S̳h̳a̳k̳h̳i̳-̳l̳a̳c̳i̳o̳u̳s̳

EPISODE 17: "The Scarlet Letter"

In the wake of discovering the truth about their mothers' involvement in both media cover-ups of the fires, Anokhi and Ahir each race off to confront them right away. Anokhi storms into the conference room at Jagruk Nation to confront Mom with a printout of the data she recovered from the old cell phone. Mom looks nervous to have been caught, and Anokhi shouts that she gave her the benefit of the doubt - she at least believed that Mom was misinformed and misguided thirteen years ago. But now it's clear that she's just someone who says and does whatever her boss orders of her. Pained and incredulous, she asks, "Are you really a reporter?" The reception is even icier over at Ahir's confrontation with Chaebol Mommy, who simply flips through the call log like it's an order sheet for more purses. He pleads for an explanation: "Tell me you're not someone this scary... that you're not someone this horrifying, please!" But she just asks placidly who else knows about this call log.

Yikes, do you not hear the desperation in his voice as he asks you to come up with a plausible excuse, Mommy?

But she just repeats her earlier statement that the day he quits his job as a reporter, she'll start answering his questions. So Ahir calls Preetam to declare that he's quitting as of now, and slams his phone on the table: "Satisfied? I think I qualify for those answers now." Now that she got what she wanted from Ahir, Chaebol Mommy admits to everything - the fire thirteen years ago was the same as the recent one, where she was helping an assemblyman cover his tracks. The plan was just to pull some focus on Firefighter Dad until the elections passed, but she didn't know that incident would get out of hand. But truly horrifying is her sincere question, asking what was so wrong about what she did. She says none of it is illegal, and she was merely helping out a friend. She describes her work like that of a gardener, planting seeds and toiling away for years just to see the fruits of her labor, and calls this sort of political favor a necessary part of caring for her crop. Ahir is amazed to see that she isn't even the least bit concerned about the consequences of any of this - she figures that Firefighter Dad's incident is long past its statute of limitations, and the most that'll happen if this gets out is that she'll suffer a ding to her reputation. He asks what his mother gained from doing these sorts of favors for all these years, and she answers bluntly, "Everything you have enjoyed in life up until now, and everything you will enjoy in the future." Back at Jagruk Nation, Anokhi refuses to lower her voice and shouts she's going to reveal the truth to the whole world. Mom flashes back to the moment when she said the exact same thing to her boss following Firefighter Dad's story.

Innnnnnteresting.

The Jagruk Nation director asks if she really thinks he'll let her get away with that, and she says defiantly that the story will air on Shubh Savera instead. He asks what kind of future she expects to have as a whistleblower, reminding her that she'd never be able to work as a reporter again. And in the present, Anokhi says exactly the same thing, about taking the story to Shubh Savera instead. And Mom makes the exact threats she'd heard, about this being the end of her career as a reporter. She even admits to having the same dilemma. We return to the flashback, where the director offers to strengthen Mom's voice instead, by making her the first female Cap at Jagruk Nation. In the present, she admits that her choice brought her this far. She counters that Anokhi could make a different choice, and have a clear conscience while working at the convenience store. She dangles the end of Anokhi's intern term in front of her and asks if she doesn't want a permanent job: "Think about it - whether you can say what they want just once, and in exchange become a reporter with the strength to say ninety-nine things with the right voice. Or... if you're going to become a powerless person who has no voice."

Ugh, she has the devil's sales skills, I swear.

She adds the kicker, complete with watery eyes and quivering lip: "I don't want you to become someone powerless like that. I'm not saying this as your boss... but as your mother." Mom says that she knows only too well what happens to a whistleblower in real life, and tells Anokhi the truth about Dad: He was once a successful banker, but when he discovered his bank's shady accounting practices, he leaked the information to the press and lost his job. Mom: "Whose life do you think is more pathetic now?"