Netflix’s Blood & Water season three releases November 25. Here are some thoughts on the season. One of the most important things is that as one piece of the puzzle is solved, thousands more crop up.
What we liked:
Ama Qamata and Sonia Mbele’s performance
For a lot of the first and second season, Puleng was on a mission to prove that Fikile was her sister and the person who had been kidnapped. This meant she did everything she could to prove and sometimes she was overboard. There were silly decisions made and Pulen burnt a lot of bridges in her journey to finding and revealing the truth. Not much has changed in season three with regards to her hunger for finding out the truth.
But this season, Qamata really delivers with her performance. The first part of the season there are still some silly moments but it is in the final few episodes that she truly shines. The second half of the season truly dials things up and things become very difficult for all the characters but in particular Puleng. Qamata produced a brilliant performance having to experience grief, sadness, anger and extreme violence at every turn.
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Sonia Mbele is so good in every scene. For the first two seasons, there were a few mentions and glimpses of Lisbeth Molapo but in the third season viewers finally get to meet KB’s mum. She is definitely the character everyone is going to love to hate. She delivers the villainous role of the series to absolute perfection. Mbele manages to deliver the balance between the caring mother foiled by the ruthless criminal.
The funny scenes
That sounds like a strange thing to say when it was mentioned that this season gets a lot darker and violent. But no jokes, this season had a lot of funny moments at some of the most random moments. This was particularly because there were combinations of the Parkhurst crew which hadn’t been seen before. Watch out for a scene in episode five featuring Reece, KB and Wade. Yes a combination no one would have ever expected to see together in a situation no one would have guessed but it just worked and really makes for some comedic relief. Then there was watching playa Chris being all confused and lost in love and lust and having to repeat Grade 11 on top of that just provided some levity in between the more serious scenes.
The big reveal…
Both season one and season two ended on major cliffhangers that left viewers wondering when they will get answers. Season three is no different. But just like much else this season, the cliffhanger for season three is so much bigger and darker. Obviously it can’t really be unpacked without giving away spoilers. But all that can be said is that there are major WTF moments which need a lot of answers like right now! It also really brings home the message of the show around what is stronger: blood or water, family or friends, morals or power.
What we didn’t really like (sort of):
The school drama
Firstly, it’s not like what we didn’t like about it – just parts of it. Obviously the school parts were important. This is still a show that is about the lives of Parkhurst teens. It was really great to see Mekaila Mathys as Tahira really grow into her character and develop a voice and personality of her own. But sometimes this switch in scenes from what was happening with Puleng and the other characters to the school and the corruption left a feeling of whiplash. It worked well to show that while some really messed up things were happening in the “real world”, the world of the school still carried on. But it was a little confusing at times.
But we didn’t completely dislike it. Those scenes still carried a lot of importance and allowed viewers to see some great performances from Mathys and Greteli Fincham as Reece.
