Okay let me start with the positives. The concept is great. Young girl who unbeknownst to her has great power bestowed unto her by the ancestors/spirits/great tree. This is a story as old as time. Add the Wonder Woman bracelets and you have a classic! The actors are all veterans or rather veterans in the making, with Tony Kgoroge as the bad guy, you know he's going to be great coz he played one of the bad guys in hotel rewanda. The character who plays Ntsiki is a powerhouse, showcasing her range every chance she gets! This show is destined for greatness!!!
Now the negatives: There is only one.
EDITING!!!!!
DEATH: Death falls flat.
The role of the sister in Ntsiki's life was rushed making it difficult to understand why Ntsiki cried when he sister died. It was clearly a plot device meant to motivate Ntsiki into embracing her powers but because editing focused on building a relationship with the boyfriend, his anger was justified.
In some cases you cant follow the story coz the story goes from one plot point to another. Like the scenes where Ntsiki's father dies and Ntsiki burning in the car. I can tell they were trying scene hoping but it was unnecessary and made it so the imvestment in the fathers death was at an all time zero. Its clear the father had a bigger role but that was not really established and the death of the father fell flat.
Character development: This aspect was super rushed! As if it was weighed against the dramatic aspects of the storyline and drama won. Episode 1, introduce the characters, episode 2 introduce the location, episode 3 till 4 you give us more details(history of the characters while introducing us to why the are in that location) then episode 5 and 6 you end the character of each character. And the twist that the are more who have powers is at the end of the last episode not in the middle. The sangoma shows her motivations for power in episodes 3 and 4 during the details section of character development not in the end. I mean at that point, Ntsiki dying meant nothing coz she had died in the previous episode (episode 5) but the fact that the spear belongs to the guy (Ntsiki's sister's boyfriend's). Another thing, when you put focus on the characters instead of drama, you have more memorable characters.
The Villain: Who was the Villain?
The wife or Tony's character or both? Or Nkomo, or Nkomo's son?
Stick to one over arching villain amd everyone else is an underling. It would have been fun to find out that Ayanda was the one pulling the strings, she was the one who forced her husband to choose langa township because the sangoma she had being seeing told her to dig there but because she didnt have the resources, she pushed her husband to dig there. Also she knew about his cheating but still stayed because she needed hia construction company. He thought he was the one with power but no, it was Ayandas plan all along! Ayanda is defeated but the female sangoma's aspirations for power have been realized as she finds the spear and then we realize that there are more people with powers, fade to black, season 2 is set up. But nooooooooo! You decide to kill Ntsiki again! Like why?
SCENE DEVELOPMENT: Time lapses differently in this show, one moment tony is walking in the corridors of his offices in a maroon suit, next minute his sitting down in a green suit. So its the next day? No people! Come one!
The reveal that the guy in the scooter could have been done better!
Scene 1: he's at home doing his thing Scene 2: he decides to leave the house, he walks out, transition to scene 3; Scene 3: the bar scene, we hear a motorcycle in the distance, this peaks his interest, he runs out, sees the motorcycle and gives chase!
Scene 4: he arrives at the location and the guy in the motorcycle is dun dun dun dunnnnn! The bad guy!
Simple, not "here's the motorcycle, it was me, arrive at the location, reveal again that its him but this time to the protagonist!" Like no!!!
Then you make that antagonist useless and you kill him but you dont even do it in such a way that exposes the protagonist's powers!
Do you now see the ultimate power of editing!
This show is great! I loved the story and what it was trying to do but because I know the power of editing, I gave it a 9/10 coz I understood you were failed by editing.
Oh and they didnt even bury COUNSELOR NKOMO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now the negatives: There is only one.
EDITING!!!!!
DEATH: Death falls flat.
The role of the sister in Ntsiki's life was rushed making it difficult to understand why Ntsiki cried when he sister died. It was clearly a plot device meant to motivate Ntsiki into embracing her powers but because editing focused on building a relationship with the boyfriend, his anger was justified.
In some cases you cant follow the story coz the story goes from one plot point to another. Like the scenes where Ntsiki's father dies and Ntsiki burning in the car. I can tell they were trying scene hoping but it was unnecessary and made it so the imvestment in the fathers death was at an all time zero. Its clear the father had a bigger role but that was not really established and the death of the father fell flat.
Character development: This aspect was super rushed! As if it was weighed against the dramatic aspects of the storyline and drama won. Episode 1, introduce the characters, episode 2 introduce the location, episode 3 till 4 you give us more details(history of the characters while introducing us to why the are in that location) then episode 5 and 6 you end the character of each character. And the twist that the are more who have powers is at the end of the last episode not in the middle. The sangoma shows her motivations for power in episodes 3 and 4 during the details section of character development not in the end. I mean at that point, Ntsiki dying meant nothing coz she had died in the previous episode (episode 5) but the fact that the spear belongs to the guy (Ntsiki's sister's boyfriend's). Another thing, when you put focus on the characters instead of drama, you have more memorable characters.
The Villain: Who was the Villain?
The wife or Tony's character or both? Or Nkomo, or Nkomo's son?
Stick to one over arching villain amd everyone else is an underling. It would have been fun to find out that Ayanda was the one pulling the strings, she was the one who forced her husband to choose langa township because the sangoma she had being seeing told her to dig there but because she didnt have the resources, she pushed her husband to dig there. Also she knew about his cheating but still stayed because she needed hia construction company. He thought he was the one with power but no, it was Ayandas plan all along! Ayanda is defeated but the female sangoma's aspirations for power have been realized as she finds the spear and then we realize that there are more people with powers, fade to black, season 2 is set up. But nooooooooo! You decide to kill Ntsiki again! Like why?
SCENE DEVELOPMENT: Time lapses differently in this show, one moment tony is walking in the corridors of his offices in a maroon suit, next minute his sitting down in a green suit. So its the next day? No people! Come one!
The reveal that the guy in the scooter could have been done better!
Scene 1: he's at home doing his thing Scene 2: he decides to leave the house, he walks out, transition to scene 3; Scene 3: the bar scene, we hear a motorcycle in the distance, this peaks his interest, he runs out, sees the motorcycle and gives chase!
Scene 4: he arrives at the location and the guy in the motorcycle is dun dun dun dunnnnn! The bad guy!
Simple, not "here's the motorcycle, it was me, arrive at the location, reveal again that its him but this time to the protagonist!" Like no!!!
Then you make that antagonist useless and you kill him but you dont even do it in such a way that exposes the protagonist's powers!
Do you now see the ultimate power of editing!
This show is great! I loved the story and what it was trying to do but because I know the power of editing, I gave it a 9/10 coz I understood you were failed by editing.
Oh and they didnt even bury COUNSELOR NKOMO!!!!!!!!!!!!