“Kings of Jo’Burg,” a Netflix South African miniseries, was created and directed by Shona Ferguson. “Kings of Jo’Burg,” tells the story of a dysfunctional family named the Masires, endowed with mysterious powers. The Masires are essentially two mafia brothers with a troubled background associating with a mysterious mermaid who grants them extraordinary abilities in return for human sacrifice. Mo is no longer interested in this after being released from prison, but Simon continues to worship the mermaid. Let’s find out how much it would cost him.
Spoilers Ahead
What Was The Source Of Simon’s Supernatural Power?
“Kings of Jo’Burg” begins with Mogomotsi Masire, aka Mo, being released from prison after ten years. For a crime that his brother Simon had committed, he had turned himself in and was taken into custody. Simon, his older brother, didn’t seem to be very appreciative of what his younger brother had done for him; instead, he had suspicions about him. Simon broke into a store to steal diamonds on the same day Mo was released. Prison officers dropped Mo off on the side of the road, and no one came to pick him up and bring him home. But Phumzi, a lady, consented to drive him. Mo revealed that he was a prisoner who had just been released, but Phumzi didn’t seem to be concerned because it appeared that she was there on purpose and knew about Mo. She did, however, agree to grant him a ride under the condition that he would not murder her. Phumzi took him to her store and gave him some money. Mo hesitantly accepted it and then left. Simon entered the jewelry store, which was tightly guarded by high-definition cameras and heat sensors, but Simon strolled in front of the cameras without being detected, as though he possessed some sort of invisibility power. He broke inside a room, where he was seen transforming into a monster with siren-like teeth and unearthly eyes.
It was difficult for police chief Stan and officer Jazmin to find him because he wasn’t visible in the CCTV footage. But Jazmin was aware that Simon was responsible for the heist. In order to get to Simon, she detained Mo. Mo stated that he wasn’t stupid enough to commit a crime right after being released from prison to which Jazmin replied that she knew he didn’t commit it, but she arrested him to help her catch Simon. It came out that Simon possessed some of the abilities of a mythical mermaid who had formerly served as the Masires’ deity. She gave the Masires power in return for human sacrifice. Mo, a wealthy gangster, came back to Phumzi to return her money that she had lent and gave her some extra. They seemed to be forming a romantic relationship with each other. Mo pays a visit to his brother Simon and his wife Angela, and we learn that Angela had once been Mo’s wife, but she abandoned him while he was in prison.
Although Angela had informed Mo that she had lost her child, Mo later learned from Jazmin that his daughter was still very much alive and was now residing in Angela’s grandmother’s house. Mo went to see Phumzi with his daughter Neo. However, at Phumzi’s, Mo and his daughter Neo became the victims of an assassination attempt. Neo was killed in the shootout, while Mo was only injured. In the meantime, neither Simon nor Angela could trust Mo, and even his minions tried to persuade Simon that Mo might turn them in at any time to exact revenge. Simon, though, wished to have faith in his brother after all the sacrifices he made. Tlotlo, Mo’s grown-up and now-addicted son had little faith in Simon and disliked the idea that his father had sacrificed everything for his brother.
Mo and Simon discovered the assassin, their employee Sting, who was brought into the gang by Mo but had now been given the orders to kill Mo by Menzi, Simon’s partner. Simon invited Menzi to their club, and on the rooftop, Mo exacted his revenge by killing him. He’d wanted to live a peaceful life after being released from prison, leaving all of his crimes against him, but the criminal life wasn’t finished with him yet. He didn’t even bother cleaning up the bloodstain on his hand after killing Menzi.
Tlotlo was a drug user and poker player who ran the club’s illicit activities. Simon asked him to quit poker because it might result in the club losing its license, but Tlotlo was stubborn enough to ignore him. Zaza, Menzi’s daughter, is introduced at this point. She sought revenge against the Masires for her father’s murder. She, therefore, abducted Mimi, Tlotlo’s lover, in order to use her as a ruse to approach the Masires. But Mimi had swindled money from the club, which made Tlotlo upset with her. Zaza forced Mimi to call him and ask to meet, but Tlotlo was too preoccupied with strippers and cocaine to make time for Mimi.
However, we discovered that Simon had a second family in addition to his marriage to Angela. His wife, Robin, and his son Sam Jr. resided in a different mansion. For more than ten years, Robin has been hiding from the FBI. Simon, in the meantime, was growing impatient with Tlotlo and his subpar club management abilities. He made the decision to relieve him of this duty, but Tlotlo wasn’t prepared to give it up. Instead of saying sorry or moving on, he made the decision to commit theft. He had to come up with a great plan because the club was protected by alarms and high-tech security cameras. But things didn’t work out as expected, and Tlotlo was shot by Simon’s goon while fleeing. He was brought to Simon’s mansion, where the mermaid reminded Simon that he had to make his blood payment. Simon began to ponder the request to sacrifice Tlotlo from the mermaid. But because he was his nephew, he was unable to do so, and Tlotlo was allowed to recover from his wounds. Tlotlo made the decision to give Mimi another chance when his treatment was over, which indicated that he was gradually falling into Zaza’s trap.
In the meantime, the police were frustrated with the progress of the heist’s investigation and found it incredibly challenging to apprehend the Masires. When Simon and Mo were out riding their motorcycles at midnight, two of the officers attempted to kill them. But Simon ultimately chose to murder both of the officers. Jazmin was determined to arrest Simon, nevertheless, as she broke into Simon’s home and discovered some of the store’s missing diamonds. However, Simon quickly captured her. She shot Simon in the leg during a frenzied fight, but Mo intervened to protect his brother and killed Jazmin.
The deceased officers’ cell phone data helped the police chief, Stan, find them, but he was unable to locate Jazmin. While this was going on, we discovered that Phumzi was an undercover operative with South African Special Ops, which explained why she had offered to drive Mo rather than just behaving like a regular person and avoiding a prisoner. As an undercover agent, she had previously apprehended a criminal by the name of Akilo Baho. Akilo Baho, who had been released from prison as well, was on the lookout for Phumzi to kill her, but when he was on his mission, instead of killing Phumzi, he got killed by Mo. Mo learned Phumzi’s true identity from Akilo Baho’s final words. He approached Phumzi while holding her at gunpoint, but it was there that he discovered Phumzi was expecting his child.
Why Did Simon Kill His Son?
In the interim, Simon’s family was abducted by Magic, whom we saw getting alerted by a website that Robin had been found. He was from Atlanta, Georgia and had been tipped off for killing her. Sam and Robin were abducted by him, and he took them to a warehouse. Sting kept in touch with Mo and Simon the entire time and followed him. However, after learning that Sting had told Mo and Simon, Magic killed both Sting and Robin. When Simon and Mo arrived, Magic engaged Simon in hand-to-hand fighting. However, Simon loses his composure after learning that his wife has been killed and begins pleading with the mermaid for assistance. The mermaid required a sacrifice in exchange for her assistance. Simon killed his own son by strangling him in an effort to save his wife. Magic saw everything, but as Mo arrived to kill him, he left the area.
After Mo arrived, he was shocked to see his brother killing his own son in order to receive the mermaid’s blessing. He appeared to have cut off his relationship with the mermaid’s powers after realizing that it only required blood to grant power. Mo believed Simon had left the mermaid as well, but he was unaware that a lot had changed in the ten years since he was imprisoned. Unlike him, his brother Simon was a power-hungry individual who was willing to go so far as to kill his own son in order to advance his magical ability. We heard a gunshot as Mo pointed his gun at Simon, but we didn’t see Simon get killed, indicating that he was still alive and that we would see him in “Kings of Jo’Burg” season 2. Many mysteries remained unanswered as the series came to an abrupt end.
We anticipate finding many answers to season 1 questions in the upcoming season 2 of “Kings of Jo’Burg,” such as what happened to Tlotlo when he considered giving Mimi another chance and how he would be able to escape Zaza’s trap. Why was Mo unaware of Simon’s dealings with the mermaid, and what was the history behind the mermaid’s power? Let’s wait until season 2 premieres on Netflix for all the mysteries to be resolved.
