Review of Blood and Water

Blood and Water is a South-African Netflix original series which revolves around the character Puleng Khumalo, an impulsive and intelligent teen. So, this blog is a Blood and Water Netflix review.

This series is a standard teen drama/mystery. Blood and Water Netflix unfolds in the Parkhurst College, a school for the intellectuals and the elite scholars. This series is about Puleng Khumalo, using her wit and wisdom, finding her older sister, who she never met. Blood and Water season 1 of this show was released on 20 May 2020. When I first saw the Blood and Water trailer, I was drawn into it.

Blood and Water Netflix starts with Puleng’s sister’s 17th birthday, which her grieving mother celebrates every year with an over the top party. After fighting with her mother, Puleng ends up at another party where she spots Fikile Bhele, a famous girl in her school. Puleng starts to believe that Fikile Bhele is her long-lost sister for certain reasons and starts to investigate it.

Cast and Crew of Blood and Water

Review of Blood and Water

There are many vital roles in this teen mystery, which makes the show a very interesting one to watch as we start to doubt all the possibilities that could take place. The cast for this show is suited for their roles.  

Blood and Water Netflix cast stars-

The protagonist role, Puleng Khumalo, is played by Ama Qamata.

Ama Qamata is a 21-year-old South African actress. She was born in Eastern Cape of Cala, Sakhisizwe Municipality. She learned to act at the University of Cape Town. Some of her other roles are in these- Mzansi Magic (soap opera), My Perfect Family (a sitcom), Muvango (soap opera).

Fikile Bhele played by Khosi Ngema.

This role is about an elite student who is expected to become the Head Girl. This character has her own mystery revolving around her. Khosi Ngema plays her debut role in this show.

Thandeka Khumalo played by Gail Mabalane.

Gail Mabalane was already an established actress in South Africa. She is most known for her African television show “the Wild”, “The Road”. She also worked as a model, a businesswoman, and a singer.

  • Karabo Molapo played by Thabang Molaba
  • And many other amateur actors like
  • Arno Greef as Chris Ackerman,
  • Dillon Windvogel as Wade Daniels,
  • Ryle De Morny as Chad Morgan,
  • Greteli Fincham as Reece Van Rensburg

The Director of this show is Nosipho Dumisa. He is known for his movie ‘Number 37’, made in 2018. Daryne Joshua and Travis Taute have also helped in writing and directing the series.

Gambit Films is the company that produced this series.

Review for Blood and Water

Review of Blood and Water

The story for this teen drama and mystery has a really good potential but it still is a piece of work. Blood and Water season 1 contains six episodes; each episode is around 45-50 minutes long. The second season was announced to launch in the October of 2021.

The audience are immediately captured by the depth and secrets every character has. This is common for most teen mysteries. The story starts to get exciting and thrilling within the starting episodes, this traps the viewer to continue the show.

The direction and acting was not that remarkable as emotions and feelings were not depicted clearly. And if you have watched famous shows like ‘13 Reasons Why’ or ‘Riverdale’, then you might feel that this show is a just poor attempt to achieve that. The soundtracks in the show are important as they set the tone for the story, songs like – “Ndilinde”, Seasons”. This series is very dry at parts and extremely thrilling at another. The story is what holds the viewer; the acting is not the finest either. But the viewers might like the settings of Cape Town, South Africa.

The lifestyle and the culture of the Capetonian life is surely interesting to watch. If you have watched a good number of web series and TV shows, you may not like the dialogue delivery and the camera cuts. And also, the ending is very predictable and hence disappointing as the journey that we watched for 5 episodes comes to an end. The drama was not that interesting to watch as they were not that relevant and were dragged out and unfortunately, the boredom of the drama overshadows the investigative work of the protagonist.

This show contains unusual events of drug use and sexual tensions which make the show even worse. But the cliff-hanger leading into the second season is exciting. The people who enjoyed season 1 must be really excited for the second season as the story is going to take a new turn. The viewers, who have not watched much TV shows, might like ‘Blood & Water’.

Ending Note of Blood and Water Review

Review of Blood and Water

It is really appreciated that this series shows South African culture. In this day and time, representing ‘who you are’ is important, and this being one of the very few South African series on Netflix, it accomplishes that. So, this show definitely adds up to the long list of teen drama on Netflix.

Blood and Water Netflix imdb ratings were average, it was rated 5.3 out of 10. Blood and Water ratings on Rotten Tomatoes the critic rating was 3.

I recommend this show to all the people who love the genre of mystery in High Schools.

Overall, my Blood and Water Netflix review adds up to an average score. This show is worth watching as it does not take much time to end and has just enough thrill. Blood and Water Netflix ratings of this is a 5 out of 10.

Shows similar to Blood and Water

As Blood & Water is a mix of drama, twist, and mystery, we have a lot of shows similar to it-

  • Riverdale
  • Riverdale also follows up on teen drama and mystery in the town.
  • 13 Reasons Why
  • Extreme suspense and a very deep narration to set the tone.
  • Gossip Girl
  • Teen Drama at its finest.
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