The third season of The River went out with an absolute bang! Quite literally, however, as Lindiwe’s command in working a firearm turned the sky into a galaxy of bullets aimed at shooting down the helicopter in which Tumi attempted to execute her ultimate downfall.

The scenes on Friday’s episode displayed stunning cinematic brilliance, an impressive quality of production, beautiful writing and, as always, amazing acting from an outstanding cast. Those chilling visuals were also a shocking culmination of Lindiwe and Tumi’s turbulent relationship, which was always bound to end in tears.

And on Monday, 1Magic on their social media platforms shared the artworks for the new era.

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And on Monday, 1Magic on their social media platforms shared the artworks for the new era.

Interestingly, the frame features Lindiwe alongside her husband Zweli and that devious ‘papaka’ Mohumi, who weaponised his own daughter to settle old scores with Lindiwe. From this alone, we can already anticipate that the writers will be building up that rivalry, possibly with Lindiwe’s marriage to Zweli suffering new blows.

Interestingly, the frame features Lindiwe alongside her husband Zweli and that devious ‘papaka’ Mohumi, who weaponised his own daughter to settle old scores with Lindiwe. From this alone, we can already anticipate that the writers will be building up that rivalry, possibly with Lindiwe’s marriage to Zweli suffering new blows.

ering new blows.

SCREEN TIME FOR SUPPORTING CAST

Just between us, it would appear the actors whose performance faced harsh viewer critiques have slowly been released from their contracts.

Following Lunga Shabalala’s departure from the telenovela, Larona’s Moagi’s exit suggests a pattern. Some will recall that Moshidi Motshegwa was allegedly fired from the show due to strife on the set. Amongst many claims,  she had been reportedly critical of Larona’s delivery.

That said, we think Larona held her own up there. She’s a young actress with a passion for her craft. She will certainly improve over time, but the show has shown they want to tighten the whole series.

BROADER STORYLINES

One of the best moves the producers of the show executed was dispersing storylines a little bit through the previous season. Where the first season centred quite disproportionately on Lindiwe, the last season began to give other characters a bit more prominent screentime. What they were able to do though, is keep Lindiwe as an omnipresent figure.

Even when the storylines were not centred on her, all roads still led back to her. We think this worked well in favour of the show, neutralising overemphasis on the lead character. She’s already positioned as the Chuck Norris. Keeping her the only one able to deliver the central plot points would have become tiring.

A BIGGER BUDGET

Fortunately, the producers at Tshedza Pictures were able to pick some of these subtle issues up and work on them right away. And towards the end of 2020, we saw not only major cast shakeups on the show, but also some movements behind the scenes. One of the most remarkable ones was the promotion of Sindi Dlathu to take on the role of Executive Producer on the show.

That move was awesome for multiple reasons, one being the fact that outstanding local actors can now look forward to some kind of a trajectory on their path. To work on the leading daily drama for four years straight, and only have actor to your credit is wrong.

We are looking forward to the directing the show will take with her increased influence. Though if the season three finale was anything to go by, it would appear is not holding too tighly to the bag. The quality of production reached new horizons, no pun intended. They are definitely open to throwing in more coins to give us fine television.