#patel is just a character who complains about his family and i hate it

[cerealbishh]

i... think they were really teasing the frank/victoria romance this episode and i don't like it

[the-desolated-quill]

Demons Of The Punjab - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Let us now look at our first non-Chibnall episode this series. Demons Of The Punjab, written by Vinay Patel. 

Curious about her grandmother’s past, Yasmin persuades the Doctor to take them to India in 1947 only to discover that the man her grandmother is marrying isn’t her grandfather, but a Hindu man named Prem. What follows is quite possibly the most well written and emotionally charged Who historical story I think I’ve ever seen.

Honestly this comes as something of a relief. I confess when the giant alien bats showed up, screeching and teleporting all over the place like something out of a tacky horror film, I was worried. Chris Chibnall and Malorie Blackman showed remarkable restraint with their episode Rosa, focusing solely on Rosa Parks and the oppressive society she was forced to endure without letting the sci-fi elements intrude or distract from the narrative. With this in mind, an amateur production of ‘Attack of the Killer Bat People’ trouncing all over partitioned India doesn’t exactly seem like a good follow up to me. Thankfully they don’t go that route. Turns out that the Thijarians (not the Vaginas, as I first misheard them) are just a massive red herring. They’re not alien invaders. They’re just travelling psychopomps comforting the dead. Presumably they’re the basis for the numerous death deities that have appeared throughout many cultures and civilisations. It’s a nice idea. Granted the episode would have worked just as well without them, but it’s still a good twist on the monster of the week format nonetheless.

Patel quite rightly focuses on the characters and historical setting. Demons Of The Punjab is refreshing in more ways than one. It’s a historical, but it’s not set in Britain or America. Some people (let’s call them idiots) may complain that the show is getting ‘too PC’, but I for one am quite interested in the history of India. It’s about time we delved into the past of another country and another culture. New Who has spent so much time in Victorian London in recent years, I’m surprised the Doctor doesn’t just rent a holiday home there. It’s also nice to have an episode that isn’t afraid to point out that the British Empire was... well... a bit of a bastard, to put it mildly. The Moffat era in particular was very much guilty of romanticising British history (the most notable example being Winston Churchill, presented as a cuddly leader and the Doctor’s bezzie mate when in reality he was a colossal racist and arguably the very epitome of British imperialism in the early twentieth century). Patriots and anglophiles can’t help but think of Britain in positive terms, seeing the British Empire as some kind of noble ideal. The truth of the matter is the British Empire wasn’t some Utopian peace keeping force uniting the world. It was a bunch of white colonialists taking other people’s land and resources and not giving a tally-ho fuck what the ‘alien races’ thought.

The partition of India is quite possibly one of the most petty and irresponsible things we as a country have ever done. Crudely dividing the country into regions before picking up their ball and going home, leaving the native Indians to sort it out for themselves. What angers me is that I was never actually taught this in school. I learned about the partition of India years later through fucking Wikipedia. And you’d think this is something we ought to know. Like the Atlantic slave trade, this isn’t ancient history. This happened relatively recently and the after effects are still being felt today.

So not only am I’m glad we’ve got an episode like this, I’m also glad that Patel chooses to explore the partition of India in a very intelligent and respectful way. Like with previous episodes, Demons Of The Punjab is very intimate and small scale. It’s not about the Doctor combating a massive threat. It’s about how a massive threat affects the lives of this one family.

Demons Of The Punjab has a stellar cast to play Yasmin’s extended family. Amita Suman does an excellent job as the younger version of Yasmin’s grandmother Umbreen. Something this series has been really good at for the most part is finding that humanity at the core of the stories. It’s not about the aliens. It’s about the people. Demons is not about the space bats. It’s about this young woman struggling to compromise between committing to her Hindu fiance and staying faithful to her Muslim faith in the wake of rising political and societal tension, and Suman portrays this perfectly. It’s an incredibly powerful and moving performance and it’s her character you feel for the most.

Then there’s Shane Zaza as Prem, quite possibly the nicest guy in the fucking world and definitely didn’t deserve his final fate. He’s appalled by the rioting and infighting, saying how this wasn’t what he fought for in the war. Despite being confused and scared by the ‘demons’, he still accompanies the Doctor and Ryan and protects them from harm. But most importantly, he clearly loves Umbreen dearly, preparing to share and adapt his beliefs to hers and vice versa. Throughout the episode, Prem and Umbreen’s relationship is presented as the ideal. A love for the ages. How the world should be, transcending belief systems and cultural barriers. This could have become quite sickly in the wrong hands, bu thankfully the episode never over-eggs the pudding. We like this couple and we like Prem, which is what makes his death at the end one of the most heartbreaking in all of New Who and the fact that this comes at the hands of his own brother makes it all the more tragic.

Hamza Jeetoa’s performance as Manish was exceptional. From the start you know there’s something not quite right with him as he seems to buy into the India/Pakistan border quite enthusiastically, but I assumed (perhaps in my naivety) that the Doctor would persuade him to accept his new sister in law Umbreen over the course of the story. Of course that’s not the case. Like I said, the aliens are the red herring. The real villain is Manish. Except... it’s not. While Prem was out fighting for the Brits, a disillusioned and confused Manish was left alone, leaving him a prime target for radicalisation. So as disgusting and horrifying as his actions are, it’s hard to truly hate him because he’s not a bad person. You do see occasional glimpses of brotherly affection between him and Prem, a brief window into their relationship before the partition, and it’s this that humanises him and makes him an effective antagonist. Yes he’s killed people, yes he killed his own brother, yes his views are downright poisonous, but he is in many ways just another victim of this turbulent time. He’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of rigid belief systems and how easy it is to indoctrinate and radicalise the young and disenfranchised. Jeetoa does a great job selling this character without tipping over into panto. He’s not some rabid bigot foaming at the mouth. He’s a confused young man who has willingly bought into this anti-Islamic dogma because of his own frustrations toward the British, He feels like an actual person. It’s this that makes the ending truly shocking.

I don’t think there’s any need to talk about the main cast. They are predictably good. Jodie Whittaker continues to blow me away as the Doctor. Her eulogy at the wedding, her excitement and enthusiasm when celebrating the night before with Yaz and Umbreen, and her sorrow and disgust when Manish shoots Prem are all memorable moments showing Whittaker’s range as an actor. Graham and Ryan don’t have as much to do this episode, although they do still have their moments (the scene where Graham hugged Prem and told him what a good man he was made me cry. God, Bradley Walsh can act!). This really is Yasmin’s episode and it’s about time too. My one complaint I’ve had throughout this series so far has been that Yaz has felt largely superfluous. She’s not a bad character by any means. It’s a problem common with many of the ensemble casts Doctor Who has had over the years. There’s always at least one cast member reduced to being the spare part. So it was great to see Yaz finally get a chance in the spotlight and Mandip Gill rises to the occasion as she portrays her character’s internal conflict. Obviously she doesn’t want Prem to die. He’s a nice guy and her grandmother clearly loves him, but he’s not her grandfather. In order for Yaz to exist in the future, Prem has to die. I love episodes where the Doctor and his companions can’t interfere as they often serve as great moral dilemmas as well as the means of exploring internal strife. Watching Prem die, knowing she can’t change it for risk of damaging her own timeline, is painful and gut-wrenching, and Gill gives her best performance to date.

Demons Of The Punjab I think is my favourite episode so far this series because it shows just how flexible the Doctor Who format is and what kind of stories you can tell. This is a very human story that packs a massive dramatic punch and has great relevance to today. As I said, the effects of the partition of India are still being felt today and the radicalisation of young people is something we’ve sadly become all too familiar with (see ISIS and the alt-right). It’s what makes this episode’s central theme, to love and respect everyone regardless of cultural differences, all the more poignant. If Demons Of The Punjab teaches us anything, it’s that we could use a lot more Prems in the world right now.

[libralita]

Title: When Dimple Met Rishi

Author: Sandhya Menon

Summary: Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Review:

It’s probably not a good sign when the only reason you want to finish a book is because you want to be able to write a full, in depth post about the abuse in this book. But my hats off to the narrators for the audiobook, they did a really nice job. I wanted to like this book. I saw it on Amazon a while back and thought it was going to be a cute, perfect for the summer type of read. But oh boy this was just an awful book.

I’ll get into the things that I did like. One was the scene where Celia and Ashish are telling the main characters that they hooked up. It was really funny and unexpected but made total sense. I liked how it cut back and forth between Dimple and Rishi’s perspective. Honestly the way the story was told from the duo-perspective was fine. They had distinct voices (Rishi was sweet and endearing and Dimple made me want to kill kittens) and it flowed nice.

Also, normally I would be more angry that Dimple and Rishi get together but then break up for really stupid reasons but honestly there’s much stinker shit to be mad at.

I’m happy that Menon wants to share her culture and give a new perspective. I’d love to learn about Indian culture. However, what I found annoying is that Menon writes as if everyone reading this book knows the basics of Indian culture. If you aren’t or have never lived around Indians then you’re probably going to have an annoying time reading this like I did. I don’t expect her to spend pages upon pages explain ever little detail but maybe spend a little time describe what the traditional clothes looked like or what exactly the food was. At the very least she should have translated the dialogue. Any time the main characters were talking to their parents I had no idea what they were saying. It didn’t leave me interested in the culture, it left me confused and I just kept reading on instead of taking the time to look into it more. It’s like if I were in Japan and writing a book where a Mexican character had a sombrero or was celebrating dia de los muetros, I’d probably have to explain what those things are because Mexican culture isn’t very well known in Japan.

Second, there are a lot of inconsistencies in this book. Dimple is introverted, nerdy, isn’t traditionally attractive (until she puts on a dress because yes that trope is still alive), is made fun of and comes from a culture that would make her an outcast. Yet, she likes to go to…parties. She wants to go to a college party where she will only know one person there. How is that at all consistent with her character?

Dimple’s parents are so inconsistent that I don’t really know what problems Dimple has. So the book starts off with us thinking that her parents are very traditional and they want her to get married and have babies. Patriarchal values and other such nonsense. But as we get to know her parents we see that her father doesn’t really care and wants Dimple to win the Insomnia Con. Okay, maybe it’s just her mother—

“Whatever you do, Dimple, I am your mother. I will always support you. I am always proud of you. Okay?”—Page 365

Nope. So…what’s her problem? The only thing I can think of is that because her parents lied to her about why they wanted her to go to Insomnia Con and…her mother doesn’t want her to dress like a complete slob. The first one, is sucky but really get over it. We don’t get to see if Dimple’s parents are learning to accept their daughter for who she is or if this a miscommunication or what. At the beginning of the book Dimple says they don’t support her and at the end of the book they say they do. So…what happened?

Also, she’s complaining about her mother wanting to find an IIH and that’s the only reason she’s going to Stanford but that doesn’t make much sense. Why would your parents, who aren’t that rich, send you to Stanford to meet a husband? Why not, oh, I don’t know, set you up with someone they know? Like that nice Patel boy! Why do they need to send her to Stanford? If I were writing this book, I’d make it where Dimple gets into Stanford but her mother doesn’t want her to go. So she asks to go to Insomnia Con to prove that she has what it takes to be a coder and they agree mostly because they know that nice Patel boy is going. Problem solved.

Finally, the main problem with this book. Dimple Shah. She is one of the worst characters I’ve ever read. First of all she’s so ungrateful. Her parents are sending her to freaking Stanford but because they “don’t have the right intentions” so, her life is awful. Rishi gets her a meeting with her Jenny Lindt and she then breaks up with him because they’re “too perfect”.

Second, she is so hypocritical. She complains about misogyny and complains that Celia basically has internalized misogyny when she’s been nothing but awful to her mother because of her mother’s values.

“Rishi rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. ‘I don’t know; she’s your mom, you know. I feel like if you were really hurting or really needed her, she’d be there for you without question. And maybe there’s a part of her she hasn’t shared with you yet that’s totally not what you expect.’ Dimple thought that was likely utter BS,”—Page 283

Rishi brings up the fact that maybe her mother has good intentions or another side to her. Dimple just brushes this off as BS and never goes back to think “hey maybe Rishi was right”. Another time when she’s being hypocritical is when the talent show comes up, Dimple picks a dance where she doesn’t have to do much and passes the burden off to Rishi without consulting him. She eventually pressures him into do it and he gives in. Then within the same scene Evan is pressuring Celia to do a dance in a swimsuit and Dimple says:

“‘No.’ Dimple reached out and put a hand on Celia’s arm. ‘Not at all. It’s totally up to you how comfortable you are with this, you know? It’s totally up to you how comfortable you are with this, you know? It’s not up to Evan or Hari or Isabelle. So what if she wants to do it? She’s not you, and you’re not her.’”—Page 237

Like what kind of horseshit is that? You literally just pushed Rishi into doing something that he may not be uncomfortable with but it’s not okay for Evan to do that with Celia? She never has any self-awareness at all. It never crosses her mind that Rishi also might have stage fright. Then when he turns out he’s not a great dancer she gets pissed like. It was your idea Dimple, not Rishi’s.

Now, time for the part of this book that I hated the most. Dimple is so physically abusive to Rishi and it just made my heart ache. She was just an awful person and I couldn’t stand it. Okay, so there’s a time when Dimple first meets Rishi and he says “hello future wife” it freaks her out and she throws her ice coffee at him. It totally get that, if some stranger came up and said that to me, I’d probably do the same. Then in the next scene Rishi goes to explain himself to her and she cuts him with a map because she thinks he’s continuing to be creepy and not taking a hint. It’s in self defense. I have no problem with that but there are several points where Dimple hits Rishi for playfully teasing her and that’s where I have real issues with. Especially how Menon handles it.

A little context to this first quote, Rishi and Dimple are on a scavenger hunt and they’re at an antique shop so Dimple is being silly trying on hats and things.

“She pretended to strut around, and, on impulse, he raised the Polaroid and took a picture. ‘Hey!’ she said when the flash popped. ‘What was that for?’ she reached out and punched him in the ribs seemingly as an afterthought. ‘Ow!” Rishi said, rubbing his side. ‘What the heck?’ ‘Sorry,’ Dimple mumbled, and it looked only half true.”—Page 71

This next scene is where Dimple and Rishi are working on the concept art for their app. Rishi draws zombies as the bad guys but Dimple says those are overdone and suggests aliens.

“‘Aliens?’ Rishi rolled his eyes. ‘You totally don’t have my artistic vision.’ Dimple punched him in the ribs, lighter than she wanted to, but he still winced. ‘Ow. You know, most girls just slap guys playfully on the arm or something. They don’t actually hurt them.’ ‘Well, maybe you need to expand your idea of how girls behave,’ Dimple replied, grinning. Rishi laughed. ‘Fair enough. And yes, I can totally do aliens since they seem so important to you.’”—Page 130

So both times Rishi is being playful, taking her picture and jokingly teasing her. Then Dimple chose to respond by punching him. She’s actually hurting, even when she’s “going lighter” she’s still hurting him. Also, this gives Dimple (and the females in the audience) the idea that if she punches Rishi that she’ll get her way. He let her get away with punching him and changed his concept to aliens. Then, the line, “expand your idea of how girls behave”. That sounds to me like the author thinks that girls hitting boys is okay and empowering. No. Thousands times no. That shouldn’t be your message. Your message should be it’s not okay to punch anyone. That is not an okay message to teach young women and no one in the story class Dimple out on this.

The character is constantly complaining about misogyny, at one point Rishi makes a snarky quip to a bunch of dude-bros about “casual misogyny”. So if just talking about a wet-shirt contest is casual misogyny, I’m guessing that Dimple is a straight up misandrist. There are times when Dimple says “Fighting is ever the answer” but you’re constantly hitting him to the point where he’s now use to it.

“‘That…you’re a little too obsessed with Insomnia Con?’ Dimple punched him in the ribs, and it was a testament to him having acclimated to her that he didn’t even flinch.”—Page 233

Seriously, I didn’t want Rishi to get with Dimple. I wanted him to find a girlfriend that wouldn’t constantly abuse him. When he called her an unkind person, I was so happy because she is. She’s a horrible person and this author is telling her audience very questionable things. This book would be a million times better if Dimple wasn’t in it. She’s abusive, preachy and giant hypocrite.

I felt like I was being trolled the entire way through this book because there’s no possible way an author could be this not self-aware. This is probably worst than Future of Us because I had to drag my way through this book. It put me in a reading slump. It was awful.