‘Blood & Water’ is far from perfect but worth watching

NETFLIX’S second African original series, Blood & Water, is a teen drama that everyone can enjoy.

Set in Cape Town in the fictional Parkhurst College, it follows the exploits of 16-year-old Puleng Khumalo (Ama Qamata), as she engineers her transfer to the school. She wants to investigate the 17-year-old cold case of the abducted-at-birth elder sister she never met.

When it comes to teenage angstfilled shows, I usually try to avoid them at all costs. More so because of the expectations created by Sex Education, Stranger Things, Chilling

Adventures of Sabrina and Gossip Girl.

And now Blood & Water, or Gossip Mo’ghel as Twitter user @ fagtanica coined it, has found a place, too.

This show is a blend of Gossip Girl mixed with Elite and a sprinkling of the Chilling Adventures

of Sabrina, with an Mzansi flair.

Blood & Water is paced pretty well for its short season and, overall, the cinematography is world-class.

However, the dialogue and acting is touch and go.

Qamata does a stellar job as Puleng. Dillon Windvogel gives an authentic performance as

Wade Daniels, who’s stuck in the perpetual friend zone.

Another favourite is Cindy Mahlangu as Zama Bolton. We all know that friend who likes living on the edge and will push you into situations that might not be a good idea at the time, but you end up having a good time, after all she’s the “ghel”.

This isn’t the case for the entire cast, though. The characters don’t appear to be leaning into their tropes enough and end up falling short. For example, swimming coach Chad Morgan, played by TV presenter Ryle de Morny, is great to look at. His performance is mostly wooden in a role that could have been so much more.

Overall, the show needs to breathe in more scenes. Hopefully, if it gets renewed for a second season, there will be more episodes allowing the screenwriters to build more tension.

I’m not going to lie, the plot is a bit shaky. You have to suspend your disbelief a lot.

While in the initial trailers it looked as if, once again there was going be no LGBTQI+ representation, I’m glad to report that one of the main protagonists turns out to openly pansexual, getting themself into very hot and steamy situations with members of the same and opposite gender.

The music score is refreshingly subdued and, this time around, whenever a local song was used, it never felt out of place.

The series is by no means perfect but it has the potential to fill a void that been missing in locally produced content.

I’m fully behind Blood & Water.

¡ Blood & Water is streaming on Netflix.