How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding, is a masterpiece, cinema at its finest. In my top 10 movies/series of all time. The series had glamour, wit, it celebrated African wealth and success just like Crazy Rich Asians did.
The weddings OMG the wedding! If you have not watched the movie, please watch it on Netflix. That is the reason why I wrote my first blog. How to Ruin Christmas: The Funeral, the sequel, as they said, lightning only strikes once, it could not live up to the standard season one gave us.
My friends and I watched the prequel so much that it became our benchmark for any African movies or series we watch on Netflix. It says a lot. Okay, enough bragging or flash credit for the prequel, let us talk about the five - episode miniseries that is How to Ruin Christmas: The Funeral.
Lighting does strike twice:
Season two has more episodes than season one. It makes sense, the series had a lot to digest. From the first episode, you can tell something is missing, Lightning did not strike this time around, the flavor is missing, everyone is angry, but to give credit, it started where season two ended which is with Tumi and Khaya finally trying to date (lucky them). How to Ruin Christmas: The Funeral focuses on Tumi trying to return a letter to Durban which was given by Tumi sister's grandmother in law who sadly passed away in the car with Tumi, yet at the same time she is trying to figure out if she wants to date or just drink a bottle of Tequila each night.
Why didn't lightning strike in the bottle? For me, the series started with an over the - top acting and an angry vibe. If you watch the first two episodes, you will understand, no one in this modern world speaks, thinks or talks in that manner to anyone, angry or not. There was no understanding, logic could have seen that Tumi was not at fault for the death of Nandi Nyembe Granny's character. Then the family refused to read the letter, which was the last message which was left for the family. I found that part of the script odd. The weird part was Beauty insulting a woman's newborn baby in an airplane.
This time the old shine:
Season two focuses on the old members of both families, and at the same time, gives a shine to the youth, I love the focus of losing a baby and the trauma that comes with it, Beauty, played by Thando Thabethe, She played her emotional role to the Tee, still keeping the princess charm that she portrayed in season one. Every character had a ghost or a monkey on their shoulder. If that makes sense, I love it. Mama Sello's former husband comes back just to ruin his daughter's life, yet her friends are forcing her to get back in the love scene, but she tries to stick to her guns.
Desmond Dube, AKA Uncle Shadrack was funny as usual, but I felt they did his character injustice. I really thought the man whose first love is Gin would finally settle down and prove to everyone why he should be the man of the family. The script gives it a hint but does not capitalize it.
The good:
Here I will list my favourite characters not in particular order and why I think they kept it cool, though the script did not come to the table.
Trevor Gumbi as Siya Twala; Trevor is a walking national treasure no doubt about that. He just killed his role, season one we saw a glimpse of him. The guy came full force in season two. The screen lights up when he comes on with his colorful outfit, I love how he is always trying to find problems, so he could fix them just to show his brother he too can help.
Lehlohonolo Saint Seseli as Vusi Twala; How can we speak about Siya without mentioning his yang Vusi, He showed why old actors are just gold, did not once go off beat, even during the more challenging part of the series, He kept me wanting more, I just want to watch Mr Seseli act.
Swankie Mafoko as Lydia Twala; Three Twala’s Wow, we all felt for her at the end of season one. In Season two, she finally got her child, got her husband back, who finally got sober, but she had to fight her large - to - life mother-in-law. You just have to love the way the script made her confront her mother-in-law.
Sandile Mahlangu as Sbu Twala; No, No I do not have a thing for the Twala family. Let me explain why I respect Sbu's character. The script shows his strategic side, which I really enjoyed. He figures his wife's deadbeat dad came back after all the years of absenteeism, and he finds a loophole in his father almost to jail government issues. He hardly had screen time, but when the chance came his way, Sandile went full throttle.
Bad ending:
Season two felt rushed, there was no chemistry amongst everyone, I am not sure why, Most people I spoke to felt it fell off, I do understand where they are coming from, but I think it’s the rush of shooting back to back, Tumi, was not really herself, something was missing, even in her eyes you could see it though Busi Lurayi tries her best with the cards she was dealt with, you could see something was not there.
The ending was poor. I am not sure maybe the writers wanted it that way, but her character did not have any arc in season two, she was just a running gag, it felt forced, things could have easily ended differently if should, could just think, I mean the script shows she is very intelligent. Yonda Thomas as Khaya Manqele who is Tumi's boyfriend throughout the series. I did not feel sorry for him when Tumi handed him the ring back. He definitely deserves better. The brother tried to please her and make it work, but she was just too much.
The end:
I am not sure if we are getting a season three, but I hope we do. The unanswered question can rest in peace. Maybe they will focus on Cape Town. I mean season one was Johannesburg, season two was Natal. It just makes absolute sense. They need to add new characters, just like season two did, bring the children this time around.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed season two, not as much as season one. Do you believe there are no ratings for these series anywhere on the internet? How odd, Thank you for giving me time to read my weird review.
Four ⛾⛾⛾⛾ of coffee out of ten.
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