First of all, congragulations to Antoinette Louw for winning an ATKVSA award for Best Actress in a Drama Series: Swartwater. She deserved the award. She killed those emotional scenes on the first part of the season, prior to the show going to a hiatus. I know for the first season of Swartwater François won a SAFTA in 2015 for the category Best Actor in a Drama Series for Swartwater. This has to be the best outstanding couple in a drama series. These accolades speak for themselves.
Power to Queen Katleen and Dolorothy on doing it for the people. Here, are the two women who saw that the government is not doing anything to uplift the community of Swartwater, and they stood up and decided to do something about it by contesting the elections. The shenanigans that these two women faced in forming a party to contest the elections was very funny.
I was so disappointed at the nonsensical killings of girls who were pimped. Each and every week a girl was wash washed out by the ocean. This I don't understand the logic behind all that. Must a girl die each and every week to prove a point? Was it necessary?
I also hated the fact that Annelise went back in the cuckoo house, only this time she's mentally ill. I hope she is not sexually abused again in that hospital like she was raped by that sick doctor. I don't understand the reasons why she's back at the mental hospital. The season finale was dodgy. Why was she insane? What had happened to lead her to her insanity? The season finale left me with this question.
I still got great love and respect for Khomo and Portia's relationship. Their marriage materialized, finally. They got their happy ending. I guess, Khomo stopped eating all of that pork, and his testicle pipes opened up, now that he managed to get Portia pregnant, right? He listened to that old spinster Meisie Van Renburg, when she said its actuall that all beacon fat he's consuming that is making him infertile. Lol.
Now to the intoduction of Shane... Charlize. At the begining I wasn't sure about Shane. His introduction to swartwater was a little bit dodgy. If there was something i knew was that Shane is going to do in Swartwater, is that he's going to add flesh to the story. It was not clear if Shane was transgender, or she suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder mostly because Kathleen always referred to Charlize, as if she was Shane's ''Sacha Fierce'', and if Shane suffered from MPD. But over time, it became evident that she's transgender. I understand now that the writers did this on purpose, to keep us intrigued. And so they kept us intrigued with Shane/Charlize. Shane/Charlize was geniously written!
But i will tell you this, the arrival of Shane/Charlize reminded me of the movie 'A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story a true-story of the real life events of Gwen who was a transgender woman, and who got brutally murdered after the men she was dating found out that she was born a man, that she supposedly said that Ariana 'tricked' them into believing she was a woman. Watching the story made me realise transgender women's lives are not safe, and how susceptible to danger they are. It's a thought provoking story. I thought this will be the case with Charlize and Philip, but it turns out Philip is really in love with Charlize, and he knew that Charlize is a man. That was a twist that i had never expected. Which begs the question, will Philip Steyn find the love, peace and happiness, the whole cliché, now that he's being true and open to himself? The arrival Charlize unheathed a buried past of Phillip Steyn. Who knew? Phillip Steyn in the closet? Him and John C the Chief Warden at jail, were actually high school sweethearts? What a revelation! I personally wouldn't have guessed.
Philistine... i mean Philip Steyn is an alpha male, who played rugby, has a wife and a son, he definitely didn't fit into these general stereotypes of what is considered a gay man, and what a gay man should be, especially on tv. The writers shone a light on this issue perfectly. This is a hard-core criminal, who is dealing drugs, pimping and human trafficking girls... Which sparks a conversation for another day of gay man who are in their patriarchal ways, are mysogynist, hating and finding fault on everything that is woman. As i said, that is a conversation for another day.
From the begining of the season, i had always wondered about what Phillip Steyn had with Albert, that made him to go out on a limb, bend and break the law just to protect just to keep Phillip Steyn out of jail. Without facing jail time and even have his case being heard before the court. What was it to Albert to protect Philip. Both Phillip and Albert are 'still star-crossed'. Even after that revelation, it still is sad, that both of these men can't still be together. I understand it now, Albert was trying to make-up for the past, for being a wuss and not standing up for Phillip Steyn's father, and the guilt for not standing up to defend their love for each other. It makes perfect sense! Their bond is thicker than their brother hood, and the fact that they share a secret of the murdering Philip Steyn's father binds them forever. ''Feelings left undealt with, fester into something poisonous''. Isn't this why Philip turned into this bitter-cruel-human being? The feelings of rejection and vilified from his father were never dealt with.
I loved how the writers of Swartwater paid attention to detail, did their research and told a story. This season i loved how the Philip Steyn storyline unfolded, because it was the focal story for this season of Swartwater. I loved that the writers showed that Philip has heart, emotion and that he can definitely be vulnerable to love and be hurt. Don't get me wrong, i still hate Phillip for his crimes and the abuse on his wife, it sent her to mental hospital. I just love the fact that they showed that even villians are people with heart too, and they love. And at last Philip owned up to his crimes. And I hope this time he pays.