Propaganda 

Episode 3 of Blood and Water begins with Puleng managing to get out of her situation thanks to Wade hiding the birth certificate. She heads home for the evening, just as Wade sends her a song he’s been working on. As the two continue to connect, Fikile adds her on social media.

Unfortunately Puleng’s newfound fame is short-lived when she heads into school and sees that the damning newspaper article has been published. With KB and the others distancing themselves from her, Puleng finds herself isolated and alone.

Taking Wade aside, Puleng finally admits the truth to him over why she took Fikile’s birth certificate. In order to prove her theory, she needs a sample to put her questions to bed. Wade walks away and puts the certificate back where it belongs but not before snapping a photo of it just incase.

Puleng meanwhile confronts Wendy who admits to switching the narrative and turning the article into a puff piece. As she walks away, Puleng attempts to hack into her computer but fails to do so, instead heading off with KB who takes Puleng into the kitchen to cook.

Determined to try and make things right, she asks Tahira for help in reversing the damage done and making Fikile Head Girl. After Tahira gives a really compelling speech to the applauding school students, she confronts Wendy afterwards and tells her to change the article as she doesn’t want to win in a shady way.

Puleng is called to the principal’s office before a winner can be announced. In the office, Puleng’s parents happen to be waiting for her, including Julius who has seemingly been freed from prison too. Once there, they confirm they have a lead about Phume.

Meanwhile, Zuma meets up with Chris and confirms Puleng is using a different surname. For now this remains a secret but at school things take a turn for the worst when Puleng rips into Wendy for what she’s done. In retaliation, she deletes the audio recording of Fikile’s interview.

As she speaks to her parents about what’s happening, Puleng learns they’ve taken a loan out to pay for her school studies. Although her Father has been released from custody, he remains guarded over exactly what the police requested him for making him pretty suspect and shady at this point.

After school Fiks drowns her sorrows in alcohol and remains conflicted, doubting her own abilities surrounding becoming the Head Girl. However, Chris approaches her and reveals the truth about Puleng’s surname and how it’s actually Khumalo. Meanwhile, Puleng’s mother breaks the news that the lead they had was a dead end, putting them back to square one.

Retreating to her room, Wade suddenly arrives and tells her he’s found a name on Fikile’s birth certificate that could be useful – “B. Jaxa.” This may just be the lead they need to progress forward, which is where the episode ends.

With a lot more soapy melodrama and teen problems coming to the foreground, Blood and Water injects some school drama into the fold but it doesn’t quite feel like enough to add depth into this paper-thin mystery hanging over the series. The ending certainly leaves some room for this one to grow but with a longer run-time of 50 minutes, Blood and Water fails to fill that run-time with anything conclusive enough to make for a compelling genre piece.

Teen dramas are notoriously difficult to write for at the best of times, especially given how congested this genre is, and right now Blood and Water just doesn’t have enough to stand out next to others on the platform, which is a real shame because visually this show is really well shot.