Money Mafia Season 2 Episode 6 review: A tragic tale of 60 years of trust broken

The ‘Popular Finance scam’ on discovery+ Money Mafia is one that rocked the South Indian state of Kerala during the pandemic

Rating: 3/5

Story:

The episode focuses on a company called Popular Finance that works as a financing group, an alternative to conventional banking by offering higher interest rates. Their fall from grace as a trusted family-run company to a criminal enterprise, that swindled money from ordinary civilians in the town of Pathanamthitta in Kerala, is the primary narrative of this episode.

Review:

The most horrifying thing for an individual who has retired after years of service would be to lose their hard-earned money to an organisation that had promised to keep their lifetime of earnings. Popular Finance was found guilty of swindling money off of their loyal customers, despite having built a reputation of trust over 60 years of service.

Unlike the previous episode, this episode offers access to interviews with journalists, finance experts, victims, and even former Finance Minister of Kerala, Dr Thomas Issac. This has helped elevate the episode and provided the viewers with several perspectives on the scam. The interviews with the victims are deeply emotional as they narrate how they were robbed of their life savings.

There are fairly decently well-narrated expositions by various people featured in the episode. The level of duplicity involved in the scam is shocking, even more so considering that the people had faith in the establishment as they were long-time and satisfied customers, who had no reason whatsoever to believe that their money would be siphoned off to offshore accounts. Some of the stories are truly heart-breaking.

What makes the episode stand out is the fact that the writers have put in considerable effort to give context to the district of Pathanamthitta. It gives the viewers a better understanding of how the company was able to flourish as long as it did. The fact the community has rallied behind the victims in search of justice, with protests and demonstrations still actively ongoing to date makes this case unique in itself. The victims have hopes that their earnings will be returned to them in the near future.

The episode is, however, not without a few issues. Unlike the previous episodes, there appears to be a dip in the production value. Better visuals and editing may have elevated this episode to a much higher standard.

Verdict:

The sixth episode is an improvement from the fifth and is able to keep the audience hooked till the very end despite a few issues minor issues in its execution

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