So Mr. Sood is to go on trial for the murder of Jaya, and at the offer of legal representation he stubbornly claims he can defend himself at first. The lawyer, Vinod Mukesh, tries to bring some spark back into the man who has had a rough ride of late that certainly transcends his actual fortunes. “Not jumping to any conclusions I hope?” asks the prosecution, Hugh Slater, at one point in court. Indeed, as the audience we must. Except we know what a lot of these folk don’t.
Mukesh appears to have recruited Sooni as an assistant for educational purposes, and she is keen to contribute to the background defense when Ian is advised. When Aafrin agrees to go visit Ian, they find his place of residence in a bit of a mess. Sooni and Ian later have a talk, and we see a more sensitive side to Aafrin’s sister. Ian decides to testify for Mr Sood then but not before recovering from a drinking binge. That won’t, and does not, look good in court.
Leena volunteers as a witness, and informs the court that the victim has a son, Adam. When asked if she knows who the father is, she says no. Dougie shaking his head not far away probably didn’t help. Neither does Leena mentioning how Jaya attacked her, which somehow aligns her into potential suspect territory. When the defense asks if Adam has mentioned his father, Leena says he refers to his father as “devil.” That rings a bell. After pondering for some time, Dougie returns Ralph’s cheques, saying that they can not be bought. Good move.
Meanwhile, Ghandi has signed some kind of pact, which Aafrin delivers to Ralph as some form of good news. Ralph later attends the school where Alice is reading to the children, claiming he has come about the repairs. We and Alice know that is not true. Adam runs off. Aafrin visits Alice to apologize for his accusation, and they are almost intimate. All the while Sita is still being welcomed with open arms by the Dalal family, all except Aafrin it seems. He later meets Sita to end their romance partly because she never delivered that note, but we all know Alice plays a bit part in his decision.
When Cynthia is called to the stand as a witness, she is not as we expected helping Mr. Sood’s case with her warped version of the events at the fair when he was attacked by Ian’s uncle who then died of a heart attack. Mr. Sood is brought to the box and is asked some rather malicious and assuming questions. You can’t help feel his reputation could be brightened up if he loses the scowl and stubble.
When the verdict comes in you are kind of thinking “that was quick” but also how the Indian justice system under the British rule was rather haphazard. That is not a fault of the show, we want this thing to move right along. I am sure that is not the end of that murder investigation. Plus, we are still looking forward to Ralph’s secret being finally out in the open, not to mention to see if the deceitful Cynthia will get what’s coming to her. We can but hope.
Episode 8 of Indian Summers aired in the UK on Sunday 5th April at 9pm on Channel 4. Episodes are available on Channel 4 On Demand – details are on the website.