Blood & Water- Season 4, A Review

New year, new mystery.

Season 1 2 3 Review.

The fourth season of Blood & Water follows Puleng (Ama Qamata) and the rest of Parkhurst High as they attempt to move on from their recent trauma and the events of the baby-napping ring, with the crime having gone to trial and all those involved arrested. The group hope that a new year at Parkhurst will be a fresh start for everyone but soon enough an anonymous texter begin causing drama, hoping to shine light on a past crime and bring those responsible to justice. Both Puleng and Fiks (Khosi Ngema) find themselves targets after a sex tape featuring Puleng and Iván (André Lamoglia, Elite) (side note: I really loved this character crossover) is leaked and Fiks herself is forced to look back on her actions.

Meanwhile KB’s (Thabang Molaba) music career takes off with Chris (Arno Greeff, Recipes for Love and Murder) as his manager but a sampling error puts the pair in danger once more with the wrong sort of people. Wendy (Natasha Thahane) also returns from Spain but finds her relationship with Chris difficult to maintain, especially with her own grades failing. Tahira (Mekaila Mathys) faces similar issues and chooses to take drastic measures to improve her scholarship chances, putting her entire future in jeopardy. With so much going on in their lives will the students even make it to graduation or will secrets and lies threaten them once more and make this a last year they’re sure to never forget?

Season four saw us going down the classic teen drama route of anonymous texting, with ‘Pool Boy’ targeting both Puleng and Fiks and blackmailing them over a previous incident at Parkhurst. Whilst the mystery within the rest of the narrative felt a bit weird (more on that later) I did enjoy the actual execution and getting to see this new form of danger for the students through blackmail. Anonymous texting is pretty much a teen drama staple at this point (PLL, One of us is Lying) and I do always enjoy the mystery of it all. It was a bit annoying that the culprit was somebody we’d never even met (how very PLL) but in terms of entertainment I did enjoy from this perspective.

I liked how season four addressed the severe trauma several of the characters have went through these past four years and how they aren’t going to just magically move on from everything, especially considering how so many family members were involved in the baby-napping ring. We saw both Puleng and Fiks seeking therapy as well as Sam’s (Leroy Siyafa) own PTSD after his kidnaping and later intimacy issues as a result. So many of these teen dramas have their character’s involved in daring and dangerous activities but so rarely do we actually see the aftermath and here especially it can’t have been easy to realise that your parents/friend’s parents aren’t necessarily good people.

Whilst I definitely enjoyed this fourth season of Blood & Water it also felt kind of random and honestly the show could have ended at season three and nothing really would have changed. The overall storyline here had little to do with the baby kidnapping ring, moving on completely and focussing on a whole new mystery that just did not feel as genuine. So much of the backstory was pre Puleng even joining Parkhurst and so I don’t really know why she became involved other than trying to save Fik’s life. It just felt weird being introduced to these completely new characters who were apparently hellbent on revenge, all for an incident we’d never even hear of in the three years the show had been running. After such a well built up arc across the first three seasons this final mystery just felt a bit too random and it’s definitely one of the show’s weaker seasons in this regard.

Although there’s been no official news yet I am going to assume that this was the final season of Blood & Water, especially since we saw the main cast all graduate and leave the school. Unless the show tries to introduce us to a whole new set of characters I do think this is the last time we’re going to see Puleng, Fiks and the others and on the whole I have really enjoyed this show for the past four years. On the surface this was just another teen mystery drama but I think that the missing sibling and baby-napping angle gave it a really unique perspective and I really loved following Puleng on her journey to get to the truth. The show’s side characters have also all been really enjoyable and this is definitely one of those rare shows where even the comedic side plots can be just as engaging as the main mystery.

Overall I enjoyed this fourth (and potentially final?) season of Blood & Water and whilst the main mystery felt a little bit random I still liked seeing the characters again and getting to say a final goodbye to Parkhurst as a whole. Blood & Water as a show had been massively entertaining and I really loved the private school setting and the initial baby-napping setup, it felt fresh and different from your other teen dramas. Puleng, Fiks, Chris and more have all been so great over the years and this is definitely one of my higher ranking teen dramas, it never got too crazy and I think it also ended right when it needed to.

Blood & Water, A Review

Everyone holds a secret.

Netflix’s Blood & Water follows Puleng (Amamkele Qamata), a young girl whose entire life has been haunted by the kidnapping of her older sister Phumelele 17 years prior. When Phumelele was only a baby she was taken and ever since Puleng’s parents- Thandeka (Gail Mabalane) and Julius (Getmore Sithole)– have obseesed over finding her. On an off chance, Puleng attends a party with best friend Zama (Cindy Mahlangu) where she meets Fikile (Khosi Ngema), a champion swimmer who bares a striking resemblance to her. What’s more Fikile shares a birthday with Phumelele and closely resembles an aged up sketch of the kidnapped child.

Wanting to finally move out from under her kidnapped sister’s shadow, Puleng transfers to Parkhurst College- where Fikile attends. In an attempt to finally get to the bottom of things, Puleng begins investigating Fikile, hoping to nab some of her DNA to prove she is the missing Phumelele. With the help of new friend Wade (Dillon Windvogel), the two begin their investigation into the past kidnapping. However, proving her theory turns out to be harder than anticipated, especially in the brand new, prestigious environment. Will Puleng be able to stay on track and find her sister or will she be dragged into the drama of high school and remain forever in the dark?

I absolutely loved the premise of Blood & Water, missing persons series are always exciting (eg Little Sister, The Temptation), but this one was 17 years in the making. Netflix actually released two trailers for Blood & Water, a longer and a shorter, and having only watched the short trailer I had no idea about the missing sister. Going in though I was hooked from episode 1 and I loved the idea of Puleng transferring schools to find her sister. Blood & Water may not have any murders or stalkers, but it was still just as exciting and gripping as any other teen mystery series.

Puleng’s investigation into Fikile and whether they really were sisters was the great selling point of the series, and I really enjoyed watching. Puleng made for a great investigator and watching her, and later Wade, look into the kidnapping case was so fun to watch. With her true crime inspired murder board, excellent social media stalking skills and high intellegence, Puleng was a brilliant detective in the making. I loved watching her and Wade figure out the case, making the ending and final reveals all the more satisfying.

As well as the investigation storyline, I really enjoyed the good old fashioned high school drama that was plentiful throughout Blood & Water. The scheming and the cheating and the relationships and the fights were all just so enjoyable to watch, everything was so dramatic and I loved it. Puleng’s main goal may have been to find her sister but she certianly wasn’t opposed to some high school dramatics along the way.

I loved the elite school setting of Blood & Water and the rich vs poor character clash that came with Puleng’s arrival. The series gave me strong Élite or They Wish They Were Us vibes, which was automatically a good sign. Puleng’s arrival certianly brought its fair share of drama, and not just because of the missing sister storyline. With love triangles and some pretty petty scheming, Blood & Water was a strong teen drama with all the beloved tropes plus a few extra suprises.

Blood & Water definitely had its fair share of interesting characters, all varying in likability and intriuge. I think with the elite school setting and teen drama tropes it came naturally that some of these characters were going to make some questionable choices. Even Puleng, who I did love made some harmimg decisions in her investigation, resulting in some pretty explosive fallout. I really enjoyed the diverse cast of Blood & Water, and am really excited as to what happens next. I think I’m particulary hoping to see in season 2 the changed relationship between Puleng and Fikile as well as more of Wade- who I love- and hopefully more of Reece (Greteli Fincham)– who still seems like an under-developed character.

Overall, I really loved Blood & Water. The initial premise was intriuging right from the first episode and I love following Puleng’s investigation throughout. The elite school setting and rich vs poor character clash was fun as always and the series as a whole made for an exciting teen drama. I loved this series and I can’t wait for part 2.