October 11, 2020

The Heights Blows UP – 7de Laan Recap of Sorts

I’ve recently written a post about how much I actually like 7de laan these days, which in the era of hating everything, I know is a bit of a rarity. However, nothing good and positive lasts a lifetime. I must admit that I do not like disaster storylines. I barely even like disaster movies. So this recap of the disaster will have a lot of missing pieces because I never watched an episode live and could therefore fast-forward through a lot of stuff.

So it all started with Petro’s brother pitching up in Hillside looking to avenge his sister’s death. I could for the life of me not remember how Petro died. Fortunately, Marko discussed the initial plane crash and how she died later of internal injuries or something. Her brother decided to take revenge on Rickus, who was Petro’s boyfriend at the time, by targeting Mariaan. He planted a bomb in Mariaan’s flat. Fortunately, for her, Mariaan had forgotten something and left the Heights just in time.

Meanwhile, en-route to her honeymoon, Esti realised she’s forgotten her phone in Oppiekoffie. She found Kopano there who had gone to get leftover wedding cheesecake for Khetiwe. Tjattas was invited to drinks at the young people’s flats and was his way when the explosion happened. Lana needed fresh air after another disagreement with Shawn and was on the roof of the Heights when the explosion happened.

So for an entire week 7de Laan treated us to the aftermath of the explosion. Fortunately for me, I saved the episodes, so I could watch two or three at a time, so I wouldn’t have to wait long to get answers. They told how different characters experienced the explosion, starting with Tjattas who had lost his hearing. I pretty much fast-forwarded everything of this whole thing. Sorry, but all that screaming and confusion just annoyed me. Made worse by Rickus shouting for his mother and Esti, but not doing anything to actually find them and Tjattas looking confused.

I deliberately skipped the Lana hanging from the building episode. Firstly, I’m not a fan of the character and secondly, as I said, I dislike these types of storylines. I prefer interpersonal drama between characters than big storylines. I honestly didn’t care whether Lana let go or not. I might actually had preferred her to be a casualty of the bomb blast instead of Kopano.

On Thursday’s episode, I fast-forwarded through the entire digging through the rubble in Oppiekoffie. Mainly, because it irritated me that Rickus had passed by and decided to stare at the door of Oppiekoffie and calling for Esti for days instead of opening the door. Romeo knew that Kopano went to Oppiekoffie, but he just stood there with a stupid look on his face until he eventually heard Kopano calling.

Eventually, Esti was freed, while rubble fell on Kopano which killed him. Kopano was such a nice character. It took him a long time to say a word, but at the end, Thabo Mountain (Kopano) got to leave 7de laan with a nice chance to act, which he wasn’t given much of a chance of before. I hope the actor left to work on another role. Of the young lot, Kopano was by far the least annoying character. By far! Romeo’s reaction to Kopano’s death was a bit over-the-top but hilarious at the same time. So was Khetiwe’s initial reaction. Less is definitely more. I think I’ll be doing a lot more fast-forwarding through Romeo’s grief/anger scenes.

Turns out Esti had bleeding on her brain which led to temporary or permanent brain damage, probably depending on whether Reandi Grey will be returning to the 7de Laan set. Esti was taken to a facility to be nursed and treated. I’m guessing a permanent departure with maybe a guest appearance/s in the future. Few, if any, actors return full-time once they’ve left 7de Laan for greener pastures and probably higher salaries at DSTV/MNet.

I thought Rickus, once he stopped running around shouting, was believable in his grief. Marko was too, but that’s he’s usual demeanour anyway – concerned and sad. Thomas was okay. Although the situation was a bit sad, knowing how close Thomas and Esti have always been. I guess knowing that Esti hadn’t been killed off (yet) was a relief.

So while I’m relieved this storyline is over, the aftermath might not be pretty. Having said that, 7de laan characters are very resilient and get over trauma very quickly. Thank goodness!