Label Episode 4 Review: Following up on the actions of the first three episodes, the fourth entry, releasing on November 17, brings back the Tamil action drama series starring Jai Sampath as Prabha, Tanya Hope as Mahitha, Mahendran as Veera, Harishankar Narayanan as Kumar in pivotal roles with Sriman, Suresh Chakravarthy as Paramasivan Ilavarasu as Inspector Muthuvel, Charan Raj aka Prabha’s father and others also seen alongside them. Directed and written by Arunraja Kamaraj, the web series is a Sam CS Musical, and has commenced the heavy action and conversation around the Article 20 of the Indian Constitution.
Streaming originally in Tamil, the series can also be watched in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, and Marathi, with English subtitles. The fourth episode has a runtime of 34 minutes. Label series has been rated ‘A’.
Watch Label Episode 4 Promo
Label Review of Episode 4 Contains Spoilers
Label Episode 4 Recap
Aftermath of joining the Label: A former member of the gang talks about how miserable his life turned out to be in the end despite him feeling like he owned the world with his violent ways at the beginning. This issues a bigger warning and word of caution for those wanting to get dragged into this vicious cycle of brutality.
With Veera and Kumar on the run after killing Paathaalam, Prabha starts looking for them, not knowing the truth yet. Meanwhile, with Paathaalam’s murder on the radar of Inspector Arul Kumaran (Actor Arish Kumar), the other senior judge at the court – also working with criminal forces on the other side – warns Veera and Kumar that Arul won’t let the matter slip by easily. Eventually, his rowdy ways of pushing criminals to the edge into answering his questions are revealed.
Another young boy is dragged in by his mother to Prabha’s house, as she compels him to confess his misdeeds. He informs Prabha that he didn’t kill Paathaalam, but helped facilitate Veera’s operation by throwing a petrol bomb at his house. Prabha also reaches out to the police to confirm Veera and Kumar’s involvement in Paathaalam’s murder, but their names weren’t listed on the FIR, so Prabha’s contact alerts him about the risky situation it could birth, and how things could go south for them.
Prabha relies on his senior to help Veera and Kumar, and pleads him not to abandon them as their lives would be ruined. As a result, Paramasivan asks them to turn themselves in and surrender, but through another lawyer’s guidance as he had to leave town. He also guides them to steer clear of associating their names with the Label. As soon as they head out to enlist a lawyer’s help, each of these representatives back out on hearing who they had killed.
Veera and Kumar realise that Paramasivan had only lied to them about having to leave the city to keep himself out of the crossfire. But in the end, Prabha steps in to help them, which means that Inspector Arul can no longer torture them in jail and has to ensure their safety, both in and outside of the prison.
A ruckus outside the court is created as mobs start raising their voices and Arul announces publicly that Prabha was handling their case, making him the next primary target on these gangs’ hit list, or so we can presume.
Label Episode 4 Review
Jai Sampath’s Prabha emerges as the quintessential hero of the series, wanting to turn around things for his community and people. While characters essentially crafted to spin out a narrative around their saviour complex have become an obvious cliche, Sampath’s portrayal of Prabha is powerfully entrenched in socio-political reality determined by markers like class and caste, that are still dividing the crowds and giving rise to the undying roots of discrimination and differences.
South Indian content has already often delved into such socially empowering dialogues through many former movie and TV premieres. So those who are avid enthusiasts of these titles, may find this Hotstar Specials a bit repetitive in terms of its subject matter. However, even with that said, Arunraja Kamaraj directorial rouses your attention with its grand scheme of world-building. It’s overtly evident that Label‘s outlook is a dramatised one, but its inclinations and inspiration are deep-seated in profound realism.
The over the top commotion and hustle created in the show maintains a well-paced dynamic view that never seems to slow down. Moreover, Episode 4 also builds on the lovey-dovey sub-plot between Jai and Tanya Hope’s characters, allowing the former to present himself as the typical romantic hero going gaga over his feelings for the other while dancing his heart out in the middle of a busy street, like all such love-stricken protagonists do.
Despite the show’s episodes having a short runtime, they’re packed in with several arcs and chapters, endowing the duration with a grand production and making it seem as if the episodes run longer than they actually do.
As for the Veera and Kumar disaster, the introduction of Inspector Arul has tightened up the tension, especially by driving Prabha to the corner. One of the highlights of the episode has to be how the latest entry also delved further into the aftermath of leading the crooked lifestyle of a gangster.
Plus, the final court sequence, with all the crowded commotion on the street with a complementary theatrical musical crescendo building up as Jai walks out and makes his way through this jam-packed location swarmed with criminals, smothering him with their mobiles in his face, definitely made for a theatrically impactful closing and perfectly captured the sheep-like mentality running through these mobs’ veins.
First 4 episodes of Label Tamil series are streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Also read: Label Review (Episodes 1 to 3): Gritty Start to Jai Sampath’s Engrossing Fight for Identity