A week ago I was looking for an interesting series to watch that wasn't action, and a friend of mine asked me if I had watched Blood and Water. I decided to do a Google search, like I always do, to find out what it's about, and what people think about it. It had an Imdb rating of 6.5, which now that I've watched it seems lower than it should be.
It is a South African teen crime drama set in Capetown. It was produced by a company called Gambit films, and is available on Netflix. At the moment it has two seasons, but it looks set to be renewed for a season 3. Season 1 consists of 6 episodes, and season 2 consists of 7 episodes. Each episode ranges from 45 minutes to an hour long.
The series consists of a young cast, most of which have acted in just one or two movies or tv shows before this, but this doesn't take away anything from their acting as every scene is well acted.
The Plot
On the birthday of her abducted elder sister, Puleng Khumalo (Ama Qamata) escorts her best friend to a birthday party. After Wade Daniel's (Dillon Windvogel), an acquaintance spots a resemblance between her and the celebrant Fikile Bhele (Kosi Ngema), she begins to suspect they may be sisters.
Meanwhile, news begins to spread that her father is involved and in fact sold his own daughter to child traffickers. This news affects her school life and things get worse when her father is arrested on school grounds. Out of shame, and In a bid to further her investigation, she switches schools to Parkhurst High. The school of her alleged sister.
She befriends her classmate Wade Daniels who just happens to be the principal's son and appears to have feelings for her, and tells him everything. He decides to help her in her search for her sister.
Meanwhile, she starts to develop feelings for cool kid, Karabo Molapo(Thabang Molaba.), popularly known as KB who she bumped into at the birthday Party.
Will she ever find her sister? Is Fikile her sister? Did her dad sell her sister?Who will she end up with? KB? Wade?
My opinion
I'd like to start with the soundtrack of this movie. Damn! You know, music has the ability to make a scene hit harder and it was clear the producers had this in mind as they were spot on with their music selections. Because of this series I actually started listening to a few South African songs. Then there's the cinematography. I don't know about you but I can't stand watching a movie where the camera is moving all willy nilly, or even shaking. It just tends to mess with my focus. Though it's becoming less frequent, especially because most movies are now being produced with a healthy budget. Anyways, the visuals on this series are great, all the scenes are shot very well, and they capture the beauty of South Africa very well (I wouldn't mind spending the holidays there).
The series is another one of those that shows how people with money, influence, and power can easily get away with what they want.
The series has quite a few supporting characters who also have stories of their own. I feel they do a good job unveiling everyone's story at just the right pace, so we don't get overwhelmed with information and end up forgetting a few things. Though most of the supporting characters are really displayed in season 2. They are also able to connect a couple of their stories together really well.
Also, I feel a lot of the time Puleng tends to make the wrong choice by lying a lot which tends to make things more difficult for herself. I can't really blame her though, she's just a 17 year old girl who is trying to uncover a mystery that has been hidden by very powerful people. And besides it would totally ruin the series if she had things all figured out.
Conclusion
I think this is a well thought out series with great character development, great music, visually stimulating scenes, and I genuinely can't wait for season 3 to be released. I definitely recommend it if you're a fan of drama, teen drama, suspense, mild crime (not mild, but not bank robbery type of crime), and everything in between. I'd give this an 8/10.
If you've watched this, feel free to drop a comment and tell me what you think, if you haven't, you can check it out and still tell me what you think.
Here's the trailer
And also you can watch the first episode for free straight from YouTube. But be warned, once you start you won't want to stop 😉.
