SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE
SIGN IN SEARCH MENU
SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE


Get your reviews and insights on everything to do with movies and TV, locally and internationally.

Review: Emoyeni Episode 1 - Tshenolo

Written by tha - bang from the blog Movies and Things with Thabang on 23 Jul 2018
Favourite this post


In the era of the telenovela and #MeToo movement, SABC 1 smartly launches a series by female writers and producers. The series goes for less is more, whereby Emoyeni is limited to 4 episodes instead of the 120-or-more episodes that come with telenovelas.

Each 48-minute episode deals with magical realism in a South African context, and each episode has a new story and cast.

Did the first episode get the ball rolling well? Let's dig in...
 

Produced by Thishiwe Ziqubu (Hard to Get, Tell Me Sweet Something) and Bridget Pickering (Hotel Rwanda, End Game) - ladies who have carved a name for themselves in the industry - Emoyeni brings to life the Colombian concept of Magic Realism, whereby the supernatural is inserted into the everyday life. 

In this case, the life of Kitso: a clearly socially upward black lady's life is turned upside down by finding out that her beloved husband is a cheat and has a child out of wedlock that she needs to look after.

The twist being that the recently deceased bugger is haunting her home until he can make amends ala Patrick Swayze's Ghost.

Written by Tshenolo Mabale (Greed & Desire, Lockdown) and directed by PJ Mashokolo (Intersexions), I found the first 25 minutes riveting as the plot was moving at a fast pace and poor Kitso, played by the ever wonderful Nozipho Nkelemba (Rhythm City, Forgotten Kingdom), was being put through the ringer whereby her perfect life was falling apart.

Kitso also acts as a symbol of many issues that ladies in SA suffer from due to us South African men being douchebags. The twist of the taxi driver, representing Charon (the Greek mythology figure) who ferries dead souls across the river Styx to Hades/Underworld, was a clever touch - especially since taxi drivers have a bad reputation of being moving coffins in real life .



It's the presentation of the afterlife that elevates the story from the day to day and it was a pity that the plot kinda slowed down in the middle before picking up towards the end. I guess establishing a world and a paying-off in the 48 minutes does have its limitations.

Aside for the middle section dragging, as Kitso's husband struggles with getting forgiveness from his wife before his son is chucked into our wonderful state sponsored child services, I really loved the idea of exploring ethical and moral dilemmas that come with infidelity that bears children.

What is the right thing to do as the ''innocent partner" settled with a child you didn't ask for? Even for the cheating partner: the idea that what we do in this life will affect our afterlife... this will hopefully make people think twice before building small houses and creating side dishes.

I didn't like the happy ending but that's 'cause I have a dark and demented soul at times and I wanted the cheating husband to burn in hell but loved the moral of learning to accept children in spite of the parents faults... although some could argue that ladies are always expected to forgive... it's hardly ever the guy.



The first episode was beautifully shot, especially the interiors. It had great performances from the adult actors - the kid was not exactly Haley Joel Osment from the Sixth Sense ...he came off very wooden in some scenes but that's a minor gripe.

The fact that, for an episode dealing with such heavy stuff, it was able to squeeze in some good humour and ubuntu-nyana is n A+

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series - the first episode had my curiosity when I read about it on Facebook now that I have seen it, it has my attention.

Rating ***

*Lebala **Ja nee ***Re ya zama ****Drama e dirang mo ngwaneng ***** Tape ,PVR, Record this 
 

For all the info. about it, including cast, pics and upcoming episodes, see the TVSA Show Page by tapping here: Emoyeni
 

Actors in this post: Nozipho Nkelemba, Thishiwe Ziqubu

Shows in this post: Emoyeni

Channels in this post: SABC1



1 Comment

Robyn...
26 Jul 2018 23:31

Spot on description


Only TVSA members can reply to this thread. Click here to login or register.






LATEST ARTICLES

New on TV today: Tuesday 10 June 2025

Disney+ introduces Call Her Alex and Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy drops on Netflix.


Generations: The Legacy Teasers - July 2025

Pele is baffled by a mysterious bag of cash and Kea is shocked by what the inyanga wants them to do.


New on TV today: Monday 9 June 2025

Medical drama Doc is new on M-Net and HISTORY gets to grips with Hell on Earth: WWII.


New on TV today: Sunday 8 June 2025

Ocean with David Attenborough drops on Disney+ and Nat Geo Wild explores The Secret Life of Orcas.


New on TV today: Saturday 7 June 2025

HGTV spinoff Bargain Block: Bargain Buys begins and Yash'ingoma 3 is new on Mzansi Magic Music.


On Carte Blanche: Vultures poisoned in vicious poaching attack

83 lives have been saved after one of South Africa's worst wildlife poisoning events.


New on TV today: Friday 6 June 2025

Battlefields SA debuts on HISTORY and blood-soaked K-Drama action series Mercy For None drops on Netflix.


Skeem Saam character portrait: Lesego Marakalla as Rachel Kunutu

Classic details on this comeback kid, with pix from Skeem Saam's archives.


New on TV today: Thursday 5 June 2025

Three shows start on M-Net as BBC Earth explores Pompeii's Secret Underworld.


Sweet Diva Teasers - June 2025

Shots fired! Maria walks in on Régis and Jô in the middle of the night, kissing half-naked.

LATEST SITE ACTIVITY


More activity at TVSA Central



LATEST SOAPIE TEASERS



LATEST SOAPIE TEASERS




Thabang Phetla loves movies,
he loves TV...
he loves his writing...
if you love movies and tv
you will definitely love
his writing on movies and TV.
signed by Thabang's Mom
 
×
×

You browser doesn't have Flash, Silverlight, Gears, BrowserPlus or HTML5 support.