The wait is finally over. Netflix’s first Young Adult African Original Blood and Water finally drops today on the streaming platform. With the exception of MTV’s Shuga (which is laden with a lot of moralistic subtext) there are have been very few television series that was created specifically for a young adult audience that didn’t seek to offer moral lessons, prosyletize to young adult audiences or patronize them. These are tough criteria for Netflix’s new show to meet, but it seems they are up to the task.
The show revolves around a teenage girl who traverses social class and its expectations when she gets a rare opportunity to attend a fancy private school. While there, she finds out the school’s resident queen bee might be her long lost sister, stolen from her family as a child and sets out to find out for sure if her suspicions are right. Teenage, intrigue with the added subtext of race relations in South Africa, how class and classism can alienate young people and deny them opportunities are all explored on the show. As a Netflix Original, Blood and Water is a very important experiment to see if African audiences will cotton on to young adult shows and the first week numbers for blood and water will be an important metric in their further deliberations. So if you love Young Adult themes like we do, then show it with your streaming hours.
To get you hyped for the show, here’s a Q&A from the show’s lead, Ama Qamata, answering questions about the show and generally getting hype for the premiere.
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