Indian Summers 2016 review/catch-up episode 9: ‘What’s the point of you?’

May 13 2016

It started with talk of bombs and there was destruction, but it’s the emotional damage in Simla that everyone is talking about, as the series comes to a conclusion on Sunday (May 15) forever…

By Tasha Mathur

IT’S been an excruciating week as fans held their breath to find out Aafrin (Nikesh Patel) and Alice’s (Jemima West) fate after evil Charlie (Blake Ritson) foiled their poorly executed plan to escape to Australia for good.

However, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that both of them remain unharmed (at least physically) as many speculated there would be one more death this season. But we all know that Charlie is far more manipulative than that! Killing Alice and/or Aafrin? Too easy. Charlie had bigger plans in mind.

Perhaps the scariest aspect was how easily he managed to convince Ralph (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) into keeping Alice locked in her room after the affair between his sister and the Parsi was revealed.

In a beautiful but heart wrenching moment, we see Ralph completely break down while crying: “They’re all making fun of me”, as he discovers he’s been betrayed (yet again) by Aafrin, betrayed (yet again) by Cynthia (Julie Walters) and now the last person he ever expected to betray him: his beloved sister Alice.

As if that wasn’t enough for Ralphie, his dreams are excruciatingly crushed when he learns that the role of new Viceroy is given to Lord Linglithgow. But is he all that disappointed or was this something he expected?

Heck, we’re certain we even detected a touch of relief as he hears the news. We’ve become accustomed to Ralph’s outbursts of rage but he there was barely a flinch despite years of working towards this moment. From the Maharajah (Art Malik) bedding his wife to finding out who his real father is, we think Ralph has simply had enough.

Maybe the heated argument between him, Alice, Aafrin and Cynthia had taken the last ounce of strength out of him as he frantically tried to make sense of the situation. While we see Alice’s confidence grow (the Aafrin effect?) as she finally stands up to Ralph, we again see his resolve weaken as she states: “What’s the point of you?” Alice and Aafrin’s love appeals to Ralph’s emotional side as he’s reminded, we think, of Jaya but even when he does decide to help them, he finds he is powerless to stop Aafrin’s arrest.

That’s when true love arrived in the form of Alice selflessly sacrificing her own freedom in return for Aafrin’s. And not just his freedom but his life as Charlie casually informs her that he will be hanged simply thanks to his police statement. It was a heart-breaking scene as Alice says goodbye to Aafrin forever. Oh those puppy dog eyes! And with only one more episode to go before the show is discontinued – does this mean we won’t get to see a happy ending for our favourite couple?

Meanwhile, Sooni’s (Aysha Kala) marriage is being arranged to The Eyebrow Man as her family remain in denial about her love for Mr. Khan (Tanmay Dhanania). Their denial runs even deeper when questioning Aafrin’s disappearance that it almost seems unbelievable. Thank god his Mum (Lillete Dubey) is so naïve or this family would be in tatters! Nevertheless, the emotional turmoil is getting to ‘Baapi’ (Roshan Seth) as he angrily asks Sooni, “How is it to end?” With only more episode to go – that’s exactly what we’re thinking…

Hero of the episode: You can’t get anymore heroic than sacrificing your own freedom for somebody else’s but that’s just what Alice did. But how she will survive a lifetime with Charlie, we don’t know. And surely Aafrin can’t let that goodbye go? We have one more episode to get them back together again!

Villain: We’ve lost count of the number of times Charlie has been given this title now and we’ve had enough! He’s got the power to have Aafrin hanged, managed to force Alice to end her relationship with him and possibly stopped Ralph from becoming Viceroy by spreading the rumour about his looming debts. He’s such an unstoppable force that we wonder how the end of the season could ever have a happy ending…

Best scene: Okay we admit it – we couldn’t resist a chuckle when weakling Ralphie tried to break down the door to his sister’s room. To reiterate Alice, “What’s the point of you?” But he does make it up in a scene that we all cheered at when he runs back to the house to set Alice free instead of heading straight to the Viceroy to find out if he will be his successor. As always, the gorgeous (and hungover) Madeleine (Olivia Grant) plays her part as she reminds Ralph, ‘That’s the sound of your sister losing hope.”

Quote: Ralph calling Cynthia “nothing but an old pimp” has to be the best description of her this entire season! Let’s not forget that she orchestrated Ralph and Madeleine’s hook up in season one and gave Ralph the key to her secret sex room in the first episode of season two. We think she’s found her true calling!

Storyline to watch: Sadly with only one episode left – there can’t really be a storyline to watch anymore…*holds back tears*…BUT we did notice a few interesting moments in this episode which we would love to find out more about. Like why did the Viceroy (Patrick Malahide) have such an emotional reaction to Ralph’s revelation about having a child with Jaya? Will Ian (Alexander Cobb) ever get justice for Ramu Sood (Alyy Khan)? Surely it wasn’t just tea in that box he gave to the Viceroy? What will Adam (Dillon Mitra) do after finding out that Leena Mummy (Amber Rose Revah) has been jailed for nine years? So many lingering questions that we fear we’ll never get the answers to…

The final episode of Indian Summers screens on Sunday (May 17) at 9pm (UK only)

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Indian Summers continues every Sunday on Channel 4, 9pm (UK only).
Catch-up (UK only)
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/indian-summers