Well, it’s been another couple of weeks of life on Isidingo and things have taken a sudden turn. We can debate whether it's good or bad.
But first some catch up:
Letti and Vusi got married and moved to the big house after Ma Agnes and Zeb gave her a huge wedding they really couldn’t afford, courtesy of a loan from Pappa G which they need to pay back with interest. The repayments have become a problem but just add that to the sorry state of the Matebane’s financial affairs. Zeb has a strategy for bills that arrive in the post. It’s called , “Put them in the drawer and pass me a beer,” otherwise known as the Ostrich Approach – Bury your head in the sand and maybe it will all go away or have a couple of drinks and then you forget. I see bad tidings on the horizon for this family unless some kind of miracle happens.
The latest news is that the bond on the house hasn’t been paid for two months and even Vleis is getting mean with his credit for meat. No money, no meat. It could be pap and maroga, for the Matebane's soon. Interestingly, Ma Agnes doesn’t want Letti to know they are in dire straits and I keep wondering why. I mean, we all know Letti is very wrapped up in her own self, but even she couldn’t be so dumb as to think her parents are coping okay financially with the downturn in the customers at the Rec and the kitchens. Plus her father is now unemployed and we all know that money doesn’t grow on trees.
Another domestic drama is unfolding with Natasha and her pain- in- the- ass
daughter Nicky. This physically over- developed and issue- ridden 17 year old brat has not liked Frank and has been giving her mother grief trying to force a reconciliation with her father. Now there’s a really revolting specimen. They seem to have this fat ugly blob on every episode. It’s making me sick. He’s this lay about ex- husband with a cocaine habit who is always trying to get money out of Natasha. What really irritates me is that she keeps saying “no” and then keeps giving him money anyway. As you know, Natasha is also unemployed, but since being fleeced by Troy she has decided to take up a fulltime position with Cherel because Paul quit and went to work for Len. In addition Natasha doesn’t want to tell Nicky the truth about her father and that he is a drug addict. Instead she prefers to allow Troy to blackmail her into giving him money for his dealers; otherwise he says he will take Nicky away.
You really can’t get very far on ten rand but Natasha doesn’t seem to understand that. And I think it would be a blessing in disguise if Troy and Nicky rode away into the sunset, but it seems Natasha takes this motherly role very seriously. Every time the scene changes to her and Troy or her and Nicky or any combination of the three I want to hurl. I can’t see Frank hanging around there too much longer.
My favourite part of Isidingo over the past few weeks was that Pappa G finally moved into the new millennium and invested in a PC complete with the internet. Not that he can use it of course, but Slu has been very busy getting Pappa G registered on an internet dating site. There was some hilarious dialogue, between these two men of the world as they tried to get Georgie an alluring profile. Eventually they settled on him being a night club owner who was into philosophy and submitted a picture that was of a much slimmer and younger Pappa G. A couple of emails came in and he has met someone through the site. Pappa G seems very interested in her and after taking Letti’s advice that the best thing to do to impress a women, was simply to listen to her, the lady in question seems to be quite taken with Georgie. Whether this will turn out to be true love or just another scam we will have to wait to see.
The good news is that someone out there must have heard our pleas to get rid of mumbling mouth Saul, because all of a sudden there is a new dude working with Alec who goes by the name of Henry. He speaks with an American accent, which is a bit weird given that he is with South African Special Services, but hey man, I don’t care if that’s a real American taking a South African’s job or a South African with a pseudo-American accent. At least we can hear what he’s saying.
In a nutshell, they’ve got Mad Dog to turn State witness. He’s had a very hard time and has had to try a little entrapment with Barker. But Barker wrote the book on skiniving so he hasn’t bought into any of Mad Dog’s bull and tried to get a hit out on him. Mad Dog can’t be sleeping too well, because one night he stuffed some cushions in his bed and tried to get some shut eye on the chair or on the couch and a gunman came in and pumped the bed full of bullets. After he mourned the cushions he got pissed off and realized that maybe Barker wanted him dead. This somehow touched a bit of a raw nerve with him. Imagine Barker trying to get him to push up daisies? After all they’ve been through together? He wasn’t having it and has tried to enlist the support of others who hate Barker to “make this problem go away.”
Alec and Henry offered Cherel indemnity from prosecution to testify against Barker about the San Fernando Coup, while Lee and her father have been charged. Both are out on bail and seem to have become a bit closer, since they’re in the brown stuff together. Neither believed that Cherel was simply not charged due to lack of evidence, and suspected she had turned against them. This meant Cherel had to “get arrested’ to make things look kosher but it was really all just a little show. Neither Barker nor Lee is entirely convinced that she is playing open cards.
Cherel may be a bitch herself, but she does have grudging respect for Barker’s ability to get rid of people who piss him off. She’s been in a bit of a panic, paranoid almost, but she has refused witness protection because she’s such a high profile image now with her trashy little show. She really can’t become anonymous Petronella Potgieter living in Poffadder, so she has to take her chances, with one bodyguard who she has said will be of no benefit if Barker wants her taken out. She suggested the best thing to do would be to give the bodyguard a gun and have him shoot Barker.
I guess we can deduce from this that Cherel hates Barker.
Cherel also had to put pressure on Orlando to turn State’s witness, as part of her indemnity deal. Orlando had already decided he was on Lee’s side, after starting all the *bleep!* in the first place. But with a bit of the evil witch’s veiled threats about what could happen to his family, Orlando crumbled and agreed to give evidence. I think he hates Barker too, but right now, he probably hates Cherel more.
Barker, for his part has suddenly gone back to being a bastard extraordinaire,
which is just the way I like him. I’ll even overlook his terrible wardrobe with the mustard suit and the purple shirt if he keeps giving us venom.
He’s confronted Harriet with her conniving backstabbing behaviour and now treats her with utter contempt and disrespect. I can’t quite work out why she stays but I think perhaps Harriet is totally asexual and gets her thrills out of being submissive and maybe has the odd masochistic tendency. Pain equals pleasure for Harry and she loves Barker to dole it out in big doses. Barker basically told her she’s an old dried up maid without a sexual impulse or a life, except for her cats. Her eyes filled with tears in horror and her lip trembled and quivered, but she came back for more. What does that say?
Anyway, I think she deserved a bit of a rap over the knuckles for being so disloyal, and somehow I don’t think she got flowers on secretary’s day either.
But now the thing is, maybe Harriet also hates Barker.
Sweet mother Kimberly has also been on the scene and been at the mercy of Barker’s wrath. He has manipulated the baby out of her by getting a whole lot of doctors and professionals to sign affidavits confirming that Kimberly is an unfit mother. It seems once or twice in the good old days of being a media specialist or image consultant or whatever the hell she was; she used to indulge in the odd line of the old nose candy. Barker’s affidavits now indicate she is a washed up addict with no sense of responsibility, which of course isn’t entirely true, but who cares what’s true, this is a soapy after all. So he has made a little deal with her. It was all very involved and she was outraged, devastated but eventually complied with misty eyes and sobs and a promise to get her child back.
The deal was a “cash for kid” arrangement with visitation rights. In the end I don’t think Kimberly got any cash but there’s a R5 million trust being set up for the boy, whose name is Jordy, and there are no visitation rights at the moment either– probably never will be. The baby is being looked after by a professional care giver and Barker has told Lee this baby represents another chance for him to do right by his children. It’s all very noble, Barker wanting another chance, and of course, having the evil mind and resources to get it.
Of course, I don’t have to remind you that Kimberly hates Barker.
Siyanda also showed up like a bad penny filled with vengeance since she took exception to the fact that he tried to kill her in a car bomb. She’s back with revenge on her mind and has told Barker that she has taken a contract out on him. If it happens that she should die, by any means, there will automatically be a hit on him. But you know Barker. He never takes kindly to threats and he also couldn’t quite understand why Siyanda had taken everything so personally. It’s not personal, for God’s sake, when someone wants you dead because you’ve got a big mouth. It’s simply business. Doesn’t anyone understand this? Anyway, while he was about it , he put out a reciprocal contract on Siyanda for good measure, which means if he dies, she gets hers too.
I suppose it’s safe to say that Siyanda hates Barker?
So it wasn’t a complete surprise when Barker went out, ostensibly to meet someone who ”could make all his San Fernando problems go away,” and was met with a rather unpleasant welcome.
It was all very weird and dramatic. It was dusk and they were meeting at some forlorn spot which reminded me of a place close to where Tanya killed herself. Maybe this is the killing fields set for filming deadly scenes. Anyway, a car drove up and Barker got out. Illuminated by the car’s headlights he walked towards the trench coat clad person he was meeting. Suddenly the person pulled out a gun and fired a shot into Barker who slumped forward. Then the credits rolled and nobody has seen or heard from Barker since.
Now there are so many questions to contemplate:
Who shot Barker? And why?
Is he dead?
Did he set it up to look as if he was shot and killed?
Is he just pretending to be dead so he can disappear until the dust settles?
Has Barker actually reached his “sell-by” date?
Is Robert Whitehead, the actor who plays Barker planning to leave the show? In a recent interview he hinted that he was looking to work more in films and that while he was not bored on Isidingo, five years was a good innings. Of course he wouldn’t comment on rumours that he might be leaving the show.
I just don’t think Isidingo will be the same without Barker and without Robert playing the role.
What do you think?
***Catch Isidingo on SABC 3 AT 18H30 on weekdays