama flips, Raza is a great guy with troubles not of his own making, Malika is the loving wife, and it’s such a contrast that we actually feel let down.
What remains to be seen is how Pamaal will recover from making Raza, the clear villain, the tragic hero and if women will now be able to relate because what we refuse to relate to is that to get out of an emotionally abusive marriage, it has to be fate that will help you – not yourself.