By: Thapelo Ramorobi.
Fatal Seduction comes back with passion, power and thirst for justice at its core, reminding us that not every kiss is out of love – sometimes it’s betrayal disguised as love.
Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting a new season, especially looking at how season 1 ended. I thought the truth was not out, and Jacob (Prince Grootboom) didn’t clear his father’s name; he had done a number on the Mahlati family – that was justice enough for me.
The new season is just a continuation of Jacob trying to clear his father’s name, but this time forces are stronger, with Vilakazi (Warren Masemola) pulling the strings himself and using his power as the minister of police.
Throughout the season, we see just how far Jacob can go just to atone for his dead father’s name and just how far Vilakazi would go to protect his reputation. The one plot twist that came as a blow was finding out the real killer of Vilakazi’s daughter.
At times, the pacing dragged so much that I lost interest, even with episodes running under 40 minutes.
The directors’ use of flash forwards in the first episode was a strategic move to keep the audience through to the last episode, and the use of flashbacks also contributed significantly in telling us who our characters are and gives us insight into their thought processes.
In as much as the director did such outstanding work in introducing the characters to audiences, I still believe the character arc is flat and lacks development, especially for characters like Zinhle (Ngele Ramulondi), whose character never seemed to grow or develop throughout both seasons.
It’s no secret that Fatal Seduction is a passion-filled power struggle of politics and is filled with numerous well-known and talented actors, but that wasn’t enough to keep the series alive, and most scenes were unnecessary and kept the story dragging for unnecessarily too long.
In the end, season 2 impresses with its production value and performance, but the flat character arcs and unnecessary dragging weigh it down. Watch it for the acting and not the storytelling.
