The Family Man Season 2: Episode 1 and 2 Recap
The second season Amazon Prime Original series, ‘The Family Man’ started with Manoj Bajpayee’s character, Srikant Tiwari working at a corporate company. He has quit his previous job at Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell or TASC where he worked as a senior analyst. Srikant is trying to be the perfect family man for his kids and wife, Suchitra, and is progressing on the kids’ front, but his relationship with his wife is still diddly.
The antagonists of the last season, Major Sameer and Sajid are planning another terror attack on India. We are also introduced to Raji, a member of the Sri Lankan Tamil community, who are trying to get their own government recognized in the UN.
The Family Man Season 2: Episode 3 and 4 (Spoiler Alert!)
In the third episode of The Family Man Season 2, Srikant and Suchi are having a dinner date where Suchi expresses her wish to return back to work. She gets defensive when Srikant asks her why did she leave her job in the first place and this results in an argument between the two. Suchi suggests that they take some time off each other.
Because of this, Srikant distracted at work the next day and his boss tries to berate him for it. He loses his mind, lashes back at him, and then quits his job to rejoin TASC. Elsewhere, Suchi meets up with Arvind and tells him that she wants to return to work.
In Chennai, Raji’s boss, Nanda (Prakash Rajan) blackmails her to have sex with him, or else he will report the inconsistencies and errors that he found in her record to the cops. During the deed, he abuses her and slaps her which results in her killing him.
‘The Family Man’ again gives its viewers an amazing episode although it was shorter than usual. The fight between Srikant and Suchitra was very well portrayed and acted. We can see Atharv sensing tension between his parents and trying to break it. Vedant portrays this scene with a bittersweet innocence.
Raji again stole the episode for me. She has to deal with the fact that she has to defile her honor to keep herself away from any trouble that might cost her the mission she is working on. The flashbacks she gets when Nanda is slapping her adds a certain mystery to her character and adds an emotional backstory.
This makes the viewers empathize more with her. The moment she kills him is the moment everyone had chills on their back. The way she swiftly does the act shows us the anger she has been carrying inside her and shines a light on how well she has been trained.
The fourth episode of ‘The Family Man‘ Season 2, starts with a flashback of Raji’s training days. Her trainer describes her as a fast learner and the and “best fighter pilot”.
Srikant meets Jonali and apologizes to her (which is obviously not well received). Srikant feels guilty and is not in support of what his superiors have done regarding the matter but for Jonali, he is the man who killed her boyfriend and has gotten away with it.
Srikant, along with JK and Milind is leaving for Chennai and things couldn’t be worse with Suchi. Dhriti, sensing the tension in the air, confronts her parents but receives no response to that and gets upset with them. Suchi has also rejoined her former job. Raji has cut up Nanda’s body to pieces and is getting rid of them one by one.
Umayal (Devadarshini), the police officer who is investigating a missing Nanda case concludes that Raji has to do something with Nanda being missing. Raji flees from her safe house before Umayal can reach her. Srikant and JK are also in the area to investigate a lead of safehouses for Tamil Rebels. Umayal and her officers enter Raji’s house to find Srikant and JK investigating Nanda’s body (well…the remains of it) and arrests them.
This episode meets the standards set by other episodes of “The Family Man“. While both Dhriti and Atharv are aware that things are rocky between their parents, their reactions are quite different. Dhriti lashes out at her parents and is avoiding Srikant’s calls. Her behavior may also be the result of Kalyan ghosting her (on Sajid’s orders). Atharv reaction was different than Dhriti’s. He has been trying to act normal and just trying to not let his parents (and himself) feeling the awkwardness in the air but is also aware of what’s been happening.
Milind is seen having nightmares about the gas leak incident. He is still feeling guilty for the lost lives (even though its because of him and Zoya that thousands of others were saved). It adds a highlight to survivor’s guilt and that there is no black and white in this kind of situation. You’re always on a grey spot and it’s partially dependent upon your perception.
We can also see the cultural and linguistic differences between Srikant & his team and their Tamilian associates. These incidents are subtly breaking the stereotypes that a non-Tamilian person may hold towards the Tamil community.