Oh how the wheel has turned Mariaan Welman.
Undoubtebly, Mariaan Welman has been a frustrating character on 7de Laan - and by all means this is not due to Deirdre Wolhuter's performance, it's just that the writing does not know what the character wants to be.
Her character is rather interesting as the show does need a villain and has suffered without a clearly labelled antagonist since the departure of Gita, but the show did not know how to elevate her to that level or how to do a 180 and whiplash her into that role, but this storyline definitely does bring some sort of adversary to the show, which was needed.
Also, I'm glad that Mariaan has finally got her come-uppance after some of the deeds she has done - affairs, lying to her daughter for paternity, blinding Lesedi, indulging in the dark side, hating the Meintjies, being a general bitch, not giving Ben and Esti a raise, etc.
I feel that since 7de Laan lost Gita with Jo Da Silva's departure, there was a huge vacuum in a known antagonist, the show has tried - and failed - to fill Gita's shoes. And 7de Laan knows this.
With their storylines, which have painted Mariaan in such a dark light, it was almost as if it was a storyline written for Gita and never fulfilled - or such a vulnerable light that the writers didn't know how to centre this character.
Lately though, she is starting to round up as a character; and a semi-powerful one, with layers and understanding - what makes Mariaan Welman the most interesting is her vulnerability; and this storyline pushes every one of those buttons.
Orange Doesn't Work With That Hair Colour Mariaan
Let's just recap quickly to how we got here:
Real Life Friends: Patrick (Jacob) and Deirdre who's 'nothing' like Mariaan
* Mariaan's husband Chris shot a guy a few decades ago and his then-bestie Jacob, Lesedi's father takes the fall.
* Chris continues with life and unfortunately comes across Mariaan and marries her.
* Years later they return to Hillside and cross paths with hot shot lawyer Lesedi Moloi, who's Jacob's daughter.
* Lesedi finds out that Chris paid for her studies which makes her suspicious, and she digs further and finds out the truth about Chris and her fathers' past.
* Jacob, now out of jail and very forgiving, urges Lesedi to move past this - which she does not.
* With the help of Justin who has his own vendetta against the Welman family, he helps Lesedi fake his death and lets Chris believe he shot him (payback's a bitch).
* Chris later discovers this is not the case, but ultimately understands Lesedi's revenge and forgives her.
* Mariaan, despite this having nothing to do with her, decides to take things further and plots revenge against Lesedi with the help of Justin - and starts blinding her - which she almost succeeds in doing until Justin grows feelings for Lesedi and in the nick of time stops this.
* Months eventually pass and Lesedi inadvertently discovers a camera in her office and finds out she was being watched.
* Through an awful narrative, which could have easily been avoided, Justin confesses all to Lesedi, after she accidently finds footage in a file with her name on Chris's laptop - this was Mariaan's doing BTW - a family that rich and they share
one laptop. Also Mariaan -
never name an incriminating file after the person you're doing harm to.
Your Day Has Arrived Mariaan Welman, and thankfully your wig has never looked better.
And that brings us to the present storyline:
Alex confronts Justin, aka her ex for the juice on what's going down with her family
Refusing to take responsibility for their actions, the Welman's realise that eliminating Justin will solve their problems. Do these people have a moral compass?! Surely they have to realise that a state witness dissapearing points all fingers to them.
However they continue with this plan and Mariaan invites Justin over pretending to have information on Amanda (Justin's ex love of his life who is Alexa's doppleganger). Justin stupidly visits Mariaan at their home, where Chris surprises him and hits him over the head.
Despite efforts to ensure their very large home is vacant that night to pull off Justin's murder or disappearance, Alexa returns home unexpectedly.
Being the brilliant liar she is, Mariaan falsifies some story about him being there in concern for Vince and passing out on
the carpet and bumping his head. If Alex was half the doctor that she pretends to be, or runs around pretending to be while challenging other doctors, she would know this is immediatley impossible. Chris must have not hit Justin really hard, because calling his name brings him back to life.
If I were Justin I would immediately have retaliated upon waking up, but instead we will never know what happened as the scene cuts to the Opening Intro.
I've just realised the picture behind Alexa is a portait of Chris and Mariaan
Alexa, for the first time in months becomes a likeable character again only through this storyline - don't even get me started on her recent actions since her return from MSF - confronts her family on what is going down and now has taken on the role of resident Jessica Flecher, that's Dr. Jessica Fletcher - sleuth and crime investigator.
Reluctant to tell their daughter the truth, Alexa sets a trap to find out what's going down - pretends to leave - and Chris and Mariaan continue
loudly talking about their plan - five full seconds after she exits right. If anything, both Chris and Mariaan deserve imprisonment for their stupidity alone.
Lesedi pretending to read the menu at the resturant, despite all her and Jacob do is frequent resturants for each scene.
Jacob could be our very own Chuck Norris
Meanwhile Lesedi and Jacob bask in the law working and their revenge coming to fruition by continuing to meet at restaurants and just eat. How neither of them have gained weight with this storyline - or moved to bankruptcy alone from always eating out - is beyond me.
By the way - Jacob has now gone 180 on his humble forgiveness for Chris and is after blood for that family. He is out for blood and wants full on revenge.
I am excited to see where the storyline goes for the Jacob vs. Chris drama, and if it's anything as brilliant as when he confronted Mariaan and Chris with a sjambok in their home - it's going to be an epic show down!
The Welman kids know something is up with their satanic parents or at least with Alexa's hair
Mariaan, in the meantime, plans on fleeing the country so she wants to arrange a family dinner and say goodbye to everyone. Hello RedFlag - when Mariaan starts showing feelings, everyone's going to know something is going down.
But everyone misses this but Alexa. I am starting to believe she's the brains in this family. There's very little presently Amorey and Rickus do, and the storyline avoids them here, well until Mariaan's arrest where shockingly Amorey shows some concern - after very quickly being called out by
her father the man who is married to her mother.
Props to Deirdre doing a great job in this rushed goodbye scene
Please don't break Hilda, Mariaan. You've already crushed her emotionally.
The hardest part about this storyline is how it's affecting poor innocent Hilda. Let me just take this opportunity to question whether Hilda is probably the best dressed in the cast now? - she's definitely taken a leaf from Mariaan's book, but is doing it so much better. Annelisa Weiland is rocking Hilda's new look and the actress looks fantastic for her age.
Anyway - since finding out Mariaan is Hilda's biological daughter, it really has softened the character of Mariaan in a good way and given her some morality and more layers in her understanding.
It's allowed viewers to connect with Mariaan, which is something the show did really well with Gita - which made her a great villian.
The reunion between Mariaan and Hilda has been a beautiful storyline and pleasantly welcome. What makes the storyline great is that Mariaan and Hilda have an existing relationship with their friendship and Hilda knows what kind of person Mariaan is.
However, Mariaan kept Hilda on the outs regarding this and was going to ditch her just like her offspring. Makes you sad for poor Hilda and wonder about her continued presence in the Welman's house without her own daughter.
Alexa doesn seem too concerned about her Mommy Dearest
Lesedi fails to bring up the crime of tragedy that is the recent offenses that is Alexa's wardrobe choices
After finding out exactly what has transpired and gone down - Alexa decides to go to Lesedi and sort of plea on behalf of her parents to end this madness. Clearly Alexa was painted the half truths by her parents.
Lesedi does a good job of holding her disdain for the Welman parents infront of Alexa with an ounce of emapthy of what the poor girl must be going through - despite a week prior wanting to assassinate all of them at a family dinner.
Lesedi paints the full truth to Alexa which re-ignites holier-than-thou Alex Welman to do the right thing.
My question is: why is Pam still allowing the Welmans to freely walk into Lesedi's office? Surely she should by now get the wrath of Lesedi for that alone - if she's even a real assistant.
Meanwhile Mariaan wants to send her last Tweet to the people of Hillside on last judgy bitch comment
Mariaan and Chris meanwhile scramble to get Mariaan's fake passport and her to flee the country before her imminent arrest. But they seem to just stand around in their living room reminiscing and going from likeable to unlikeable in a matter of lines.
Chris seems a bit too eager to get Mariaan out the country and I am suspecting this would be the answer to his prayers - get rid of Mariaan without divorcing her and paying her alimony.
Chris Welman actually might be a smart man and has a plan up his sleeve. Of course I wouldn't think the writers have any depth to give the character this motivation to have his wife flee the country.
Kudos to Carina Nel for extending the range of Alexa's emotions with the face of "I've double crossed you"
Stupidly, Mariaan - who has already been on her way and at the airport, in the plane - answers Alexa's phone call - a clear ploy to trap Mariaan, and returns back to her home. Again, if she was not arrested for blinding Lesedi, it has to be for her stupidity. Also, what airline is just going to wait for her? I would love to know how she returned to the main part of an airport through security.
Deirdre Wolhuter does a fantastic job in Mariaan's 'final' episodes that the character is almost forgiveable
Mariaan arrives home and a teary Hilda - who knows what is about to happen - watches as Mariaan walks home into the trap of the police in her home. Imagine being set up by your own daughter - well that's what we call Karma, Mariaan. The wheel has turned.
Adios, Hillsiders! *SMIRK*
And that's a wrap for Mariaan Welman - joking - she's still on the show but keep an eye out to what's next for her - hint it involves orange and some familiar faces!
But now for some thoughts -
Just like Chris, we have some concerns here as well
- 7de Laan is notorious for not breaking the mould or rocking the boat too harshly. Characters infrequently get their come-uppance (look at Gita) without damaging the potential future narrative. So congrats to the writers for going this far down the line with this storyline and actually having Mariaan arrested.
- 7de Laan likes to keep all their character 'engaged in the false happiness' that is Hillside. Mariaan's secret being exposed, getting arrested; blows this character up completely that nothing can ever be the same again here. Short of the character leaving Hillside, the future is going to be very difficult here for Mariaan
if when she returns to Hillside.
- I was convinced this storyline would result in either Lesedi (KB Motsilanyane), Mariaan (Deirdre Wolhuter) or Chris' (David Rees) exit from this show in order for this storyline to play out fully and work without a cop out of it ending magically with an unheeded resolution.
- Deirdre Wolhuter is still contracted with the show so this is not the last of Mariaan Welman, well at least the version we know of her - for now. Keep an eye out to see what exciting 'adventures' lay ahead for Mariaan. (hint: denim and zero hairspray involved)
- This storyline has really painted the Welman parents in such a way that they may be close, or even past their redeeming arc. I hope the show owns this and really matures Mariaan into the Gita replacement they have been trying for, but skipping back and forth between out of fear.
- Kudos to all five actresses and actors; Deirdre Wolhuter (Mariaan), KB Motsilanyane (Lesedi), Carina Nel (Alexa), Patrick Shai (Jacob) and David Rees (Chris) for outstanding performances. It just shows there is a talented cast and when the writing allows, they step up and shine.
- Yes the writing has been questionable, and easily could have been avoided, but it has been an interesting storyline and has given 7de Laan some needed life again.
- What is going to happen to Mariaan's wig in jail?
How far Mariaan has fallen - here's a screengrab of Mariaan Welman: The Prison Chronicles Storyline
Mariaan should have got her stylist in the trunk with her.
To see Mariaan and co. in Cell 23 Block B, click here.
*** 7de Laan Monday - Friday 18h00 on SABC 2 ***