‘Barzakh’ Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: Why Did Scheherazade Drug The Family?

Barzakh episode 3 ended with the montage of Shehryar’s childhood and the reason why he was sent off to England, far away from his family, to study. His father was fed up with his rebellious nature and chose to ship him off instead of understanding why he was behaving the way he did.

Spoilers Ahead

Did Leena kill herself?

Leena was Shehryar’s wife, and they had been married for some time. The fourth episode starts with Leena struggling with motherhood, as she was clearly dealing with postpartum depression after the delivery of their son Haris. As the years passed by, Leena was still struggling with being a mother as she believed she could not understand her son. Shehryar was also unable to understand the problems she was going through, even though he was a psychiatrist. Leena was a stand-up comedian, and she missed working as most of her time post-childbirth was spent on taking care of Haris. Lena was not selfish; she was struggling as a lot of mothers do after childbirth. She was suicidal, and sadly, she took her life by drowning herself in the bathtub. The prologue ended with the painter at the Mahtab Mahal drawing a painting of Haris’s mother in the bathtub. 

What did Scheherazade ask Lorenzo to add to the food?

Scheherazade purchased some mushrooms from the market and asked Lorenzo to add some to the food meant for adults. Haris was kept out of it for an obvious reason. The family was gathered for the Mehregan festival, which was being celebrated around the town. As per the tradition, the festival is a celebration of the autumn equinox, as mentioned by Scheherazade in the previous episode. There was tension brewing between the father and his sons, but for the sake of the yearly festival, all gathered for the lunch prepared by Lorenzo. 

How did Niazi join Lumberdaar?

Lumberdaar and his followers, who were fighting against Jaffer because of his decision to build a hotel over the graveyard of twelve ancestors of the village men, were looking forward to Mehregan as well. Niazi, who was also offering his prayers to the deceased women at Tasleem’s home, revealed his dark history with alcoholism that led to the deaths of his wife and daughter. Niazi was feeling guilty all this while as he felt responsible for the death of his family. Tasleem took advantage of his vulnerability and brought him on her side to fight against Jaffer Khanzada.

Why did Jaffer and his sons began to quarrel?

During the lunch before the psychedelic drugs could kick in, Jaffer began to argue with his children, Saifullah and Shehryar. Saifullah was still livid at his father for never worrying about any of them and, years later, still being in love with a deceased woman. There was some murmur about Scheherazade being Saifullah and Shehryar’s half-sister, but no one was allowed to bring up the subject. Jaffer inadvertently brought up the topic of Shehryar not raising his son right, which triggered his younger son. Shehryar did not stop himself from cussing and reminding Jaffer he was a terrible father figure. Shehryar pointed out he was trying hard not to be like him to Haris because of the trauma he endured growing up.

Was Haris angry at Shehryar?

An insensitive Jaffer claimed that Leena had committed suicide because she could not stand to be with Shehryar anymore. A shocked Haris ran away from the lunch table, and as a concerned father, Shehryar ran after him to make things right with him. Haris was informed his mother had drowned, and he’d lived with that story of his mother’s death so far, until Jaffer shattered the glass and caused friction between Shehryar and his son. Haris was livid at his father for keeping the secret of his mother’s suicide from him. Shehryar had his reasons, because Haris was too young at the time to comprehend the fact that Leena wanted to end her life. Haris wanted time to digest the news, and Shehryar tried to convey his reasons for acting to protect his child from the trauma of having to live with the details of his mother’s passing. 

Did the psychedelics help the men to open up about their lives?

As Shehryar was chasing his son, the psychedelic drugs hit him, and the world around him slowed down. Haris took him back to the hotel and stayed in his room for the rest of the evening. Shehryar wanted to confront his father again, only to find them tripping over the psychedelics and for them to open up about their past and their history as a highly dysfunctional family. Jaffer, while he was high, confessed to knowing about Saifullah’s sexuality. There were illusions of his young children Saifullah and Shehryar reminding Jaffer he hadn’t been a good father, and that he’d abandoned all of them in the name of chasing someone who was not alive anymore. 

Shehryar also mentioned his father branding him as ungrateful due to an incident on his eighth birthday. He’d done the same to Haris earlier that day, which made Shehryar wonder if he was also turning into an insensitive father figure. Saifullah and Shehryar finally admitted their father was indeed a horrible man.

Did Shehryar see his mother as an angel?

Shehryar, while he was tripping out, was able to see his mother as an angel trying to converse with him about Leena’s death. Shehryar confessed to having tried to find his mother’s personality in Leena as well, ending up disappointed at her and himself. It was the drugs that were taking over him, and he was hallucinating his mother. Shehryar and his mother discussed how pain just spreads across the family like her cancer, and she was sure this pain would go to Haris as well. Shehryar pointed out he does not intend to put Haris through the pain he experienced, and the intergenerational trauma would stop with him. This heavy-handed discussion on generational trauma helped the audience to understand Shehryar wanted to be a good father to Haris. 

Did Lorenzo and Saifullah open up about their lives?

Saifullah and Lorenzo had a conversation with each other about their lives so far. Under the influence of the psychedelics, Saifullah could finally come to terms with his life and what he wanted for himself. Saifullah believed he and his father had been the same all this while, chasing something that they could never get their hands on. Saifullah believed it would be better to accept himself for who he was instead of running away and pretending to be who he wasn’t. Jaffer was chasing Mahtab, who was long gone. He chose not to love his family, who were his flesh and blood and were alive, craving his love and attention. Lorenzo asked Saifullah to live for himself for once instead of others. This was a profound revelation because Saifullah clearly was tired of being alone and misunderstood. 

Why did Scheherazade drug the family?

Scheherazade was confronted by Jaffer to find out her reasons to drug their food. Scheherazade only had one answer, she wanted to help the men get to the bottom of their conflict, seek the truth, and discuss everything that was suppressed all these years by all of them. She did not apologize for her move because she wanted all of their pain and trauma to come out in the open. Thankfully, it was just the men, and there were no outsiders who were witnesses to this trip. Scheherazade, who could be Jaffer’s daughter, probably wanted the family to come to terms with their past and move ahead towards an impending marriage between Jaffer and the deceased Mahtab. Her move helped because there were many secrets, concerns, and revelations that came out in the open for the men to deal with. Even though Shehryar was a psychiatrist, it never occurred to him to take therapy for the trauma he was out through all these years. 

Barzakh episode 4 ended with Scheherazade meeting all the souls who had turned into angels that got lost beneath the hotel. Mahtab Mahal was built over their grave, and it was their angels that roamed around the place, lost and unable to find their way to the other land. It was Scheherazade that released them from the pain of being in limbo land, which is essentially the name of the show Barzakh. Scheherazade released herself from the burden and the pain and allowed all the village men to enter Mahtab Mahal to offer their final prayers to their ancestors. This was one of the key reasons why Scheherazade drugged the family, for the sake of the villagers who were close to her as well. Her only demand was that they not harm Jaffar, whom they all referred to as Aaqa, which meant master. 

Scheherazade was trying to be the bridge between both sides and wanted some sort of harmony, which was essentially wishful thinking. Since there was no harmony, she had to invite them in when the men were asleep after a tiring trip due to the drugs they had ingested. Only time will tell if the plan was a success or not.