September 6, 2015

Last Week on 7de laan 04/09/2015

When we left the people of 7de laan the week before Xander and Vivian were fighting over a gun when a shot went off and someone fell to the ground – either Vince or Neville. When we tuned back into 7de laan last week, we found it was Neville Meintjies who was shot.

What followed looked like a farce – with some over acting of the highest order. Vivian disappeared up the stairs of the Hillside Times with the offending gun. Vince – looking like a headless rooster – gave chase and came back a half minute later saying Vivian had disappeared. All the while Xander was frantically applying pressure onto Neville’s chest to stop the bleeding. Eventually Xander told Vince to call the paramedics.

Further bad acting followed when the police started questioning a panicked Vince and Xander. While the paramedics were trying to save Neville’s life. The head detective shouted questions at Xander and demanded answers. Right then and there. There was no gun, but he wanted to know why Xander shot Neville. Then he wanted to know where the gun was.

Worse acting was still to come – you wouldn’t think it possible – at the hospital.

But first Bonita went to tell Charmaine about the shooting. If I was Charmaine I would’ve thought Bonita was on drugs, the way she carried on. Once they got to the hospital though is where things got worse. Vince, Bonita, Charmaine, Xander and Errol all looked like they were on meth or something. Frantically carrying on – trying to stop the medical staff – who looked like they were taking the same drugs – from doing their job. Whoever directed these scenes are far more to blame than the actors. It was terrible. It looked like they were trying to do comedy.

Mercifully the acting improved once the Meintjies went their separate ways. They all calmed down considerably. Xander was so believable when he realised that he might have shot his dad during the struggle with Vivian. Vince gave a pretty decent performance when he told an unconscious Neville that although they are not biologically related, Neville was always there for him – as a father. I thought his best scene was when he broke down in the Deli and Bonita hugged him. No words were needed or said.

The best performance though was Vivian!! OMW! If you didn’t know better, you could’ve been fooled in believing it was two different actresses playing Vivian and Charmaine. Vivian’s glee was at the same time both exhilarating and uncomfortable to watch. What a despicable person she is! She told Charmaine that Xander shot Neville – if she had shot Neville he would’ve already been dead and that now Charmaine knows it feels to lose the people she loves. She gave the impression that she was far from done with Charmaine and her family. Vinette Ebrahim put all her acting energy into playing Vivian, so there wasn’t much left for being Charmaine.

At the start of Friday’s episode saw the medical staff fighting one last time to save Neville’s life. Unsuccessfully. So Neville died again.

More good acting followed when Charmaine told the Hillside Times staff especially from Paula. And once again Theo Jantjies shone as Xander. It was good seeing actors like him out of their 7de laan comfort zone. It was heartbreaking to see Xander walk out of the hospital knowing he had a hand in his father’s death.

As for the rest – Paula’s father refused to be there for her and Altus’ second wedding and left for Venezuela. Paula got news that her dad was in accident and in critical condition. After Neville’s death she decided to go to her father while she still could.

The new physiotherapist arrived in Hillside and Kim was immediately taken with him.

Willem told Herman that he was introduced to Gita. Herman warned him to be careful of Gita, but Willem didn’t see the danger. Gita found out that Willem had an affair with a married woman – a friend of his mother’s – and the husband and son followed him and hit him. Which is why he arrived in such dramatic fashion in 7de laan. Ty reckoned Willem likes cougars.

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the initial story…Willem never gave the impression that he was particularly into older women when he arrived in 7de laan. In fact he chased a whole lot of young women, including Kim. And dumped Sonja when he found out she had a child.

Gita met with a stuntman. She has plans to get a drunk Willem involved in a car accident.

I hope this isn’t going to be the same old same old Gita getting away with everything, but rather becomes a cat and mouse game between two equally devious characters.

Felicity once again tried to make peace with Louis who was still angry that he has to keep her and Willem’s kissing secret. Louis acted like a spoilt brat – if he wanted to tell his father, he should. Keep the secret or spill the beans, Louis! He’s making like he doesn’t have a choice.

Matrone and Hilda got into it again, but I muted them. It seems Oom Oubaas went for medical treatment on his arm.

Dewald and Herman made peace when Herman apologised for blaming Dewald for Nadia’s leaving Hillside. An entire week without Herman fighting with someone – can this be called a miracle?