The new Netflix thriller that has garnered loads of attention from viewers is Fatal Seduction, a South African Series. Even though the makers added plenty of steamy scenes for the sake of titillating the audience, there was some gravitas to the storytelling in the first volume, until the second volume made landfall and catapulted the entire narrative out the window. The storytelling aspect of Fatal Seduction was gravely affected by the screenplay, but what the makers did a good job of was putting forth characters that could not be considered black and white.
One such character must be Vuyo, the brother of Judge Leonard. From the very beginning, it is established that Vuyo and his brother have a complicated relationship, but nothing much is said about their childhood. If that had been shown, it could have given the viewers enough insight into what made them so different as people. Vuyo is introduced right at the beginning of Fatal Seduction as a private detective who takes up odd jobs, but he still feels close to his previous profession as a police officer. Vuyo walks with a limp because he’d been shot in the leg, and ever since, he has been deemed unfit for police duty. This led to many unpleasant things in his life, but he was glad to have someone special in his life, and that happens to be Brenda. Brenda is Leonard’s wife Nandi’s best friend.
Brenda and Vuyo have been in love for a while. It is revealed that he was also in love with Nandi, and they had slept with each other in the past, but he claims to have gotten over her. Vuyo now shares a heartening friendship with Nandi, ever since she got married to Leonard. But their friendship is tested when Brenda is found dead at her home, and multiple things come up during the investigation, which makes Vuyo question if Nandi has been faithful to her husband. His hunch was right, as there were used condoms found at Brenda’s place, and this ended up destroying the family. Vuyo is disgusted by the thought of Nandi having an affair with a younger boy. He is protective of his family, and he is not keen on breaking up what seems like the perfect family.
Vuyo and Leonard have had conflicts for the past 10 years over a case that changed the course of their relationship. Vuyo was an investigating officer in a child rape and murder case. Even though Vuyo was closing in on the culprit, Brenda’s testimony overturned the case, and Leonard managed to put an innocent man behind bars. He could not get over the wrongdoing that followed his being shot in the knee. He digs deep into the man Nandi is sleeping with, and he is shocked to know Jacob is the son of the man who was wrongfully accused, Benjamin Jiba.
Benjamin also committed suicide in prison, which helps him connect the dots as to why the boy is in town. This case always bothered him, and he always remained skeptical about whether Benjamin was the one who killed the schoolgirl. Jacob does not stop pursuing Nandi and Zinhle because he wants to get back at Leonard. Vuyo kidnaps and tortures Jacob in the hope of getting some answers from him, but he gets nothing from the boy. It is unlike Vuyo to go after a boy this way. If he was unwilling to believe his brother over Benjamin’s conviction, Vuyo could have conversed with Jacob instead of attacking him. This was probably added to showcase Vuyo as a cunning man, even though he has a disability.
Things go awry when Leonardo suffers a fatal heart attack after being blackmailed about the first statement made by Brenda in which Benjamin Jiba’s name wasn’t mentioned. It is sent across as a way of letting him know that people are onto him and that he will get exposed soon. This was most probably done by Vuyo because a detective, Charles, informed him about Brenda and Leonard’s affair. The knowledge of this affair made him feel betrayed by the two people closest to him, and it most likely triggered him to go after his brother, but we don’t know this for sure.
Leonard’s hospitalization put the family in chaos, and plenty of revelations came out. Jacob’s affair with Nandi was revealed to Zinhle, and Nandi was also informed about her husband’s long-standing affair with Brenda. Vuyo did not stop at this juncture. His pain at losing Brenda is palpable. He is blunt, which Nandi never minded, but things seem to have gotten out of hand, and there is no turning back for him. With Leonard slipping in and out of consciousness, Vuyo gets all the property-related documents signed under the pretext of safeguarding Nandi and Zinhle. It is not clear how Vuyo got hold of the property-related paperwork without Nandi finding out about it. She is supposed to know the law, and nobody should have been able to access it. Vuyo was also instrumental in letting Leonard escape from the hospital when the latter was arrested for the murder of Brenda. So far, Vuyo’s actions only prove he will do anything to save his family. Everything falls apart again when he hears from the delirious Leonard that Vuyo is Zinhle’s biological father, and they hid it because Leonard had grown too attached to his daughter.
Vuyo has been on the receiving end of too much bad news, and this was the worst that could have befallen him. Even when Leonard is sent back to the hospital after getting gravely injured by Zinhle, it is Nandi who takes the fall for her daughter. With nothing to lose at this point, Vuyo reveals that he was behind sabotaging Leonard and Nandi’s lives because he was done hearing about all the misdeeds Leonard was involved in. He did not intend to plant any evidence against Nandi to prove her role in attempting to kill her husband, but she kept the news of her daughter’s parentage away from him. Vuyo felt betrayed by everyone around him, and this was his way of making sure they paid for the mistakes they made. Vuyo was harsh on Nandi. They were friends for a long time, and she must have had a reason not to let him know about it. Instead of sympathizing with her, he took an extreme step that ruined her life and career, which was unfair.
Vuyo also gave Jacob a lot of money, which presumably belonged to Leonard as well. It was offered in the hope the boy would build a new life for himself. Vuyo might have figured it wasn’t Jacob who killed Brenda. Brenda had left him a long voicemail right before killing herself, stating that it was Leonard’s pressure that made her succumb to giving a false statement. She knew Leonard would never leave Nandi, and the guilt she carried with her for wrongly testifying forced her to kill herself because she could live with the guilt. This was one of the many other reasons that made him go against his brother. Zinhle now lives with her uncle, and she has not been informed about her parentage. Vuyo takes care of her as a parent, and now he must be her legal guardian with her mother in prison and her father still hospitalized.
The minister who made sure Benjamin Jiba went to prison for the murder of his daughter. His accomplice threatens Vuyo with Zinhle’s life. They did not want any more news about the case to come out. They are aware Vuyo is hell-bent on solving the case, but since the minister has power and ammunition, they can very well kill Zinhle to stop Vuyo. Hopefully, in Fatal Seduction Season 2, we will get to see more of Vuyo’s crusade against corruption and his willingness to protect his daughter Zinhle.
