Rahul Desai
This mainstreaming of Panchayat has a two-fold effect. On one hand, the compromises are too visible. A subplot featuring the government housing scheme is fine; it feeds the show’s idea of rural kinship as a welcome contrast to urban loneliness.
The slice-of-life linearity is challenged by broader narrative strokes: A proper villain, a brewing civil war, a budding romance, upcoming elections, and an escalating Gaul-village-versus-Romans battle of egos.
The change is a little disorienting, because it’s like watching your favourite person slowly lose their innocence. The flaws of de facto council leader Dubey (Raghubir Yadav), for instance, are more apparent: His regional bias is exposed in a housing scheme racket.
The best parts of the season involve Prahlad’s shape-shifting grief – and by extension, the caregiving cocoon around him. Vikas and the Dubey household quietly make sure he’s fed and rested every day, regardless of how drunk he is.
I like that some of the chaos reflects the unchoreographed whims of life. A ‘gang war’ outside a hospital is anything but slick; grown men grab sugarcane sticks and slap and scratch and drag and air-punch each other in a gloriously messy battle.
As a franchise, however, it’s still worth acknowledging that the quality of the first two seasons upends that immortal quote from The Office: The way they unfolded, you knew you were in the good old days before you actually left them.