Flashbacks and episode openings have become a thing for Shantaram. Episode 9 also opens with a look back at the time when Lin escaped jail and its aftermath. His mother is proud of Lin and suspects the officer had something to do with the jailbreak, as Lin himself confessed in court to serve time. He is not able to visit her as the police constantly watch the house. His mother is okay with the idea as long as it means a longer life for Lin. In the present day, Lin is saying his goodbyes in Sagar Wada. He is handing over the reins to Parvati, as he expects Didier to be readying the passport for him. Lin requests to go to Prabhu's village like they planned when the young tour guide tells Lin he will be a taxi driver by night. For all their faults, the characters of 'Shantaram' do have a certain charm about them. It rarely surfaces but it can be quite gratifying to witness. This episode had many manifestations of that dynamic in the form of Lin and Didier and Karla and Lin.
Karla has turned out to be the dark horse everyone underestimated. It remains to be seen how much control she can actually exercise when push comes to shove. There are a lot of moving parts in the story right now. But I do not like how Walid's threat has been neutralized for now. Maybe with Pandey's betrayal, he will again come to life. The tall rivalry that was projected pitting Walid and Khader up against each other has not manifested in the water wars. Surely, there can be more? There must be. Didier recalls how he left his former lover, Alberto, when he saw he had gotten old and lonely. Didier now feels he is turning into a man like Alberto and has not left the house for the past week. He is traumatized after the beating and the shame that was brought to him. But he has not been able to make the passport for Lin, who finally reveals his own chequered past to give Didier a sense of how desperate he is. Pandey falls onto Karla's trap and meets with Sunita. They get pictures of them and recordings of shady dealings. He is left with no options now and concedes to Khader's demands. Karla takes a moral high ground to the entire situation and feels they exploited Pandey's vulnerability and love for Sunita. Khader lives up to the promise he made to Karla in episode 6 and allows her to move away from this life with a decent amount of money. Khader also agrees to Karla's request to pay off Sunita's debts and free her. Karla and Lisa once again unite and discuss their feelings about Lin and the regrets of their past relationships.
Karla has turned out to be the dark horse everyone underestimated. It remains to be seen how much control she can actually exercise when push comes to shove. There are a lot of moving parts in the story right now. But I do not like how Walid's threat has been neutralized for now. Maybe with Pandey's betrayal, he will again come to life. The tall rivalry that was projected pitting Walid and Khader up against each other has not manifested in the water wars. Surely, there can be more? There must be. Didier recalls how he left his former lover, Alberto, when he saw he had gotten old and lonely. Didier now feels he is turning into a man like Alberto and has not left the house for the past week. He is traumatized after the beating and the shame that was brought to him. But he has not been able to make the passport for Lin, who finally reveals his own chequered past to give Didier a sense of how desperate he is. Pandey falls onto Karla's trap and meets with Sunita. They get pictures of them and recordings of shady dealings. He is left with no options now and concedes to Khader's demands. Karla takes a moral high ground to the entire situation and feels they exploited Pandey's vulnerability and love for Sunita. Khader lives up to the promise he made to Karla in episode 6 and allows her to move away from this life with a decent amount of money. Khader also agrees to Karla's request to pay off Sunita's debts and free her. Karla and Lisa once again unite and discuss their feelings about Lin and the regrets of their past relationships.
