Blood & Water was one of Netflix’s first South African originals when it debuted two years ago, and it gained an audience through tight storytelling and a likeable cast. That continues with its third season, even as the stakes surrounding the kidnapping of Fikile Bhele get even more intense.
BLOOD & WATER SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A shot of a tape recorder, and we hear Janet Nkosana (Zikhona Sodlaka) talking to Detectives Vaans (Abduragman Adams) and Petersen (Nicole Fortuin) about what happened when the first child of Thandeka Khumalo (Gail Mabalane) was abducted at the hospital in 2003.
The Gist: Now that Fikile Bhele (Khosi Ngema) knows for sure that Thandeka is her mother, she decides to visit the Khumalo house with her friend/half-sister Puleng (Ama Qamata). She knows that Puleng’s father Julius (Getmore Sithole) isn’t her father, but Thandeka refuses to tell who her biological father is. Puleng vows to help her sister find out who her biological father is.
Meanwhile, Puleng’s ex-boyfriend KB Molapo (Thabang Molaba) is chafing under the thumb of his father, Malta (Sello Maake Ka-Ncube), and it gets even more uncomfortable when Vaans and Petersen get a search warrant based on Janet urging the cops to investigate KB’s mother Lisbeth. Also, KB wants to get back together with Puleng based on a stolen kiss they had during the break, but Puleng is with Wade (Dillon Windvogel) and has no plans to leave him. However, when Puleng tells Wade the truth, he starts to wonder about their relationship.
A new semester is starting at Parkhurst High, and Puleng’s younger brother Siya (Odwa Gwanya) is starting there; a new program provides incoming 8th graders with an upperclassman mentor, but that mentor is nowhere to be found when Siya is bullied at a swim meet. Chris (Arno Greeff), after the incident last school year, is taking Grade 11 over again, while Reece (Greteli Fincham), who got caught selling drugs, gets community service at the school. Chris is also trying to figure out where things are with Wendy (Natasha Thahane), who is about to embark for a semester in Spain.
As KB leaves his house to stay with Chris, Lisbeth resurfaces, telling the detectives that she has nothing to hide. Puleng gets her mother to give enough clues about Fikile’s father to guess that it’s Anthony Gabisa (Thapelo Mokoena), a well-regarded artist. The sisters go to an exhibition of his work, and Fikile tries to work up the nerve to tell Anthony who she is.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Blood & Water Seasons 1 and 2, of course, but we’re also reminded of other teen boarding school dramas like Elite.
Our Take: Despite the multiple story threads that the show’s writers have to keep track of, somehow it’s not hard to understand what’s going on during Blood & Water’s third season, because most of the threads tie into Fikile’s abduction when she was a baby. As with the first two seasons, the specter of human trafficking looms over the usual teenage drama, which makes the show far more fascinating than just seeing privileged teens being jerks.
One of the best aspects of the show is that the friendship between Fikile and Puleng is undeniable, even before they found out for sure that they were sisters. Puleng gets ticked at her mother when she won’t tell Fikile who her biological father is, then vows to help her, bringing Fikile to Julius to let him know about what they know. The deeper it seems that the girls get into investigating just where Fikile came from, the more people are ensnared in the scheme.
But that also doesn’t mean that the teenage drama is absent from the show. Most of it is standard stuff. However, it mixes in well with the more serious aspects of the story. It certainly gives the show a balance, even this far into the story, with the drama of the kidnapping story keeping the eye-rolling teen antics from completely taking over.
Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.
Parting Shot: Someone grabs Fikile as she’s about to enter her house.
Sleeper Star: We’re still fans of Dillon Windvogel as Wade, mainly because he’s a good guy, and his reaction to what happened between Puleng and KB isn’t outlandish.
Most Pilot-y Line: Not sure if this is a fashion statement in Cape Town or not, but KB’s Sesame Street t-shirts are weird and distracting.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Solid storytelling and a cast that plays well together make Blood & Water continue to be one of Netflix’s strongest international shows.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.