Paatal Lok – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

A History Of Violence

Episode 3 of Paatal Lok begins with a shocking opener involving three boys at school being followed by Tyagi. He proceeds to casually bash their brains in one by one with a hammer before sitting in the courtyard panting hard, the blood-soaked hammer still gripped tightly in his hand.

Back in the present, Ansari continues his investigation into Tope Singh’s past which brings him to a man named Bhupinder. It’s here we jump back in time and witness Tope’s teen years, including him being hounded by Bhhupinder and the other boys in his neighbourhood. Thanks to the guidance of Sukkha who arrives and offers words of wisdom, he’s able to carve a new identity out for himself.

This identity sees him approached by Bhupinder and two of his friends but this time things are different. They’re forced to succumb to Tope’s wrath, as he slashes Bhupinder across the face several times. Unfortunately this brings a whole mob to his house later that evening and Tope’s forced to run away while his family endure a torturous ordeal.

Chaudhary meanwhile starts sifting through the archives to find more information on Tyagi and his family. Find an address, Chaudhary heads up to visit and learns from Tyagi’s brother-in-law about the school incident we saw earlier in the episode. It’s here we also learn more about Tyagi’s motivations and what spurred him on to do this.

As Chaudhary leaves, he realizes he’s being tailed by a reporter named Amitosh and corners him. Before he can get any solid information from him however, two shady men watch from afar prompting him to chase them through the streets. Unfortunately he’s too slow but the run does lead Chaudhary up to the temple where a picture of Shiva brings with it a clue that Amitosh subtlety gave him when he chanted Lord Shiva down by the water moments earlier.

Sanjeev finds himself troubled by the recent turn of events and despite Dolly’s pleads with him to talk to her, he ignores that and instead answers a call from Sara who confirms the identity of the man he saw in the police station is that of Tyagi. After gathering information together, Sanjeev decides to take drastic action and heads on-air live, ready to broadcast what he’s learned to the world. As we cut across to Chaudhary, he breathes a deep sigh as he prepares for another big media frenzy in the wake of Sanjeev spilling the truth.

With more characterisation for all the suspects and a deeper dive into their troubled pasts, Paatal Lok does well to give some insights into who these men are and just what their motivation is. Seeing both Chaudhary and Ansari split up this time helps to give both actors the space needed to settle into their roles and the shocking opener is certainly the best part of the series so far in terms of impact and the way it’s shot. All eyes now turn to the future episodes as this investigation starts to heat up and as we approach the halfway point of this series, the door is left wide open for further twists and turns along the way.