Average Ekta Kapoor-style "saas-bahu" TV Serial in India
(Information collected from years of getting sucked into whatever my mother's watching now)
FL is middle-class; ML is rich
He spots her talent and gives her a job; rest is history
Saas(MIL)(of FL) is either a loving gentle maternal single mother or an absolute asshole; in the latter, the sasur(FIL) is kind and supportive etc etc
Oh yeah the end goal here in most serials, especially older ones, is for the FL to move into her sasuraal(in-laws' place) and live a proper traditional normal joint family life like the Indian equivalent of a tradwife. Whether this goal is reached or circumvented or whatever is in the air
But RECENTLY! For bonus feminism points! The FL moves into the sasuraal anyways, but she keeps her job! Presumably under the ML's company, of course.
The saas has probs arranged ML's marriage to someone else but, of course, it breaks off after everyone(and I mean E V E R Y O N E) finds out about ML and FL's love
Likely scandalous, considering ML's a fuckin CEO
And it's ALWAYS the man in positions of power; when there is a woman, she's an antagonist, seeking to uproot FL. And sometimes the characterisation is good! That's fine. But also the writers really need to check their biases once in a while
Digression aside, after the marriage is cancelled the saas probably teams up with ML's ex(who has had nothing but bad intentions from the very beginning) in order to take down FL and her family
This usually involves stuff like impossible challenges, abductions, dowry, and/or straight-up murder attempts
And this takes up the middle 49305849470239232483439183 episodes
Someone dies and comes back of course(I watched a serial once where the ML "died" and the episode just skipped to 2 years later in that same minute like no biggie. ML had lost his memory and was living with evil ex's sister)
Sometimes there's an old enemy of ML's business who will literally kidnap ML and give him long speeches supervillain style before his friend/FL/his brother comes save him
But they push through anyways!
Sometimes FL and ML's siblings get married too because YAY AMATONORMATIVITY RELATIONSHIPS FOR EVERYONE
Sometimes someone's sibling dies off and/or starts looking different midway through bc BOY these things run for a long time
I'm talking over a decade typa long
The aforementioned goals are likely reached towards the end, with the antagonists in jail or dead or whatever
Sometimes we'll do that rushed same-episode timeskip I was talking about and reveal All New Antagonists, here to avenge their predecessors
And sometimes they'll have a character with a solid introduction who eventually becomes a minor antagonist, gets their ass absolutely whupped, leaves, and then comes back on the side of good
But for the most part, yeah. That's literally it
I did watch a serial once where the leads got their happy ending and then we got the story of their daughter(thankfully mostly independent) living her life 20 years later. And then the year was mentioned. It was the same as the main storyline.
That reminds me, is it really a saas-bahu serial without a full 10 episodes given to each festival special?
Yeah that's all I've got for y'all today. Congratulations, you can now be pleasantly surprised when you're watching a serial and it subverts mass expectations.
