SHOW:
Reyka
WHERE TO WATCH:
DStv Now
OUR RATING:
3/5
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Reyka follows a flawed but brilliant criminal profiler, Reyka Gama (Kim Engelbrecht). Haunted by her past, she investigates a string of brutal murders committed by a serial killer in the sugar cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal. Having been abducted as a child by a farmer named Speelman (Iain Glen), Reyka is traumatised by the experience but this also helps her enter the minds of Africa's most notorious criminals and turn them inside out.
WHAT WE THOUGHT:
With perhaps too many shaky close-ups, Reyka, as M-Net's latest broody, hunt-the-killer local drama series, tells a greyish-blue tinted story within a sugarcane field setting that's fine enough (although not excellent) for eight weeks of Sunday night whodunnit entertainment.
In short, Reyka is like Prodigal Son and Silence of the Lambs (if done as a TV series). Set among the lush yet ominous sugarcane plantations of KwaZulu-Natal, a woman with issues of her own, works to catch a serial killer by mining the mind of the man who abducted her as a child.
Done with a muted palette and a sombre grey-blue tint, Kim Engelbrecht is the current-time, older Reyka - a criminal profiler hunting a serial killer. Gabrielle de Gama nimbly portrays the young Reyka.
Reyka strongly reminds me of Kate Winslet in the recent Mare of Easttown, tracking down an elusive murderer (that will surely come with the obligatory surprise twist reveal) while battling her own demons, trauma and internal insecurities.
The script, from screenwriter and creator Rohan Dickson, also responsible for e.tv's Scandal! and SABC3's High Rollers, is likely inspired by the gruesome real-life story of Thozamile Taki, known as The Sugarcane Killer.
Thozamile was convicted in 2011 of the murder of 13 young women. He buried their bodies in the sugarcane fields around Umzinto.
Produced by Quizzical Pictures and Serena Cullen Productions, together with Fremantle UK as an M-Net Original crime drama, Reyka is peppered with too many shaky-cam close-ups, attempting to craft a claustrophobic, character-in-uncertainty-and-distress atmosphere that never lets up.
Ian Roberts, Anna-Mart van der Merwe and Kenneth Nkosi are disciplined in their understated portrayals of John Tyrone, mom Elsa and Msomi.
The Scottish Iain Glen, cast thanks to Fremantle, is an absolute star as banana farmer Angus Speelman, behind bars for abducting girls with the help of his wife Portia (Nokuthula Mavuso).
Kim Engelbrecht's progression from former Isidingo starlet to meatier roles, gaining valuable experience in international series like the SA-filmed Dominion and recently in The Flash, is very convincing as the emotionally overwrought, obsessive, and filled-with-secrets, Reyka.
Thando Thabethe imbues her role as Constable Nandi Cele with a resolute earnestness, and Gerald Steyn pops up after Trackers, Lioness and his recent doctor-turn in kykNET's Binnelanders. Desmond Dube is also back in another dramatic role, as if he has to again prove that he can do so much more than Clientele infomercials, playing the part of Zik, the community's spiritual leader.
Broken relationships, difficulty communicating, uncovering hidden secrets, and a "new South Africa" that moved but remains scared, terrorised, collectively wondering and captured, are all thematic elements woven into the story of Reyka.
Be forewarned: some on-screen gruesomeness is par for the cause in a catch-the-killer crime drama. Reyka is possibly best watched with the lights on, and on bright, on a Sunday night.
Reyka is on M-Net (DStv 101) on Sundays at 20:00, and starts on Sunday 25 July.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: