Boring storylines? Characters leaving and others still relevant to the story? Running out of ideas? Worry not, daddy to the rescue!
It isn’t unusual for soapies to reveal some characters who are not actually who they claim to be, literally and figuratively so. It also isn’t unusual for soapies to change characters' fathers to serve stories well. It’s like a generational curse.
Of late I’ve been catching glimpses of Generations every now and then and I am so taken aback by how each time a parental character leaves, a character staying’s father suddenly changes. It is currently happening on Generations with MJ who recently found out his father is none other than the infamous Ngamla Dlomo.
As y’all know, MJ detests Ngamla for allegedly killing the only man he has always known as his father, Caleb Moeketsi. It was a no-brainer that MJ would hate learning that Ngamla is actually his father.
In a fit of rage, MJ fires at Ngamla but his aunt (Akhona’s mom) takes the bullet and dies, leaving Ngamla to cover up MJ’s mess and groom him on how to survive a murderer’s guilt. Seems the reason MJ’s father changed from Caleb to Ngamla is because mommy dearest Mawande had to leave the soapie.
The reason why I am writing this is because Akhona just learned her father, yes, the well-known Mzwanele Memela we never got to meet up until now, is still very much alive.
The show had to come up with a struggle excuse of why Mzwanele didn’t make contact with his family because he was a spy and Ngamla has something to do with it. Up until now, we have always believed Mzwanele and Ngamla were the best of friends during the struggle years.
Anyway, I am sick and tired of struggle stories being told, with an exception of real life events now being retold on the small or big screen. As I was saying, Mzwanele …
We all know Akhona is exiting the show so to give Akhona a dramatic send-off, make her dream come true and get her to meet her dad. But no, her father is not the hero she has always believed him to be. What are soapies without twists and turns? Good one Generations.
However, I am still complaining about the daddy issue. I find the show always uses it as some sort of an easy ending to various character's journeys.
Also, very recently, Dineo went in search of her father, hoping her father is a great man who will come back to give a great and acceptable excuse of why he was never a part of her life. But no, her father was a child rapist and she is the product of that rape.
Notice similarities between how Dineo and Akhona’s fathers are not what they thought them to be. But life injalo vele so that’s understandable but repetition isn’t.
Remember back in the day when Khensani and Noah were about to say their “I do's” and it actually turned out Khensani and Noah are twins separated at birth? Noah grew up with Khaya as his brother but Khaya never knew Khensani was the twin sister.
To have a “great” twist and, presumably, viewers at the edge of their seats, Generations quickly wrote daddy issues in. As it turned out, Noah and Khensani were actually Archie Moroka’s children.
Then again, Khaya and Juilia Motene had to be written out of Generations in a car crash but not before Juilia mean-ingly told Khaya that Angela wasn’t his daughter but Tau Mogale’s daughter. Then, boom!, Khaya and Juilia died leaving Angela and her brother Jonathan Motene in the care of Tau Mogale.
Noticed a trend? Yeap, your mind isn’t playing tricks on you. Juilia equals Mawande, Caleb equals Ngamla, MJ equals Angela.
As if that was not good enough, let’s take another trip down the memory lane!
Still remember Bradely on Generations? Yeap, he worked with Sonny Jacobs at “Back of the Moon” (whatever the name is/was) and never knew who his daddy was, then no, daddy issues had to strike again … Boom!
The man who mentored Bradely in his barman-ning career, Sonny Jacobs, was actually the father. Don’t even get me started on how Anne de Villiers, or is it George, ended up being Bradely’s mother.
When I was at the Royalty Soapie Awards and Isibaya won in 10 categories, I tweeted that the newcomer was showing the oldies how it’s done. But TV scriptwriter and head writer Phathu Makwarela quickly responded saying that’s always the case with newcomers but that in the long term, the same amount of drama that happened in Season 1 cannot always be sustained in a soapie's pace.
I was very quick to dismiss his argument. But now I think I was wrong. Indeed, sustaining a soapie requires injecting new talent on screen and in the writing team on a soapie every now and then.
But I cannot help but be totally convinced that the folks that write for Generations must have writers’ block. It’s a case of new characters, old stories.
As the soapie is celebrating 20 years of on air “success”, instead of setting the bar very high, it appears their writers view archive footage and re-tell the old story through the new characters.
I really do not get the gist of their repetition. I do get having a soapie run for over 20 years is inevitable but to continue being Mzansi's numero uno storyteller, there need to be new stories.
As the soapie celebrates 20 years on air, it would do them a world of good to really have a workshop of where the country is at and tell these people’s new stories. I understand that viewers are hard to please but viewers demanding fresh stories is not too much to ask.
Now, as Akhona reaches the end of her journey on Generations, actress Maggie Benedict is giving the performance of her career. We all know she is a great actress and she has a SAFTA to prove it - so much so we have to agree the madness does run in the Memela family. Mawande is breaking teapots, Akhona is breaking clay pots.
Here is to hoping in the next 20 years, Christina will not become Bradely’s daughter (Remember Bradely loved Ntombi so much). Here is to hoping in the next 20 years, Khethiwe’s child will not be Dumisani’s child.
Most importantly, here is to hoping in the next 20 years, daddy issues will not be retold in the fashion we have seen in the past.