The Tamil crime thriller series makes its return with its following chapter on October 12, 2023, resuming the first part's action between Atharvaa's ACP Ashwath Rathnakumar and Manikandan's Padalam Sekar, aka the Whale. Directed by Prasath Murugesan, with cinematography by Edwin Sakay and action choreography by Dhilip Subbarayan, the Hotstar Specials series first introduced us to its main characters in the premier five episodes, and two more episodes in Part 2 have now followed up.
With a runtime ranging of 33-41 minutes, the new episodes now stream on Disney+ Hotstar in several languages, including Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Bengali. The series also stars Gautham Vasudev Menon as Thiru, Dilnaz Irani as Commissioner Sayanthika, Dhivyadharshini aka DD as Safia, Ilavarasu as Veeravaal Nallangkiri and others.
The new part again delves into details of the operation led by Atharvaa’s Ashwath, further delaying the action. While his team surrounds the party of gangsters by executing the Trojan Horse idea suggested by the leading man, Manikandan's Sekar concocts his scheme of uniting the criminal forces at the gathering in a plan that would make them a formidable force to reckon with. Sekar is off saving face and conducting an investigation to lure out the mole in their midst, Ashwath's mission moves two steps forward only to back 5 steps away later.
Though these crossfires hold our attention because of the thrilling essence of the chase, the plot doesn’t move forward. The push and pull keeps the tug of war alive throughout both of the new episodes so released as they don’t grant clear victory to either of these characters from opposing sides.
The two new episodes mostly stand in as fillers because Part 1 also concluded with the same open-ended turn that promised the audiences Atharvaa and Manikandan's ultimate showdown. Endless instalments of the same season being released in intervals may leave the previosuly interested audience restless more than ever.
The actions that transpired in Part 2 don't make for a complete loss because viewers intrigued by broody concepts will surely find a liking for it. Conversely, others interested in fast-paced storylines may start losing interest in the series altogether.
Irrespective of how much screen time is accorded to the other characters, the main focus is still on the Ashwath-Sekar fight. Each time other sub-plots are brought on, the viewer may hope for it all to be rushed so that the camera lens can again pan out to capture the two leading characters in action.
But even when the show focusses on Ashwath and Sekar, it reduces them to being quintessential binary representatives of the fight between Good and Evil. Not much effort is put into dissecting them as people, or showing the depths of their moral consciences because the aim is mostly restricted to depicting the physicality of the action.
While it's still a mystery whether these characters' moral design and psyche will be broken into, you can still enjoy the series as it is. Even with all its faults, it's not a complete loss. However, if just the one last episode remains to conclude the plot, then that will make for a shallow finale and overall weak narrative.