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Drama series The Imposter is back for a second season on the small screen with an all-new cast and an innovative story line. It might be slower, but there’s enough to keep viewers curious, writes Rhodé Marshall.
The Imposter
Mzansi Magic (DStv channel 161)
Sunday, 8pm
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The Imposter is back, building on the first season with a fresh story line that isn’t a thematically resonant story.
The drama series is set in two worlds. Two sides, two lives are explored. Tebogo “Tebza” Modikoane (played by Mpho Osei Tutu) struggles to make ends meet and to provide for his daughter Lesedi in Kliptown.
Meantime, his long-lost twin brother, Gary Mokoena, lives a luxurious life with manicured lawns, expensive cars and all the other trimmings one finds behind the high walls of the wealthy.
Tebza lives in extreme poverty; Gary won the lottery when his mother, at 18, sold him to a couple for R2 000 in 1983 when she gave birth to them.
The second instalment of The Imposter had an unusual start when word got out that Seriti Films would take over the production of the show from its creators Ferguson Films.
One might expect it not to work, but the atypical behind-the-scene change trickled down to the screens.
Seriti Films has created an entirely new storyline with a new cast.
Season three, if commissioned by the channel, will be produced by another production company continuing the anthology concept.
The theatrics of the plot are enough to grab one’s attention and keep one curious for the season.
But I expected the usual fast pace of Seriti Film shows like their recent success The Herd, and became impatient midway through episode two.
Despite that, I continued to watch and by the end of episode three I became hooked and was ready for the next.
The introduction of the subplot in episode three, that continues in episode four, shows Tebza, who has now taken his twin brother Gary’s identity, since learning he was missing in a newspaper report following a plane crash. But he now finds himself on the wrong side of the law. He gets arrested not for identity theft but for his brother’s arms dealings.
The central theme of two worlds becoming one and experiencing the unravelling of the plot at the more moderate pace then later makes sense.
The script has a generous amount of humour for a drama and each actor plays his or her character sufficiently, despite being greatly talented.
Tutu as “Tebza” Modikoane / Gary Mokoena, Didie Makobane as Mmabotse, Mmabatho Mogomotsi as Candy, Gail Mabalane as Kelebogile, Seputla Sebogodi as Dali, Tiisetso Thoka as Paballo, Nonhle Thema as Evodia, Sonia Mbele as Big Daddy, Kabelo Thai as Turbo, are just a few of the actors that make for a spectacular cast.
But whether they gel on the show, I’m not that convinced yet.
The Imposter has a strong story line to keep audiences captivated and the right actors.
All it needs is for those actors, as a unit, to add depth to their performances and to contribute to the development of the script.
