The River’s season five was the site of many drags and complaints. A surprising stance considering that the first four seasons of the series were touted as some of the best television to come out in recent telenovela local history. Despite the continuous calls by viewers for the writers to take their please seriously, the writers decided to clap back. As reported:
In this season, more so towards the end of season five, Tango Ncetezo as Paulina has been through a lot. The fan-favourite character had to share her husband, find out she was pregnant at the same time as wife number two, and lost her baby because wife number swapped her dead baby with hers in order to stay in her marriage.
It has been months of the story dragging with Paulina leaving for KZN to deal with her grief. But only to return to begin reeling, depending on alcohol and now she has kidnapped baby Mpho as she still believes that the baby is hers even after a failed DNA test which was doctored.
While fans have been calling for Paullina to have at least a happy ending, Tshedza clapped back and basically said, “watch and enjoy, or don’t watch at all.”
Now it seems that the telenovela has reached the end of the road.
The River cancelled?
Leading entertainment commentator Phil Mphela was the one to break the story that allegedly The River has not been renewed for a seven season. This means that following the upcoming sixth season we will be bidding farewell to Khanyisa Diamonds and Sindi Dlathu as the now iconic and villainous Lindiwe Dlamini-Dikana.
STATEMENTS
Shirley Adonisi — Director, Local Entertainment Channels (Mnet)
But that quickly changed, as it was discovered that like her sister, Tina does not believe in onscreen kisses. This fact changed the perception of her acting initially as viewers questioned, “Why hire an actress who does not believe in onscreen kissing as a mistress to a married man?”
When it was announced that The River was set to introduce a new family which would shake things up, fans were excited about the introduction of this new family. Their introduction did not disappoint as they arrived with a bang during their explosive bank robbery. But that bang quickly turned into a house full of loud voices which made it hard to understand why the show even introduced this new family to begin with.
The overall storylines
The biggest criticism for season five of The River is the overall lacklustre storylines of this season. From the killing of Vero only to introduce yet another sister that nobody knew about who is also looking to profit from Lindiwe’s hard work.
Or the still ongoing storyline between Angelina, Paulina, Thuso and the baby that Angelina swapped. It seems that the inevitable, The Mokeona’s finding out the truth about the baby, the telenovela is intent on dragging this storyline for as long as possible. [Which they did right until the season five finale]
