Netizens unimpressed with Sang-e-Mah's 'abrupt' final episode

Singer Atif Aslam's debut drama Sang-e-Mah came to an end on Sunday with his character Hilmand and Sheherzad (Kubra Khan) reaching their final resolution. While the finale focused on the jirga (council of men) criminalising ghag — a practice where a man shoots in the air three times to claim a woman's hand in marriage — not all netizens were happy with the ending, mainly because of the deaths of Zarsanga (Samiya Mumtaz) and Haji Marjaan (Naumaan Ijaz).

The episode started off with the council sitting together to come to a decision about Zarsanga, who murdered her husband for performing ghag without her consent. Keeping that a secret, Haji Marjaan, the tribe leader marries her and adopts her son Hilmand (Aslam). Together, they have a son named Hikmat (Zaviyar Ejaz).

Now as the jirga sits together on the request of Hilmand's grandfather, MashaAllah Khan (Asif Khan) to punish Zarsanga for the crime, the women of Laspiran village come together to confront the men by opposing the tradition of ghag. While the new law finalises and Zarsanga doesn't get penalised, both she and Haji Marjaan commit suicide a night prior to the council's meeting.

For this user the love story between the two is "immortalised" even if they died in the end.

Another user lauded Aslam and Ijaz on their performance and loved how the drama was "raw".

For this user, Sang-e-Mah was a "a next level production, a different topic". They said our industry needs such "creative work and colourful direction" and complimented Aslam on doing well in the show.

Another user believed that the show had been rushed and praised Ijaz, Mumtaz and Sania Saeed for their performances.

Many netizens called out the show for the suicide of Zarsanga and Marjaan. This user questioned why such a "dark end" was part of the show, especially without a trigger warning.

Another wrote that suicide is not a solution and should not be promoted.

One user praised how ghag had been addressed in the show but was critical of the depiction of suicide.

For this user, Zarsanga and Marjaan were "cowards" who didn't seek justice in the past and opted for an easy way out.

It's unfortunate that the creator's of Sang-e-Mah's chose to end Zarsanga and Marjaan's story with suicide, especially given their careful handling of the topic of ghag. Deaths by suicide are something we've seen in many TV shows in the past and, as many netizens have said, seems like an abrupt ending to the show. We would've instead loved to see whether the characters of Sang-e-Mah valued forgiveness and believed in moving on.