The Family Man season 3 review: Not the sharpest but a convincing step forward to continue the legacy!

The Family Man s03, despite its dramatic turn, stays intact in its fervour to state that enemies often don’t just lie at the borders, rather, they're hidden within one’s own country.

What if wars weren’t the consequence of failed diplomacy or broken peace treaties, but because a handful of powerful men needed them to happen? What if socio political conflict itself was a business model, an elaborate way to keep people busy so that money could move, power could shift, and narratives were controlled? I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, fallen too deep into some rabbit hole. But that’s exactly why I'm so glad that fiction exists as it has the power to hold the unbelievable without being dismissed as conspiracy. Wrap a harsh truth in a cushiony blanket of a story and you get a delicious drama that knows how to get the message across. And that’s precisely where The Family Man thrives. As an intelligence spy thriller it keeps reminding us that the real danger doesn’t always creep in from across the border; sometimes it walks the polished corridors of your own system where the true rot really lies. And Season 3 embraces this once again!

After two seasons we understand the grammar of The Family Man.Srikant Tiwari’s (Manoj Bajpayee) life unfolds in two languages - one personal, the other professional. This season too, the story splits itself neatly. On the professional front, Srikant travels to Nagaland with his mentor Kulkarni to push forward a peace project that predictably becomes an ambush. On the personal front, his marriage to Suchi (Priyamani) goes for the worse, the kids Atharv (Vedant Sinha) and Dhriti (Ashlesha Thakur) have grown into complex adults, and the Tiwari household feels like a quiet battleground of its own. As we are in the third season of the show, stakes not only have become bigger and higher, but have also gone out of Srikant's control. As he remains unaware, geopolitical coups still engineered by ISI Sameer (Darshan Kumar) and NRI allies from London are already in motion, disrupting Srikant’s and his family life as well. It's interesting how the two arcs collide this time more than before. Because, Srikant isn't just fighting threats but the corrupt system that paints him as a traitor!

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A defining strength of The Family Man since Season 1 has been its refusal to paint heroes in saffron light and villains in blackened shadows. Srikant isn’t a mythologised saviour of the nation; he’s a middle-class man whose patriotism lies in simply doing his job as an intelligence officer, getting things right not because he’s perfect, but because he’s persistent. And this empathy extends to the people often labelled as “terrorists.” But this time, things become personal for Srikant. He finds himself treated much like the rebels - Sajid and Raji in earlier seasons, and Stephen in this one, who is a leader of rebellion uprisings in Nagaland. Hence the whole idea of beliving in something different becomes grounds for suspicion. And then the fight for justice turns into a fight for understanding. Yet even within this, the show resists falling back on caricatures. The ex-officer–turned–street-smart drug lord Rukma (Jaideep Ahlawat) is still not a menacing villain but a human being first, whose misguided choices emerge from something deeply personal.

This approach deepens the show’s world-building, which continues to shine through its meticulous staging. Nothing explodes out of nowhere in this show as chaos is always rooted in everyday mundanity. A political event with a dance performance becomes the backdrop for a bombing. A child’s tantrum for ice cream quietly sets off a chain of consequences. An ideological quarrel between a grandfather and grandson precedes a sudden attack. Every action sequence, however crucial, begins like a slice of life, giving each inevitable moment the illusion of being lived rather than plotted. Whether it’sRukma confessing his fear of marriage seconds before tragedy strikes or a seemingly routine hacking operation revealing masterminds tucked away in London. Season 3 maintains the show’s signature rhythm of life unfolding casually as danger sneaks up quietly. Even the easy, foolish banter between Srikant and JK (Sharib Hashmi) serves a narrative purpose. Their chaotic energy is a deliberate distraction, tricking you into underestimating them. 

Raj and DK love playing with the audience’s blind spots, knowing exactly when to reveal competence beneath the clumsiness. Which is why, despite being told about a mole within T.A.S.C from the very first episode, the eventual betrayal of agents still lands like a twist we should’ve seen coming but didn’t. Call it lack of attention span, but it works well. And as new faces like Harman Singha bring fresh charm, returning ones like Shreya Dhanwanthary’s pull you back into the nostalgia of earlier seasons. Season 3 is peppered with cameos, callbacks, and returning threads. I’d suggest brushing up with Season 1 before this! 

Yet despite the expanded ensemble including Nimrat Kaur pulling her weight, and Jaideep Ahlawat being his eclectic self, once again finding himself in Nagaland in some strange streaming-universe coincidence, something still feels amiss. The chemistry between the original cast - Vipin Sharma, Seema Biswas, Gul Panag, Priyamani, and others feels faint this time, including that familiar gravitational pull of Manoj Bajpayee and Sharib Hashmi that once anchored the show. And that absence adds to the season’s visible cracks. The dense narrative feels a little too loose for its own good and the show could have benefitted from a tighter build-up rather than leaning into overtly dramatic beats. But the seven-episode ends on a cliffhanger that leaves room for optimism, feeling like this is only the first half like a build up towards a much larger story. If that’s the case, the final tease of an impending war is genuinely intriguing, hinting at Bajpayee's return to action and the show reclaiming the fearless commentary that made us fall for it in the first place.

In a landscape where most streaming shows that began with promise have slowly surrendered to formula, Delhi Crime 3 being a recent example, The Family Man’s strength in Season 3 lies in the fact that it hasn’t entirely given up. It still dares to say that wars don’t simply “happen”; they are orchestrated by those sitting within the very machinery meant to prevent them. Its portrayal of a PM who appears more puppet like the on ground terrorists, steered not by advisors or conscience but by the richest person in the room is a political statement disguised as entertainment. A quiet reminder that power rarely sits where it's displayed. With The Family Man Season 3, the show still holds onto its audacity. It may not be the sharpest or bravest return, but it's willing to comment beneath the fiction in today’s complacent times, is its biggest victory.

The Family Man Season 3 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video!

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