Isn’t it funny how life as you know it can change almost overnight? Isidingo has taken some serious twists over the past week or so and has been an interesting study in life changes. I’m sure it’s even had some viewers reflecting on their own lives.
I remember someone saying something along the lines of; if you could take all your worries and troubles and put them in a bundle in the middle of the room with everyone else’s and go and choose another bundle, you’d rush back and grab your own.
Watching the Matebane’s sudden rush of misfortune makes me think that would be true. No-one would willingly like to have their problems.
It all started after the news about the mine closure where sudden opportunity and promises of success and fortune appeared on the horizon, literally, at Horizon Deep.
Parsons soon realized that he had been scammed to the tune of R100 000, which was largely Zeb’s money, some of his own money as well as Len’s and Maggie’s. The poor guy was devastated and shocked and embarrassed at having been conned. He decided to take the fall alone and repaid everyone their money with a tiny bit of “profit” as well, by borrowing on Deep Gold’s loan. Nan thought he was insane because they really can’t afford to pay back the loan as the company is just breaking even. She felt that people were greedy and knew the risks and that they simply had to live with the consequences of their money being stolen. But Parsons felt otherwise. His guilt made him feel it was essentially his fault that the others had invested. Poor guy, I really felt for him. I can only imagine the horror of finding out you’ve been duped to that kind of tune.
So we thought that was it, Parson’s and Nan would be living frugally on the bones of their asses until they regained their losses and life would go on. But that all paled into insignificance when Zeb, Zakes and a guy named Bean were due to go down the mine to do an inspection. Vusi was all set to accompany them, when he got a last minute call from Derek. He told them to go ahead, and after a sudden prophetic flash of red, he gave Zeb an oxygen cylinder to take with, just in case.
Once down deep in the dark pits of the mine on level twelve there was a rock fall. It always amazes me how humans revert to couched language, which I read somewhere is called “meta language,” whenever serious situations crop up. It’s like when someone has died, people say, “they passed away,” as if the more cautious words, makes the deed less shocking or any easier to deal with. So this rock fall was referred to as a “seismic event,” measuring two point something on the Richter scale by Derek Nyate.
Damn did it rock the Matebane’s world!
Zeb was trapped with the guys in the mine for 44 hours until a rescue team got to them. A fire had broken out on the other side of the rock fall so it took mega time. It was a field day for the Isidingo producers, days went on with dark scenes of suffering both in and out side the mine. The small screen was filled with deeply worried families and sensationalist journalists like Lolly to film the news. Beans didn’t make it out alive, Zakes had mild injuries and Zeb seemed badly messed up.
He’d borne the brunt of weight on his abdomen and legs but after an operation it turned out that he was basically in fair shape but mysteriously unable to walk. The lady doctor who makes an appearance every time a doctor is needed advised that there was nothing physically wrong with Zeb that should render him paralysed and she suggested that he be referred to a psychologist which has just freaked Zeb out. After all, this is not a man who is into all this fandangled stuff about the delicate state of our “psyche’s” and post traumatic stress disorder. His legs don’t work, dammit but his mind is fine.
He’s been on a roller coaster ride through fits of depression though, blaming Vusi for knowing it would happen because he is a prophet and then thanking him for the oxygen which saved his life. He’s been agonizing about how he will never be able to work again if he can’t walk. The only thing that has seemed to give him some hope was the deal with Zacharius to get into the home building business. During all the drama when he was trapped in the mine Zacharius arrived to comfort Ma Agnes and to pray with them. He is allegedly a man of the church, a choir member too nogal. But in reality he is a skiving swindler of note.
I just knew it dammit! How could they not have?
Ma Agnes deposited every last cent of their life savings which was around seven hundred and thirty thousand rand into his account, ostensibly as their share and the guarantee for the initial process of tendering for the business. Poor woman, this was her last hope and salvation. Even Zeb, after a serious pep talk by Parsons, perked up and came around to believing he could still supervise his men on the building sites from a wheelchair.
What he doesn’t know, is that he probably can’t even afford a wheelchair now. They cost money you know!
After a couple of failed attempts to reach Zacharius, Ma Aggie got a very bad feeling. And that feeling got worse when Niemand mentioned that he knew of this dude and that he was wanted by a lot of people who he owed money to. So, the rat has fled with all the Matebane money.
I couldn’t help thinking what I would do in a situation like that. There would be a “seismic event” of note, I can promise you that. I’d go off my head - mad, insane, totally ape *bleep!*. The men in little white coats would have to come and carry me away and put me in a padded cell.
Strangely although devastated, Ma Agnes has managed to cope. She has told the family, and in some way I think, the fact that Nan had told her of Parsons being conned, has made it easier for her to reveal their devastating situation. However, they have decided not to tell Zeb yet.
I reckon, one of two things will happen when he finds out. It will either get him off that bed with his legs running to find that thieving bastard Zacahrius, or like me, he will go completely out of his mind and into the cuckoo’s nest. I’m hoping for the miraculous healing option. I hate the thought of crime paying, even in the soapies.
Still, whichever way you look at it, the Matebane’s lives have changed forever. Financial stability and real peace of mind will never be easy for them to get again, no matter what.
Natasha is also in for a life changing time.
She and Frank were bordering on a kind of friends-who-were-deeply-attracted-to-each other type of relationship until the sponsors of her show decided to pull out. There was a bit of wrangling and debating between Frank, Rajesh and Lee about getting some other sponsors because the show has been so successful, but in the end, they decided that the show has to be canned.
Work strife is a foolproof remedy for getting hormones back into line, no question about that. Natasha is really angry that Frank was aware of the problems and never mentioned them when he came around for the pizza and wine working dinner. You can’t blame her really for being pissed at it all. But you also can’t blame Frank. It really wasn’t his decision and for once I actually felt sorry for him because he did try to save the show and come up with some options. She just doesn’t know that, because he clammed up and played the objective business man when she confronted him with it.
I hope this isn’t the end of Natasha. She kind of grew on me once she put a stop to Tim’s lovesick mooching about.
And yet more lives are in for a change. Alec Mathews (whose face now keeps on popping up irritatingly on adverts and every where else you look) is pushing ahead with his investigations into Barker. He’s roped Harriet in and got her to apply for her old job back with Barker so she can spy for him. I’m a little surprised at Harriet’s willingness to do this but the indications are that she is struggling with this little 007 assignment to nail Barker. We are going to see where it eventually leads and whether her loyalty to him wins out in the end.
One thing for sure is that the sexual attraction between Lee and Alec is steaming up the place. All these little chats in the corridors, tete-et- tetes in her office and his nifty little gadget for downloading emails from her computer that requires him to be up close and personal in her body space while doing it can’t be ignored. Even Rajesh has noticed it and has been battling the green eyed monster for a while. But Lee has assured him, that he has nothing to worry about.
I think Lee has plenty to worry about. She obviously feels the vibes from Alec and likes them. But she doesn’t know he is working for the Scorpions and that she is also under investigation.
I wonder if Alec will forge ahead in the line of duty and do the dirty on Lee as well, or just do the dirty with Lee and let her get away. That is still to unfold, but either way, it’s not going to leave any of them unaffected.
On a possible positive side Lolly has discovered that she has some long lost Irish family from a rather dubious relationship her grandmother had with an Irishman in days gone by. It seems now an inheritance might be pending if Lolly can come up her “bona fides” which basically amounts to proof of her and her mother’s connection to the Irish clan. Maybe someone is about to get a little Irish luck, at last.
So what are your thoughts on Isidingo?
Do you think it might possibly be coming to an end? That everyone’s lives are being nicely parceled up for their demise or departure from the show as Isidingo ends?
Or are the scriptwriters planning for the saga to continue with new twists and turns?
I’m not exactly sure what’s in store for us, but my imagination isn't stretching like it should and I keep wondering if the end is in sight.
Let’s hear what you think.
*** Catch Isidingo on SABC 3 at 18h30 on weekdays.