“Honey, I’m home”
Nikiwe finds an unwelcome surprise when she walks through her front door: her abusive ex!
Isidingo Weekdays SABC3 (*193) 19:00
After a tough day at the office, the last thing that Nikiwe Sibeko (Linda Sokhulu) is expecting or wants to see at home is exactly what she gets on Wednesday 8 November. “Gabriel is sitting there with a cheesy grin on his face,” explains Aubrey Poo. “The last time that viewers saw Gabriel [August 2017], he beat Nikiwe and fled Horizon Deep.” Since then, the dodgy businessman and ex-pastor has been living from hand to mouth, hiding away from anyone who could link him to Nikiwe’s beating. “But he’s returned to The Deep and I think that is an affirmation that he wants to face his sins.”
NOT-SO-NICE NIKIWE
No surprises here, Nikiwe isn’t happy to see Gabriel. And she also doesn’t want to hear anything he has to say. “He is a wheeler dealer who thinks on his feet and he knows how to wriggle his way out of a mess,” explains Aubrey. “She knows that he will try to justify what he did and that was something traumatic for her.” And if being assaulted by Gabriel has taught Nikiwe anything, it’s that she needs to make the first move. Luckily she acts first and thinks later on Thursday 9 November, because when Gabriel moves towards her, it’s not to give her a hug…
Nikiwe grabs the first thing she can reach and smashes a vase across her ex’s head. Gabriel hits the floor like a sack of potatoes on Thursday 9 November and that opens a new can of worms for Nikiwe because Gabriel doesn’t wake up on Friday 10 November – has she killed him? “That would be too easy,” laughs Aubrey. “Gabriel wants to right his mistakes. He isn’t dead. Yet.”
BOY PROBLEMS
Gabriel is probably going to wish that Nikiwe had killed him after he regains consciousness on Tuesday 14 November. After having a nightmare that Nikiwe was strangling him, Gabriel wakes up in a hospital ward with her peering down at him. And she isn’t the only one who’s furious about his return. Nikiwe’s bestie Benjamin (Arno Marais) wants to see him gone for good, while Rajesh (Jack Devnarain) is a little more pragmatic in his approach and wants to see the conman pay for his sins in Horizon Deep.
ONCE A CONMAN…
“Gabriel is as slippery as an eel,” says Aubrey. “One minute he’s in the company of businessmen in suits, then he’s mingling with the lowest of low criminals in the shebeen.” The actor adds that while the writers haven’t worked that far ahead, “There might be space for Gabriel to take over as The Deep’s new crimelord while Barker (Robert Whitehead) is in hiding.” But first, Gabriel has something else to worry about: he needs cash and a job. And one might be waiting at the shebeen…