Cigarette Girl season 1 was a complete story in itself. It was the story of Dasiyah and Raja and their love story that was never really meant to be. While that broke a lot of hearts, we cannot help but wish for Cigarette Girl season 2, so that we may see some hope of love in that world. After all, so many of those relationships in the show were doomed. Raja was never able to fully love his wife; Dasiyah started a future with Seno, but he met an untimely end; and finally, Arum and Lebas had to make peace with the awkward fact that their parents were soulmates.
We know that Arum and Lebas are not technically related, but it is still a weird relationship to share. If their parents had the opportunity, they would have gotten married to each other, and Arum and Lebas would have grown up as step-siblings. This has to grate on them quite often. There was definitely an attraction between the two people, but while the ending of the first season showed that they were on pleasant terms, if they were to pursue a relationship, they would have a fair fight ahead of them. Purwanti (Lebas’ mother) had agreed to honor her husband’s love in his dying moments, but would she be okay with Dasiyah’s daughter marrying her son? Purwanti was completely blameless in the entire thing, and she simply got taken advantage of by Raja because he wanted to protect Dasiyah. While he may not have explicitly said it, Purwanti would have figured it out over the course of their marriage. Perhaps she also knew what her father had done to Dasiyah, and she had been a silent bystander or an active part of it. She repents now, but will this repentance extend to the acceptance of Arum in her family? Also, we have to remember that Lebas’ brothers may be against this match for business purposes. They abhor that Dasiyah was the maker of the original cigarette flavor, and they fear losing money if the truth gets out. Having Arum in such close quarters, especially as part of their family, would mean a huge risk. Arum isn’t a smoker, but she knows the sacrifices that the cigarette business demanded from her mother. She may want the credit to be given to her family. After all, it seemed weird that a show named Cigarette Girl had the protagonist forgotten by history.
However, all these troubles would arise if the family of Lebas objected to Arum and his match. But we have not considered how the two of them would approach their relationship. Arum is a serious career girl who works hard so that she can take care of her aunt, who struggled all her life to earn enough to fulfill Arum’s dreams. On the other hand, Lebas is a privileged man whose only contribution to his family so far has been the fulfillment of his father’s last wish by finding out what happened to Dasiyah. Arum may be attracted to his charm and easy-going manner, but will she be able to envision a life with him if he is not serious about it himself? If he starts working in the business, that would lead to the aforementioned credit conflicts. There is a lot that these two have to get through. Our interest in Arum and Lebas’ story is because we see it as their way of fulfilling a love that their parents couldn’t. Dasiyah and Raja were torn apart by the business, so perhaps if their children don’t let it get in their way, it would be some sort of justice while proving that times have truly changed.
Secondly, we have to wonder about Rukayah and Purwanti. Other than the fact that one of them spent their entire life alone and the other was in a loveless marriage, was there nothing else to their lives? Purwanti was always a dutiful wife to Raja, but was she in love with him till the very end? Was there ever a point when she decided to let go of her feelings and seek her own happiness outside the marriage? We know that Raja loved Dasiyah till his dying breath, but did he really never learn to look at Purwanti? There had to have been something between them, even briefly. Also, what were the challenges he faced when expanding the business? He made it one of the country’s best, and that couldn’t have been an easy task.
While talking about Purwanti and Raja, it is only fair to wonder about Seno and Dasiyah. Seno was with Dasiyah till the very end. He loved her and always respected her wishes. When he proposed to her, Dasiyah accepted because she genuinely saw a future with him and not because she had nowhere else to go. It can be argued that she just wanted to move on in life, but we believe that their relationship meant a lot more to Dasiyah. They certainly seemed to share a tenderness and an understanding with each other. We would like to see the development of that relationship as well.
Finally, coming to Rukayah, it seemed unfair that she was left alone at the end of the day. Unlike her sister, Rukayah had always been a more conventional girl, so we wonder if she ever fell in love at all. Was her life really dictated by the pitfalls of her sister’s love story, or did she find her own path at some point? We know from Arum that Rukayah worked very hard to raise her. She worked multiple jobs and was always on her feet for her sake. To be thrust into that kind of life after growing up with so much privilege is not easy. Did Rukayah ever resent her sister for it? Did she ever fall in love herself, which probably made her understand Dasiyah a little better? Was Arum the reason that Rukayah never married?
If Cigarette Girl season 1 was about relationships that could never be, we would want Cigarette Girl season 2 to be about relationships that are happily realized. We demand a more optimistic tone for it because that is the only thing that can make up for the losses of season 1.
