This episode of Mahabharata begins with the Kuru elders and Krishna bidding their farewells. An angry seething Duryodhan wants to leave, but Shakuni forces him to stay behind - to watch him play the ultimate game. For Shakuni’s dice, as he reveals, always fall on the numbers he desires. Shakuni can therefore never lose a game of dice. Unless he chooses to.
Shakuni invites Duryodhan to watch him play a game of dice against Yudhistir - a game which he intentionally loses, and then praises Yudhistir that he has now become the emperor of dice too, by defeating Shakuni. Clearly, this victory starts to go to Yudhistir head. When this victory agitates Duryodhan, Shakuni suggests he tour the Pandavas’ new palace to cool off - and experience its unique optical illusions for himself.
After being flummoxed by a few illusions where he seemingly walks over water, air and fire, Duryodhan is warned by a passerby maid that the floor ahead of him is yet another optical illusion where a pool of water is made to look like a floor. Disbelieving her, Duryodhan steps onto the “floor” and falls into the pool. From a balcony, Draupadi observes this and guffaws, even joking that “the blind man’s son is also blind!”
An insulted Duryodhan returns to Hastinapur and starts taking out his anger on servants, thrashing them in wrestling bouts. Karna calms him down and offers to attack Indraprasth to avenge this insult. But Shakuni calls this a foolhardy idea, and suggests inviting the Pandavas to Hastinapur for a dice game rematch. A disgusted Karna walks away, while Shakuni and Duryodhan go to speak with Dhritharashtra. After some emotional manipulation, Dhritharashtra also agrees to invite the Pandavas over.
Tropes found here are
- Blind Mistake: Draupadi mocks Duryodhan when he falls into a pool optically disguised to resemble a floor.
- Failure Gambit / I Let You Win: Shakuni intentionally loses a dice game to Yudhistir to boost the latter’ s confidence - so that he’ll be complacent next time they play.
- Minor Insult Meltdown: Duryodhan really lets Draupadi’s “blind man’s son is blind” insult trigger him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Karna walks away, desiring a straight up fight instead of deceit and treachery.
- This Is Not a Floor: A maid walking by warns Duryodhan that a floor ahead of him is actually a pool of water, but he ignores her - and falls in.
- Throwing the Fight: Shakuni can command dice to fall on the exact number he desires. But he needn’t state his actual desired number out loud. This allows him to state a certain number out loud, while secretly desiring a different number. This allows Shakuni to take a dive on a dice game.
- You Fool!: Shakuni calls Duryodhan and Karna fools when Karna starts talking about attacking Indraprasth.
