‘Indian Summers’ Catch-up 8: Will justice be done? Did Ralph kill Jaya?

April 10 2015

As Channel 4’s broadcasts the penultimate episode of its colonial blockbuster this Sunday (April 12), and the tension is ratcheted up a level and some…

By Chayya Syal

CAN WE JUST pause for a second to acknowledge the events of last week’s (April 5) episode from “Indian Summers“?

After an hour of twists, turns and tears, we saw Ramu Sood (Alyy Khan, pictured above) be wrongfully charged with the murder of Jaya (Hasina Haque) and on his way to be hung. The court room – and social media -erupted into chaos with many despairing at the verdict and opened up interesting discussions on the corruption of the justice system in colonial India.

The odds were stacked against Sood before the trial had even begun. Despite convincing witnesses and testimonials from Ian (Alexander Cobb) and Leena (Amber-Rose Revah) that would have exonerated Sood of all charges, the prosecution resorted to mud-slinging tactics from the self-proclaimed Queen of Simla. Enter Cynthia Coffin (Julie Walters) and her web of lies.

While the trial was going on, Ralph (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) decided to pay his son Adam (Shailesh Sachin Kumar) a visit at The Mission School, despite Cynthia advising him to stay away. It didn’t go down well at all as Adam ran for the hills at the sight of his rakshas (demon) father.

Back at court, Ian’s character was ripped to pieces as he was labelled a “traitor to his own people, an alcoholic” and “philanderer” Ramu’s case looked like a lost cause. The contrast between the Indians and the British couldn’t have been starker: the Indians on tender hooks and rooting for justice while the British ladies attended court with parasols, sandwiches and mints.

The case hinged on Ramu’s ‘confession’ (aka beaten within an inch of his life), we saw pieces of evidence and heard testimonials that looked and sounded suspicious. But the main question which remains to be answered is this: “Who actually killed Jaya and why?”http://asianculturevulture.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=7566&action=edit#

All we know about the murderer was that he (or she) was wearing a pair of ‘chappals’ (sandals) that, in the words of the Judge, “no British gentleman would wear”.

As Episode 8 closed, we saw a shot of a teary Ralph as he stormed into his home having learned that Dougie (Craig Parkinson) at The Mission had rejected his donation. The camera zoomed in on his sandals which left one question on everyone’s lips.

Did Ralph kill Jaya? Or are those the chappals of choice for every man in Simla?

Nikesh Patel (Aafrin) acknowledges the Twitter love…

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