Shantaram season 1 episode 9 recap & review: Should I Stay or Should I Go

The ninth episode of Shantaram sees Lin saying his final goodbyes to everyone as he plans to leave Bombay before Kavita finds out about his dark past. The episode is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

A flashback scene sees Lin waiting outside his mother’s house in order to meet her before leaving for Bombay.

Officer Nightingale was paying her a visit, believing that Lin would definitely come to her after escaping from the prison.

Once he left, Lin thought of going inside until he saw an undercover cop keeping an eye on his house. He had no choice but to drop the plans of meeting his mother as time was running out.

Back in the present, Lin teaches Parvati how to handle his patients and the purpose of the different medicines they have. He wants to make sure that Sagar Wada will be fine once he is gone.

Prabhu tells Lin about his plan to drive a cab at night to support the family he will be having.

Lin proposes to go to his village once he gets his passport, but Prabhu is not at all interested as his father is a bit old-fashioned and would look for a dowry once he finds out that Prabhu is marrying Parvati.

Lin asks Prabhu to drop him at Karla’s before going to Reynaldo’s. He urges Karla to go with him for dinner on his last night in Bombay, and she gladly accepts.

At Reynaldo’s, Kavita and Nishant discuss their next move as they weren’t able to find Lin’s name on the red notices. They see Lin coming their way, who is looking for Didier.

Lin learns that Didier hasn’t visited Reynaldo’s for the past few days. He immediately goes to his place and finds him wasted. After hearing his story, Lin discloses his own dark past and how he escaped from Pentridge Prison.

He encouraged him to come to Reynaldo’s to celebrate. While Lin was away for a bathroom break, Maurizio arrived, asking Didier about Modena’s whereabouts as he has stolen the money they have earned.

Maurizio suspects that Lin is the one who told Abdullah about his drug deals and confronts him when Lin comes to the table. Lin, like always, insults him in return.

Maurizio was already dealing with a lot, and that’s why he decided to back off for now.

Earlier, Maurizio had gone to Lisa’s place looking for Modena. He didn’t find him there, but he did come across his and Lisa’s passports. He confiscated them to make sure they won’t escape.

He came to Didier to figure out whether they have approached him for new passports or not.

Maurizio’s client, Raheem, was present at Maurizio’s house when he went back home. Raheem wanted an update on his drugs. Maurizio revealed that Lin is his supplier, he took his money and didn’t supply the drugs on time.

Raheem planned on handling Lin himself and began looking for him at Reynaldo’s. Didier came across Raheem, and in order to save his friend, he sent a message to Lin and Prabhu through a kid.

Meanwhile, Lin spent time having his last dinner with Karla. He attempted to convince her to come with him, but in the end, he failed again.

When Lin met Didier again, the latter quietly took Lin away from Reynaldo’s with a man following them. Lin jumped on that man, believing that he is after Didier, only to discover that he was coming for him and that there are more of them.

Prabhu, who received Didier’s message, made it in time to pick up Lin.

Amidst all of this, Karla brought Minister Pandey to Zhou’s palace using Sunita. Karla and Abdullah recorded Minister Pandey and Sunita’s conversations and blackmailed him.

Minister Pandey agreed to trust Khader Khan, who celebrated his victory. Karla certainly didn’t like that all Khader Khan looked forward to was punishing Walid.

She asked Khader Khan to free Sunita. He agreed to do so, but he also saw through her eyes and wondered what else she desired.

Karla loved Lin, and though she denied his request to leave Bombay together, she wanted him to stay. She found a way to do that by asking Kavita to stop chasing his story.

Karla instead offered Kavita a more interesting one involving a Bombay gangster. Karla also crossed paths with Lisa, who came looking for shelter after abandoning Modena to avoid facing Maurizio and Zhou.

Karla offered to bring them new passports, and Lisa decided to reunite with Modena to orchestrate their escape plan.

Back in Australia, Officer Wally Nightingale continued his search for Lin. He managed to locate Lin’s partner, Charlie Pendergast. Unfortunately, Charlie died in a gunfight.

Kavita’s boyfriend, Nishant, sent a fax of Lin’s photo to police stations in Australia in an attempt to get some information on him. Officer Wally Nightingale received that picture at the end of the day, and the cops resumed their hunt to apprehend Lin.

Review

• The episode feels quite long as there is a lot going on and a number of the stories get a new turning point.
• It’s good to hear the back stories of minor characters like Didier and how these characters play their part in helping Lin, who has always been there for them as well.
• Earlier, the show hinted that Khader Khan would be a threat to Lin sooner or later. Turns out, Khader Khan is far from being a threat and likes to keep his promises.
• The show has sowed new conflicts and problems for Lin. These have made the show a bit complicated but at the same time more thrilling.

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Also Read: Who is Minister Pandey? Shantaram character explained