Last week went by in frenzy for all Tere Bin fans. There was a lot of hue and cry on social media against marital rape and violence shown in the drama.
Following the angst on social media by the viewers, even the producers were forced to share statements about not jumping to conclusions. However, whatever transpired on television last night proved one thing correct. It was indeed marital rape showcased initially and then the narrative was hastily changed to placate the worked up audience, hence the patchy episode with bad editing and million flashbacks.
And even so if it was, a few things just didn’t sit well with us. Lets discuss what we think went wrong in the drama last night.
Why Self Loathe If It Was Consensual?
Last night’s episode was all about flashbacks and proving to the audience that whatever happened between Meerab and Murtasim was consensual but that confused us the most.
How could something that happened with the consent of both parties have such a violent reaction? Why the entire self loathing episode then? Alright Meerab’s reaction can be justified that she had had Murtasim sign a contract and then her own consent was a breach of her own contract. But, then again if it was consensual, why show so much regret?
Okay so Meerab left the house out of shame for having lost control. She felt devastated to have gone against her own claim of not wanting Murtasim and now wants to spend her life thinking it shouldn’t have happened. Now Meerab’s reaction is very much like her recent character development, unsteady and confused when it comes to Murtasim. She rushes in the heat of the moment, having no decision power at all and ends up making insane choices and the now shown narrative coincides with her character as well. But what about Murtasim?
Murtasim’s narrative seems not justified at all. Why is he hating himself on the pretext of not being able to hold back when his legally married wife agreed to whatever happened between them? Even if he thinks he broke her trust, agreeing to what Meerab also wanted, the self hatred and pain infliction isn’t just right. Maybe it was against Murtasim’s character to just let go of control but even if he did, he did it because he loved Meerab and this is a man who does everything for love.
Why A Change Of Narrative in Tere Bin?
Last night’s episode was a blur, increasingly confusing the already confused audience. Maybe the writer considered the audience dumb enough to digest a marital rape narrative riding high on the popularity of Murtasim’s character. Perhaps the backlash wasn’t expected and then the story line had to be re-done to placate the burn down that came with the last episode. This is the only explainable reason that can make last night’s episode of Tere Bin acceptable.
In a society like Pakistan, where we have numerous women suffering from domestic violence and marital rapes already, showcasing such a scene would have been in bad taste through and through. No matter how the storyline would have later tried to rationalise the scene, no amount of justification could have gotten Tere Bin its viewership back.
The conflicts and conversations that the lead characters had with themselves made us question our own understanding of boundaries within a marriage, especially in a country like Pakistan where we already have cases of marital rapes being hushed all over.
One just doesn’t understand who the makers are trying to fool with such a sudden a shift in the story? We have repeatedly questioned how the content creators begin with a story with no end in mind and end up spoiling a perfectly good narrative and this is exactly what has been done with Tere Bin.
The change in story has now confused us even more about what to expect from Tere Bin in the future. Maybe a few of us will still stick around to see how the story pans out, but for most of us it’s a rather sullen and sorry Goodbye!
