Episode Review: August 23rd, 2012

As Anjali and Shaym continue to talk, he asks her if she's taken her medication and she says no.  At his request, she takes the medicine (switched version) while Shyam looks on.  Anjali is going to show Shyam something when the door bell rings; the family has returned home.  Worried that they may find him, Shyam hides in one of the empty rooms as Payal opens the door.  When the family comes in, they ask her why she looks so worried and why there are two tea cups.  She makes an excuse of not being well and the family takes her to her room, while Shyam hides in another room.

At the Gupta house, Garima is packing to leave town on the pretext of not wanting to ruin Khushi's happiness and wedding.  She tells the Babuji that she cannot face the Dadi as it will ruin the lives of both Payal and Khushi.  When Buaji and Khushi return home, they see that Garima looks worried and is packing to go somewhere.  She tells them that she found a very good place, right outside of Lucknow, that can help in curing the Babuji and she doesn't want to lose this opportunity.  Unfortunately, this means that she cannot partake in Khushi and Arnav's wedding, making Khushi upset.  Khushi doesn't mind that Garima and Babuji is leaving but feels sad at the fact that her parents won't be there on the biggest day of her life but Buaji reassures her that she will be there.  Back at the Raizada house, Anjali is pacing back and forth thinking of a way to get Shyam out of the house without the family seeing him.  She fears that Dadi may return to her room and see him so she decides to go and get him out right now.  As she is about to leave, Payal brings the doctor to check up on her.  After the doctor finishes her check up, she tells Anjali to stop taking the medicines she gave her as it is making her more weaker.  She also prescribes new medicines and advises the family to keep her happy.  All the while, Shyam is trying to think of a way out and realizes that his phone is missing.  The phone is found by Dadi.

Dadi stresses to everyone about what the doctor said about keeping Anjali happy.  She suggest they do the baby shower soon and Nani suggest they do both the baby shower and the mendhi ceremony together as it will be a lot more fun.  Dadi does not seem to like the idea but Nani, Mami and Payal do.  Nani tells Payal to call up Khushi and inform her about the plans.  In the Gupta house, Khushi is staring at the Devi Mayya idol when Garima walks in.  She asks for Khushi to remove her earings and then gives her the earrings that her mother wore as a child.  She tells her that she wanted to give them to her on her wedding day but won't be able to do so.  She also tells Khushi that even though she may not be present, her heart will still be at the wedding.  She even gets Khushi to promise that she will not be upset on her wedding day and will continue to laugh and smile.

What worked: Anjali being worried on how to sneak Shyam out of the house.  We finally get to see the good, sweet and innocent sister Anjali for once do something sneaky.  She's been secretly meeting her dead beat of a husband behind the entire family's back and watching her be worried that someone would catch was awesome.  Anjali has never been one to keep secrets or lie but has resorted to that solely for her husband.  This shows that she still continues to live in her fantasy world where she refuses to believe anything of reality.  I would love to see Arnav's reaction when he finds out what she's been doing for so long as she herself gave him a hard time for so call "lying" to him.

What didn't work: Dadi's constant annoyed and disapproved face.  I understand that she may not approve or like what is going on but her expressions are sort of getting old.  She's a great addition to the cast, bringing in a lot of drama and twists to the story.  Her disapproved looks every episode are sort of getting annoying.

Highlight: Garima choosing to leave instead of facing Dadi.  With Garima leaving, the suspense and curiosity over the secret continues to remain, keeping the viewers interested.  Garima leaving is powerful in a sense that she does not want to destroy her children's lives, like any mother would.  Just like how Khushi kept the secret of how and why she married Arnav in order to not hurt her family, Garima too is keeping her secret to not ruin the lives of her children.  It is not clear what secret Garima is hiding and what it's revelation will do to Khushi and Arnav's relationship but her leaving does solidofy one thing, it is one less thing standing between Arshi's reunion.