Farzi – Season 1 Episode 5 “Second Oldest Profession” Recap & Review

Second Oldest Profession

Episode 5 of Farzi begins with Sunny discussing the nature of a new 2000 rupee note. Mansoor has the perfect paper for this, given it’s the same one that the government use. The note’s design is a completely different level than what we’ve seen before though, with 17 different typefaces in more than 14 sizes. It’s almost impossible to make a counterfeit. Almost.

After much trial and error, Sunny manages to make the perfect note to trick the counterfeit machine into believing it’s a real one. As Mansoor introduces Sunny to Bilal, who’s in charge of the other division, he gives a thumbs up to the bills, deciding they should get to printing it.

Nannu’s doctor has urgent news but thankfully it’s all good. Nannu’s surgery has been pushed forward to next Friday. This is clearly Mansoor’s doing and he’s even paid off all his bills too.

As things get underway, Michael receives intel about Bilal. He’s in Bangladesh, which seems to be Michael’s best chance of tracking him down. However, they’re not authorized to work oversees so they’ll have to stick with surveillance for now. Pawan tells Michael he can’t authorize anything officially but that doesn’t stop Michael from mobilizing his team.

Michael works with the Bangladeshi authorities, who are going to handle Titu (Bilal’s contact) while allowing Michael and his team to take Bilal off the books and into India. Bilal susses out that something is up during their off-road trek and bails on his group, cursing out Titu for not taking his advice and using a different path.

Bilal finds military jeep track marks on the ground and as such, they turn around and leave. In doing so, a car chase ensues as Bilal attempts to get away from the authorities. It’s no good though and he’s eventually stopped.

Michael ends up torturing Bilal for information, wanting to know everything about the fake notes. After shooting Bilal in the foot to show how serious he is, Bilal caves and reveals all the fake notes in his bag as evidence of the new ones in circulation. Megha and Michael are shocked at how good these are, given they can’t tell which are real or fake, and believe these “super notes” need to be stopped before they make it into India.

Mansoor actually has a higher authority that he answers to, a woman called Saira. With Bilal caught, Saira wants a replacement and she has a few names in mind. However, so too does Mansoor and it appears he’s gearing up for Sunny taking on the role. He shows up at the hospital and meets Nannu in person. He gushes over Sunny’s artistry and even points out he bought a painting from Nannu earlier on.

In private, Sunny is encouraged by Mansoor to help with the operation. They need to infiltrate the Counterfeiting team and plant a mole in their operation. Mansoor decides they need to have each other’s back and part of that includes finding out about the Counterfeit team. Sunny falls out with his Uncle over this, pushing him away in favour of continuing to do business with Mansoor.

Michael learns from Bilal about Artist and his ties with Mansoor, and chooses to double down on finding the guy. Bilal doesn’t want to die and decides to work with Michael, asking for a burner phone in order to bring someone onboard to work as an insider. As for Sunny, he learns about Megha and decides to start chatting her up at the bar.

Sunny encourages her to get an apartment, and hooks her up with his people to make it happen. This is, of course, all a ruse to keep eyes on Megha and bug her phone.

As the pair part ways, Sunny happens to have all the intel he needs on Megha and can now work one step ahead of her. Uh oh!

The Episode Review

Sunny has finally turned to the dark side in this episode and it’s all done under the guise of getting his artwork out to the masses so they can see his brilliance. This turn is a bit sudden but as they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. That much is especially true when it comes to Sunny, who finally gets a taste of the high life courtesy of Mansoor.

Mansoor himself is a definite snake and it’s clear he has an ulterior motive, especially as we’re not aware that he’s working for a higher authority that has – so far at least – remained in the shadows.

A much improved episode, Farzi leaves plenty of room for the pace to quicken going into the second half of this drama.