Season two of the Netflix African original series Blood & Water premiered on 24 September and it certainly packed a punch. 

Although season two answered the dying question – Is Fikile Bhele (Khosi Ngema) Puleng Khumalo’s (Ama Qamata) sister? There are still so many questions left unanswered. We’ve narrowed it down to five cliffhangers that we NEED explained in season three.

FIVE CLIFFHANGERS FROM ‘BLOOD & WATER’ SEASON TWO

1. DID PULENG’S DAD TRAFFIC PHUME?

In season one of Blood & Water, Puleng finds out that her father Julius Khumalo (Getmore Sithole) has been named a prime suspect in the disappearance of her sister Phume. This is shortly after she suspects that Fikile might be her sister.  

In season two, a DNA test is done to confirm whether Fikile is actually Puleng’s sister or not. However, the question of whether Puleng’s dad sold Phume or not is still left lingering.

ALSO READ: YoungstaCPT, Tyla and the hip and happening sounds of ‘Blood & Water’

2. WHO IS KB’S MOTHER?

During her investigation, Puleng learns that KB’s mom may be linked to Phume’s case. However, we do not know how she’s linked or where she disappeared to when she left KB and his dad. This needs to be unpacked in season three!

3. PULENG’S LOVE TRIANGLE

Puleng and KB ended season one on a high note but things got rocky in season two when KB thought she was being unfaithful to him. While Wade also experienced relationship struggles as his girlfriend also speculated that he was being unfaithful. This was because he and Puleng often disappeared together, for hours at a time. It seems Puleng has a little love triangle going on with KB and Wade. This leaves us wondering, who will Puleng choose and which man has her heart? 

4. THE NKOSANA FAMILY

Sam Nkosana (Leroy Siyafa) and his mother Janet (Zikhona Sodlaka) were new to Parkhurst High. Janet, who was Fikile’s psychologist, had some secrets of her own. However, she and her son, who had a fond interest in Fikile, had to be sent away to safety. 

This poses the question, what happened to them? Did they make it to safety?

ALSO READ: Exclusive: In conversation with ‘Blood & Water’ director Nosipho Dumisa

5. WHAT HAPPENED TO MR FERREIRA?

Another cliffhanger of the season is what happened to the beloved teacher Mr Ferreira (Ivan Botha)? He up and left without any update on where he was headed after doing some dodgy business!

Netflix was right when they said Blood & Water season three requests would storm in because we need answers!

WATCH THE FIRST THREE MINUTES OF ‘BLOOD & WATER’ SEASON TWO HERE

Since we are diving into the spoilers, here are the first three minutes of season two of the drama series.

ALSO READ: Season 2 loading: Let’s recap the mystery and drama of ‘Blood & Water’

YOUNGSTACPT’S IMPACT ON SA HIP-HOP

Riyadh Roberts, popularly known as YoungstaCPT, is a brilliant hip-hop lyricist who has taken South Africa by storm with his lyrical illustrations of Cape Town in his music.

YoungstaCPT began rapping professionally in 2012 after completing high school, and over time he has grown to become part of South Africa’s small pool of impactful lyricists who deliver quality lines in their music. 

The 29-year-old rapper’s 2019 album, 3T, earned him the Album of the Year award at the 2019 South African Hip-Hop Awards. The 22-track album focuses on themes of gangsterism, poverty and drug use. 

YOUNGSTACPT’S SHAKES UP ‘BLOOD & WATER’

The heavyweight rapper will also be making his appearance in the second season of Blood & Water as a friend of Zero (played by Nasty C in season one). 

YoungstaCPT swoops in to save the day by helping KB (Thabang Molaba) produce and perform a song at a fundraising event put together by Wendy (Natasha Thahane) and Chris (Arno Greeff). 

In the song, titled Gaslight, KB shows his jealousy of Puleng (Ama Qamata) and Wade’s (Dillon Windvogel) relationship and he also reveals that he and Fikile (Khosi Ngema) shared an intimate kiss in season one after a party at KB’s house. 

ALSO READ: Exclusive: In conversation with ‘Blood & Water’ director Nosipho Dumisa

TYLA ADDS SOME SPICE TO THE SOUNDTRACK

Tyla Seethal, popularly known as Tyla, first appeared on the South African music industry’s radar in 2019 when she released her hit debut single featuring Kooldrink, Getting Late. After breaking boundaries as an independent artist, she then signed a global deal with Epic Records.

Although the 19-year-old pop star will not be making an appearance in the second season of Blood & Water, she has made a stellar contribution to the soundtrack.

Tyla teamed up with DJ Lag (who is regarded as the pioneer of gqom) and Kooldrink for a new single, titled Overdue. The feelgood music video sees Tyla wearing a school uniform in tune with the Netflix African Original series.

The music video — shot by Warren Soqinase — explores Fikile and Sam Nkosana’s (Leroy Siyafa) relationship in Blood & Water and also features a few shots of Puleng and Wade.

Watch Tyla’s ‘Overdue’ music video for ‘Blood & Water’ season two

‘BLOOD & WATER’ SEASON TWO ARTIST LINE-UP

The Blood & Water season two playlist features a sensational line-up of a host of other artists.

From songbird Ipeleng to energic rapper Costa Titch, the soundtrack shows off all the hot talent South Africa has to offer. The exciting part about the season two playlist is that it features rising local artists who are sure to make their mark in the music industry.

‘Blood & Water’ season two playlist:

1. Tyla featuring DJ Lag & Kooldrink – Overdue
2. YoungstaCPT & KB Dinero – Gaslight
3. Mr Kamera & Frya – Blood & Water (Theme Song)
4. Nasty C & Rowlene – I Need You
5. Mr Kamera & Frya – Calculate
6. Phantom Steeze – Steezy
7. Lolo Zozi featuring Tony Bhasoi – Ixhesha
8. uFezekile, Enigmatic Kurse, SmashTheVillager – Talk Talk
9. Silvastone – Falling For You
10. Sun-El Musician, Claudio x Kenza & Msaki – Chasing Summer
11. Raydizz, Poptain, Midori – In2You
12. Yallunder – Ndinovalo
13. Craig Lucas – Smother
14. Focalistic & Vigro Deep – Ke Star
15. Costa Titch, Frank Casino& 25K – Great
16. Benzo & LOOKATUPS – Kwedini
17. Indigo Stella – No Smoke
18. Mr Kamera & Frya – Back It Up
19. The Big Hash, 808x & Kwesta – High School
20. Costa Titch – Mpulele
21. Benny Afroe & Ami Faku – This Feeling
22. Tyla & Kooldrink – Getting Late
23. Jacky – Don’t let go
24. Gemini Major & K.O – Slum Kid
25. Touchline & K.O – Abafana Aba Hot
26. Lastee, Nasty C & Tellaman – Take My Time
27. The Big Hash & 808x – I’m Sorry
28. Yashna – I Got Me
29. Dee Koala – Sel’iwash Yodwa
30. Espacio Dios & ANATII – Mangwane
31. Frya – Changes
32. PatrickKxxLee – Lost Boy Anthem
33. Skulla & BEX – Ego
34. AKA & YoungstaCPT – Main Ou’s
35. Tellaman, Shekhinah & Nasty C – Whipped
36. Yashna – I Got Me
37. Rough featuring Moozlie – Mbongo-Zaka
38. Saucy, Money Badoo – LIL BIH
39. Mpho Sebina – Dumelang
40. Benny Chilll – Yebo
41. Sebo Kabstaad featuring Quelle Chris – Our People
42. Jay Prayzah – Sadza Nemuriwo
43. Dope Saint Jude – Go High Go Low
44. Flvme & Die Mondez – F-Y-M
45. Costa Titch – Durban Poison
46. Costa Titch & YoungstaCPT – Wag ‘N Bietjie
47. Haem-O – Mama Told Me
48. Rowlene & Nasty C – Stop – Remix
49. Costa Titch, Riky Rick & DJ Maphorisa – Areyeng
50. Stilo Magolide – Stilo Nkinga
51. YoungstaCPT – 1000 Mistakes
52. Stxoner – Sleep
53. 3face & Cee – Revive
54. Ipeleng – Patience
55. Youngloon Taliboom, YoungstaCPT, Maloon TheBoom – Kruger’s
56. YoungstaCPT & Ganja Beatz – I’ve Seen It All
57. Shekhinah featuring Bey T – Fixate
58. Frya – Chandelier
59. Tetu Shani – Watch Out
60. Gemma Griffiths – Iwe
61. Blxckie & LucasRaps – Big Time Sh’lappa
62. Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa & Semi Tee – Lorch
63. DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small, Nokwazi & Vigro Deep – Vula Vala
64. Manana – Euphoria
65. PsychoYP & Azanti – Caro
66. Iv4 – Under
67. Iv4 – When Stars Collide
68. Kaz – Legend
69. Iv4 – Call me up
70. Atlay – Looking for Tears (Intro)
71. Atlay & SnakeBeats – Falling
72. Atlay – Show Me How It Feels Like
73. Atlay – Something’s Changing
74. Atlay – Unless You Tell Me
75. Igqhirha Lomculo – Vuka Ndoda

The South African spoke to award-winning Blood & Water director and writer Nosipho Dumisa about what viewers can expect from the brand new season and the runaway success of the teen drama series.

ALSO READ: Season 2 loading: Let’s recap the mystery and drama of ‘Blood & Water’

NOSIPHO DUMISA ON MAKING THE FEMALE VOICE HEARD

33-year-old Dumisa has never shied away from tough topics as a director and made her debut in 2018 with the gritty Cape Flats crime-thriller Nommer 27.

Dumisa shared with us how working in a male-dominated industry has its challenges, especially when people make assumptions about the type of content female directors hope to create. 

“My voice is as valid and exciting as any other storyteller out there. It took me a long time to believe that so now I prefer to focus on the huge strides we’ve made as an industry, specifically as directors who happen to be female. It’s been my intention to take the conversation away from ‘female directors’ to ‘directors who happen to be female’.”

‘Blood & Water’: More female writers and Thati Peele’s touch

Season two of Blood & Water saw the writing team grow with the addition of talented black female writers.

“With season two of Blood & Water, our writing team not only expanded with awesome black writers of the female sex, but we were also blessed to add another director to the team, Thati Peele, who has done an incredible job with the second episode of this new exciting season.”

Peele has directed a South Koren horror film titled Thirst in 2009 and  Lerato in 2015, a short film that follows a local farmworker played by esteemed actress Connie Chiume. 

UNIVERSAL STORYLINE: ‘BLOOD & WATER’ SUCCESS

The South African Film and Television Awards (Safta) award-winning series trended at No 1 in 10 countries shortly after its release in 2020 — a first for a Netflix African original series.

Dumisa shared that a director always hopes their story will find its audience and admits the instant success of Blood & Water surprised the cast and crew.

“The global appeal comes in the universal storyline of Blood & Water. It’s a coming-of-age narrative, with bits of mystery and drama. Everyone can relate to having been a teenager with the angst of being misunderstood or falling in love for the first time etc.

“Everyone understands family drama and the dynamic of wanting to feel like you are good enough, which is what Puleng’s key arc was and continues to be.”

She highlights that the fear and trauma of losing someone is relatable to everyone, but the story is still specific to South Africa.

CHALLENGES OF FILMING ‘BLOOD & WATER’

Season two of Blood & Water was shot during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 in South Africa earlier this year. Making sure everyone is safe, was a top priority for Dumisa as a director. 

“This was absolutely the biggest challenge. Of course, it was also a matter of wanting to balance adding a new creative edge to the show while being faithful to what our audience loved in the first place.” 

Dumisa also shared how she connects with every actor on the set. 

“I try to connect and speak with every actor, younger or older so that I can know them as people first before the real work begins. We all have fun but we’re also constantly aware of the job at hand and the pace at which we move leaves very little room for much else.”

KEY THEME AND REPRESENTATION

The key theme of Blood & Water is identity and through season two of the hit series, that theme has evolved to family. 

“The family we choose versus the family we’re born into, the way in which family and parents help form or break us,” says Dumisa. 

“The series deals with child trafficking and kidnapping but the new season will also deal with mental illness, children who are forced to raise themselves, drug abuse and fake news. In season two, the audience will learn more about Reece Van Rensburg (Greteli Fincham) and Chris Ackerman (Arno Greeff).”

Arno Greeff’s character, Chris, portrays a pansexual teenager in the series, and Dumisa says this representation is important, but the storyline is not about his sexuality.

“None of the other characters care that he’s pansexual, but his love interest, Zama (Cindy Mahlangu), does care that he is unfaithful and lying. In season two we’re definitely getting to understand him a bit better and see his character evolve in ways audiences may not be expecting.”

ALSO READ: ‘Blood and Water’ returns to Netflix, introduces new characters

NEW FACES AND NEW MUSIC IN ‘BLOOD & WATER’

In a previous interview, Nosipho said she would like to improve on what has been done in the first season and create space for new actors and musicians.

“There’s a number of new faces in this season, such as Leroy Siyafa, who makes his acting debut and has quite the storyline. Katishcka Kiara and Alzavia Abrahams will also be new faces to the audience, which was something that we were extremely intentional about.

“In terms of music, we were blessed with an abundance of new artists as well as up-and-coming music labels who were submitting their tracks.” 

Siyafa will play Khosi Ngema’s (Fikile “Fiks” Bhele) new love interest.

Onto music genres, Dumisa says the audience can expect, are amapiano, house, hip-hop and even rock. 

“One of the artists we loved from season one, YoungstaCPT, Cape Town’s very own jewel, contributed greatly this season and there’s a surprise collaboration in there. We also had artists like Atlay, Frya, Msaki and so on who brought a lot to this season following their music being featured in season one.”

WHAT SHOULD THE AUDIENCE PAY ATTENTION TO?

Ending off the Q&A, we asked Nosipho what should Blood & Water fans pay attention to this season. 

“I absolutely will give no spoilers but what I can say is that we saw Puleng turn Fikile’s world upside down at the end of season one, and please be sure that it will only get worse from here. It gets worse before it gets better, as Puleng must learn to trust others. It gets super dangerous, super fun and the mystery is only just beginning.”

WATCH ‘BLOOD & WATER’ SEASON TWO TRAILER

The six-episode first season — set in Cape Town — was released on Netflix on 20 May 2020. The series won Best TV Drama at the 2021 South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas), as well as awards for cinematography and sound design.

Here is a recap of Blood & Water season one to get you up to date with all your favourite pupils at Parkhurst High.

‘Blood & Water’ plot synopsis

The series revolves around Puleng (Ama Qamata), a high school girl whose sister Phumelele was kidnapped as part of a human trafficking network shortly after birth.

After crossing paths at a party, she goes on a mission to find out whether Parkhurst High swimming star Fikile “Fiks” Bhele (Khosi Ngema) is in fact her missing sister.

While solving the puzzle, Puleng discovers that the mystery of her missing sister is not the only secret that her friends and family keep…

ALSO READ: ‘Blood & Water’ set to return with old favourites and new faces! [watch]

The start of the ‘Fiksation’

Viewers meet Meadowridge High School pupil Puleng while the Khumalos are celebrating what would’ve been Phumele’s 17th birthday.

Puleng jumps at the opportunity to leave when her best friend, Zama (Cindy Mahlangu), asks her to go with her to a party.

At the party, we meet the popular kids of Parkhurst High: Chris (Arno Greef), KB (Thabang Molaba), Reece (Greteli Fincham) and Fikile.

Puleng also meets Wade Daniels (Dillon Windvogel), the school photographer and the son of the prestigious private school’s principal. When Wade points out her uncanny resemblance to Fikile, she is intrigued, especially because Fikile shares the same birthday as her missing sister. 

The next day, Puleng finds out that her father has been named a prime suspect in the disappearance of her sister. After getting suspended from Meadowridge High because of a physical fight, Puleng convinces her mother to send her to Parkhurst High with her using her mother’s maiden name as surname. 

One could say that this is where Puleng’s “Fiksation” began… 

Secrecy and strategy

Wendy (Natasha Tahane) shows Puleng around Parkhurst High and suggests she joins the Magazine Society at the school. Puleng jumps at the opportunity she finds out that the Magazine Society will be interviewing Fikile about her campaign to become the school’s head girl.

KB becomes romantically interested in Puleng and the two hit it off. Wendy can’t believe that Puleng has started hanging out with the popular kids at the school and decides to change Puleng’s article into “Why Fikile doesn’t deserve to be Head Girl”.

Following the article, Puleng tries to clear her name but no-one except KB believes her.

Puleng and Wade ‘on the case’

Puleng’s mission to find out if Fikile is her sister intensifies. She sneaks into Parkhurst High’s admin room to try and find Fikile’s birth certificate and almost gets caught in the act. Wade offers to help her in her quest, finding out that the name B. Jaxa appears on the certificate. 

At another party, Fikile drinks too much and Chris tells her that Puleng is not who they all thought she was…

We also learn that Fikile is having an inappropriate relationship with her swimming coach, Chad (Ryle de Morny), whose wife is expecting their first child.

The plot thickens

Chris and Fikile release a video to the entire school that details Puleng’s family drama and her father’s trial and Wendy gets the blame. 

An inquisitive Puleng figures out who sent the video and ends up fighting with Fikile. To take revenge, Puleng tells Wendy that Fikile is hooking up with Coach Chad and Wendy reports this to the principal. 

The principal confronts Coach Chad who denies everything and breaks it off with Fikile who is left heartbroken.

Wade — who has started to develop feelings for Puleng — finds out that KB’s father worked at the adoption agency involved in a human trafficking scandal.

‘Blood & Water’ season finale

The season finale is full of twists and turns…

• KB and Puleng connect on a much deeper level than before and they strengthen their relationship.
• Puleng’s laptop is stolen and she notices a suspicious-looking car parked outside her house.
• Wade and Puleng figure out that Fikile’s mother could not have a baby, making Fikile an adopted child. 
• Fikile is not coping with the fact that her life is falling apart and confronts Puleng. A book drops from Puleng’s school bag that has photos of Fikile that leaves them both shocked.
• The episode closes with Puleng telling Fikile that she thinks they might be sisters.

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘BLOOD & WATER’ SEASON TWO