People had more than a few reasons to look forward to Sabaat. It had Mawra Hocane and Sarah Khan in completely different avatars than the audience was used to seeing them; it was newcomer Ameer Gilani’s first mainstream drama as the leading hero, and it was the much-awaited drama of heartthrob Usman Mukhtar, who had dazzled the audience previously with his performance in Anaa. Additionally, the drama was being directed by Shahzad Kashmiri, who had given two back-to-back hit dramas, Yakeen Ka Safar and Anaa.

And Sabaat more or less fulfilled the audience’s expectations as the drama remained one of the most talk-about dramas of the year. Throughout the drama’s journey, it dealt with several topics including women empowerment, workplace issues, elitism based on class difference, and narcissism. Sabaat ended its journey with a finale that served as a positive ending for all the characters the audience had come to be attached to in the course of 28 weeks.

Miraal’s realization

While returning from the court with Ali to finalize the divorce from her husband Dr. Harris, Miraal has an accident that leaves her paralyzed. And for the first time in her life, Miraal feels like she has lost control over her life. This powerlessness makes her realize that her condition was nothing but karma; the rectification of everything she had done until the moment of the accident.

The accident makes Miraal come clean about how it was her who, with the help of Atif, sowed seeds of discontent in Hassan’s life. She also informs Hassan about Anaya having given birth to his son, a fact that he was kept unaware of. After being discharged from the hospital, Miraal goes straight to Anaya’s house and confesses about all her schemes to Anaya, and apologizes for them.

Anaya and Hassan’s reconcilation

After learning about the truth and his son, Hassan rushes to Anaya’s house and starts begging for forgiveness and asks about his son. Anaya responds that Ibrahim is her son only and that she considers Hassan dead in her life’s story.

However, after finding the truth that it was Miraal who had intervened in their lives, her perception about Hassan changes, and she chooses to give her marriage another chance and go back to live with Hassan at his parent’s house. The estranged couple reconciles and begins to emotionally mend their relationship once again. Hassan’s father, who had never been supportive of Hassan’s feelings for and his subsequent relationship with Anaya, also turns over a new leaf as he welcomes his son and daughter-in-law by finally giving them his blessings.

Dr. Harris’ happy ending

Dr. Harris also gets his happy ending. After Miraal gets into an accident that renders her unable to walk on her own feet, Harris is shown to be stepping up to give her emotional and physical support. He assures Miraal that the relationship he shares with her is for life. In one of the strongest dialogues of the show, Harris teaches Miraal that relationships are not business deals. One cannot expect them to fall apart if they are no longer giving a profit that one desires to get from them.

Dr. Harris who had been struggling to keep his relationship with Miraal from breaking apart finally gets his happy ending as Miraal now learns to love and appreciate his support, and realizes the true value of having loving relationships in her life.

A few concerns

While the drama ended on a positive note, not everything was as satisfying as one would have wished it to be. For starters, the entire track about Dr. Harris and Miraal where Miraal was getting therapy for her mental health seemed to be about nothing. As Dr. Harris didn’t help her as a professional at all, rather it was his role as her husband that ultimately helped Miraal get better. Just like most of the Pakistani dramas, the drama did not handle mental health decently.

Secondly, Anaya throwing her promotion letter to her boss’s face might have been a bold move on her part. But by showing her quit her job and not even hinting towards any negative consequence her boss had to face, the show ended up giving the impression that workplace harassment issues end up affecting the victim more than the culprit. And that there is no way to fix this injustice.

And lastly, Miraal’s realization felt rushed. For someone who spent almost the whole of the drama’s run destroying other peoples’ lives, more time could’ve been spent in showing her properly coming to terms with the horrendous nature of her actions. And Atif could’ve gotten a more thorough beating up for all the non-stop scheming he did to ruin Hassan’s happiness.

The positives

Regardless of these things, Sabaat‘s finale was full of positivity. Anaya and Hassan deserved to have a second chance in life because the problems that affected their married life were due to someone else’s meddling. Although Miraal’s accident was a very cliched route to take, it was quite fitting in terms of Miraal’s characterization who thrived on controlling every single person in her life. She had to face the helplessness of being dependent on crutches to realize that playing god in someone’s life will never end up well.

Sabaat also shows Anaya’s mother adopting and raising an orphan boy when Anaya moves back to her in-laws’ house. Even till the end, the drama continued to show positive and empowering messages that a person is only as weak and lonely as one thinks themselves to be. Life goes on and it is up to us to find ways of making it fulfilling for us, and for others around us.

Final word

Sabaat wasn’t without its flaws, but it was an engaging drama. It provided relief from the typical storylines and it did so by showing the kind of nuanced characters, beautiful locations, and well-written plotlines that other dramas don’t usually have. Sabaat definitely raised the standards of what it means to make a quality Pakistani drama in today’s time, and we will love to see more such dramas on our television screens in the future.