One-line review: Season 1 lacks the theme that a teen drama must-have, but is still worth your time.
Youtube Trailer Blood and Water
Starring: Ama Qamata, Khosi Ngema
Director: Travis Taute
Release Date: 20 May 2021
Blood and Water Season 1 Introduction
It’s been 17 years since Puleng Khumalo’s sister ( Ama Qamata ) disappeared, and she was kidnapped right after she was born. But even so much later, the memory of her is cherished, her birthday is celebrated and thought of every year – even if that is not particularly good for the children. But it gets worse, after all, the father is accused of having sold the girl to a human trafficking ring at the time. One day, when Puleng runs into Fikile Bhele ( Gail Mabalane ), whose birthday is the same day as her missing younger sister, it is clear to her that it must really be her. And so she decides to change schools and pursue the matter further …
Another teen drama series. Recently, Netflix has not necessarily shone with variety when it comes to the release of its own series, at least with regard to the newly launched titles that sometimes leave a lot to be desired in terms of variety. The youth sector in particular was given a lot of new material. That can be worth seeing, for example in Never in My Life …, which linked typical teenage problems with the question of cultural ideas – and humor. Otherwise, there was a lot that was interchangeable: Whether it’s three meters above the sky, Love 101, or Outer Banks, you don’t have to actually see everything that the streaming service serves.
Plot Summary
Blood & Water is a South African teen crime drama television series developed by Gambit Films for Netflix and starring Ama Qamata, Khosi Ngema, and Gail Mabalane. The series premiered on Netflix in February 2018. The series, which is set in Cape Town, follows a young girl who transfers to an elite school after discovering that one of the students may be her sister, who was abducted when she was a baby.
The unusual drama
Unfortunately, that also applies to Blood & Water, the latest addition to the everyday circus. The beginning arouses comparatively curiosity, the subject of human trafficking is a rather unusual hook for a school drama. In addition, South Africa is also less common as a setting, with at least one South Africa that is mainly inhabited by the black population. That is actually discussed: classmate Wendy ( Natasha Thahane) never tire of drawing attention to the colonial crimes of whites in class, regardless of whether the timing is right or not. And it also likes to distribute it against the upper class, because contrary to what one might expect, a class struggle is taking place even within the purely black population, with the rich kicking after the poor.
Missing a certain theme
There is a lack of themes in Blood & Water but on a coherent concept of how all of this could be brought together. As the series jumps cheerfully from one construction site to the next, hardly anything remains of the individual stations. Six episodes of around 45 minutes each are not enough to do more than paint the surface. Especially since there still has to be space for all the drama that goes with a school. There are feelings that are sometimes reciprocated and then not, maybe even scary. Friendships are made from one moment to the next or even dissolved again, as the authors just thought of. When the relationship between Puleng and Fikile changes again and one of the characters makes fun of it, you want to shout out: “Yes, finally make up your mind!”
Conclusion
Some of the points remain interesting until the end, such as questions about identity. At those points, Blood & Water also becomes universal enough that everyone can relate to them a bit. It is all the more regrettable, if not more annoying, how little is extracted from the whole. If you really need a new teen drama and maybe want to see it enriched with a bit of mystery, you can of course try this. In fact, it’s not exciting and ultimately so wasted potential that you can’t even get upset about the open end.
