Overview
- The 22‑episode adaptation of Sue Nyathi’s novel premiered on Netflix on 12 June 2026 and quickly trended as viewers and celebrities praised S’dumo Mtshali and Gugu Gumede for their performances.
- The show opens with a funeral cold open that announces the patriarch Jonasi Gomora is dead and sets the season up as an inquiry into how events led to that point.
- Critics highlight the series’ main aim as examining power, patriarchy and the costs borne by the women around Jonasi rather than celebrating polygamy.
- Some viewers object to multiple sex scenes, but reviewers defend those scenes as narratively necessary to show Jonasi’s compulsions and the harm he causes.
- Produced by Stained Glass Productions and adapted by Akin Omotoso with head writer Busisiwe Zwane, the series signals Netflix’s push into high‑end South African 'supernovela' storytelling and has sparked ongoing public discussion and cast interviews explaining creative choices.