Miseducation – Episode 1 “The Redeployment of Mbali Hadebe” Recap & Review

The Redeployment of Mbali Hadebe

Mbali Hadebe’s 19th Birthday party is ruined when her politician mother Brenda’s house is raided. Brenda is found guilty of stealing the grant money from the poor. All the luxury items from her house are taken away as Mbali’s friends make videos of the scandal and start talking badly about her and her mother on the internet.

Mbali blames her mother for what she is going through and claims that she needs to go to a new school given everyone is mocking her at the old one. Brenda argues that she has no money left to pay for her fees, and the cash left behind by her father is not enough for a whole year’s worth of fees.

Mbali tells her mother that she will be using the money to get away and start a life on her own. Brenda gives her daughter a week to do as she pleases with the money, warning that she won’t be able to do much with the amount anyway.

The next day, Mbali tries to get admitted into any varsity university that is willing to take applications but finds no luck. Her former house help asks Mbali to look at smaller universities and suggests that she go to Makhanda. Against her will, Mbali finds herself going to Makhanda’s Grahamstown University and immediately hates the place.

Contrastingly, Jayshan is more than happy to get away from his big family and join the same university as Mbali. On her way inside, Mbali meets Sivu and is instantly swooning over the handsome boy. Sivu asks Mbali to vote for her to be the Student Council President. Mbali learns that Sivu is an Olympic-winning rower and is shell-shocked.

Sivu invites Mbali to watch him race the following day. Mbali invites herself to a third-year party at Raesah’s house, and Sivu insists that Raesah (also known as Rae) let the fresher join as his guest. Mbali takes her farewell from Sivu and visits the Administration.

There she meets Aphiwe, a fellow first-year student who has to take up a job in order to pay for her degree. Mbali lies to Aphiwe and believes that both her parents are dead. She talks to the Administrator and asks to be taken out of the Ethics course as it won’t contribute to her marketing degree.

Mbali is met with the harsh reality that the world no longer runs around her and the administrator asks her to decide between taking the course or failing the semester. As Mbali tries to find her way around the University, the other first-year students are taking tours and enrolling into various clubs.

There Mbali runs into Natalie, who not only recognises her but makes the fact that she was Brenda’s daughter public information. Everyone at the university is shocked to learn that Mbali is Brenda’s daughter and Rae immediately uninvites her from the third-year party.

Rae’s podcast, ‘The Spill’ details all about Mbali’s connection with Brenda and more students learn about it. Mbai is crying in her room when Aphiwe barges in and announces that she will be her roommate. The two immediately begin arguing about Mbali’s privilege and Aphiwe’s lack thereof. Frustrated, Mbali divides the room and asks Aphiwe to never cross the partition.

The next day, Mbali arrives late to class and sits beside Jayshan (Jay) in Ethics class. Mbali soon discovers that Jay is much like Her and Mbali is happy she found good company in class. Meanwhile, the current student council president, Caesar keeps following Mbali around asking her to vote for him as the SRC President. He asks Mbali to seek her mother’s help in order for him to start a campaign.

Caesar also bribes Mbali with access to facilities like the student council and better accommodation. Mbali refuses the offer and goes her way. Jay is texting his Grindr date at the volunteer meeting for the student election committee. Caesar and Sivu butt heads at the meeting with Caesar mocking Sivu for being a bronze medalist.

The next day, Mbali shows up at the rowing race to support Sivu and tries to talk to Rae. Rae ignores Mbali and she finds herself sitting with Jay who is only at the event to sell ADHD pills to willing buyers. Mbali focuses her attention on Rae who is the “it girl” at college and wonders how things in her life went so out of hand that she turned into a nobody when she used to be the “it girl”.

She decides to revamp her image by dating the Hot Olympian. Sivu ends up winning the race and Mbali is very happy. Meanwhile, Natalie’s mother walks in on her pleasuring herself and discusses how she is going to throw her a party for getting into college like she did for her brother. Her mother tries to give her some sex-ed talk but Natalie is not ready for it.

Meanwhile, Jay meets with his Grindr date – Che who is none other than Caesar who is a closeted gay. Caesar asks Jay to keep his sexuality a secret and tries to hook up with him in the car. Meanwhile, the jocks, including Sivu decide to haze the freshmen boys. Sivu tries to stop the others from forcing the boys to take a dip in the garbage can full of water and trash.

The freshman, Junior claims that he is claustrophobic but the boys force him inside the bin. A while later, Junior gets out of the bin after Sivu stops the seniors but he is very scared. At the same time, Mbali is in her room looking at the fun her former friends were having at their parties. She asks Jay to show up the following day as she is going to crash Rae’s party.

Meanwhile, Caesar tries to give Jay a blowjob but the latter refuses to hook up with Caesar before getting to know him. Caesar tries to force himself on Jay which makes him uncomfortable. Jay pushes Caesar off but the Student Council President gets angry and punches Jay, calling him a racist and a homophobic slur.

At the same time, Sivu sees Junior in the men’s room and asks him to brush the incident off. Junior claims that he is ashamed of the fact that he considers Sivu to be his idol and storms off. The next morning, Mbali is shocked to see Jay with a black eye but does not prod him when he refuses to talk about his injury.

The two crash Rae’s party, where Mbali wants to revamp her reputation while Jay wants to make money by using his car as a ride for the students. Mbali somehow makes it inside the party and starts live-streaming for her friends to see that she’s popular again.

However, someone throws a water balloon at Mbali, embarrassing her. She rushes to the bathroom to find Sivu there who was already sulking because of Junior’s comment from the night before. Sivu takes Mbali outside and tries to defend her in front of the guy who attacked her.

A fight erupts between the two boys leaving Sivu with a broken arm after punching the floor. Sivu’s girlfriend Pearl shows up to help him and Mbali feels blindsided as the episode comes to an end. 

The Episode Review

Mbali is a chaotic mess and I am here for every bit of it! The girl is a walking meme in everything she does and the show is giving off ‘Sex Education’ vibes. It is also nice to see this side of South Africa. The country is often seen as a poverty-stricken land, to which this show provides a welcome contradiction. 

The episode shows Mbali, a college student who finds herself running away from problems and hopefully this show ends with her finally facing the reality of her circumstances.

Moreover, the show is a welcome change compared to other popular Netflix shows where characters are not high school students but college-goers hopefully more mature in the decisions they make. The first episode looks great and hopefully this will continue with the next five. We can only watch to find out!