'Four More Shots Please!' Season 3 Review: These Shots Need Something Stronger

When Four More Shots Please! debuted in 2019, it was loved for its ability, or rather willingness, to have conversations surrounding misogyny, sexuality, and female friendships and desire.

However, as content surrounding the show has grown and evolved, you'd expect it to match step, even if to just maintain its status of a pioneer as sorts. But it doesn't.

Lets take stock of where out protagonists are at – Siddhi Patel (Maanvi Gagroo) is grappling with her father's demise and her mother Sneha's (Simone Singh) dating life. Umang Singh (Bani J) is dealing with the fallout of her breaking off her engagement to her ex, Bollywood star Samara and a strained relationship with her father.

Damini Rizvi Roy (Sayani Gupta), who wrote a scathing expose on powerful industrialists and politicians, now finds herself managing PR for a politician. And finally, Anjana Menon (Kirti Kulhari), a lawyer and a single mother is dealing with the fact that her child wants to spend more time with her ex-husband Varun's (Neil Bhoopalam) new family.

To add to that, Damini is recovering, both physically and emotionally from a miscarriage, all the time trying to build a relationship with Jeh (Prateik Babbar).

So much has happened in the past two seasons that it's almost shocking to believe that their stories haven't found their resolutions. Barring an acknowledgment of rent prices in Mumbai (finally), Four More Shots Please! is still set far away from reality, in extravagant Diwali parties and swanky offices.

In a sense, this works for the show in its attempt to maintain focus on the four protagonists without letting any of the outside world leak in but by the third season, this starts to get repetitive.

The sound design, courtesy Sohel Sanwari, is at times an overload on the senses and at others stands out when it doesn't need to. The scenes with a more emotional leaning are scored well but beyond that, the music is sometimes louder than the film's message.

As Director of Photography, Sanket Shah captures the scenes beautifully, framing both iconic Mumbai monuments and the glitz and glamour of the uber-rich elite with the lens they require.

However, sometimes, the show is too beautiful and too pristine, making the spaces the audience needs to inhabit almost inaccessible to them.

It's tough to not let a feeling of deja vu seep in as the characters go through the same problems over and over again. To its credit, the conversations between the four leading ladies still remain interesting and hilarious for the most part. It's also still refreshing to see female protagonists who continue to make mistakes and are very simply, imperfect.

Their chemistry is undeniable and it'd be tough to argue that they've not been friends for life. They're all still protective, supportive, and sex positive, in all the delightful ways.

Four More Shots Please! is still trying to have important conversations about women's lives, a sensitive portrayal of same-sex relationships, and a careful attempt at commentary on hate-speech and trolling.

What the show is lacking is some intensity – the show is exploring much deeper traumas and stakes than it did earlier but it still seems surface-level.

The show even loses some of its steam mid-season, getting it back only in the last episode which seems too rushed to make much of a difference.

The cast has matured considerably since the first season when it comes to their acting chops, but their characters haven't, and that's a disservice. Umang and Jeh's characters still remain the show's most interesting and it's a pity that we don't see to see their friendship more often.

Every secondary character, be it Simone Singh or Lisa Ray or the new entrants Jim Sarbh and Shilpa Shukla, all display great skill and charm. However, some of their characters have been pushed into done-before, convenient tropes with little to do.

Four More Shorts Please!, written by Devika Bhagat and directed by Joyeeta Patpatia, used to be a show with something to say and people (and relationships) to root for despite all odds and it has lost some of its charm along the way.

That being said, it still has a potential bubbling just under the surface, and here's hoping it's fully realised.

Rating: 2 Quints out of 5