Savage Beauty – The Rise & Fall Of A Beauty Empire
South African television and film production companies have really been spoiling us this year with all sorts of content across different channels and streaming platforms – and I must admit, I am LOVING what I am seeing.
This past Thursday saw the release of the much anticipated drama series titled Savage Beauty on Netflix. Seeing that I had seen the trailers to this series, I wasn’t really convinced at first because it felt like any other local tv series I had seen in the past five years.
I took back my words as soon as I binged on the six-episode series this weekend. Nothing could ever prepared me for the amazing production and storytelling I witnessed on screen.
Plot
This riveting series is centered around the Bhengu family – a family that has built an empire for themselves in the beauty industry. Their much loved Bhengu Beauty company produces numerous ethical cosmetic products, however, there’s more than meets the eye in terms of their business. Don Bhengu (played by Dumisani Mbebe) and Grace Bhengu (played by Nthati Moshesh) are the masterminds of this empire and will do absolutely anything to conceal any secrets surrounding their multimillionaire empire.
We’re introduced to Zinhle Selepe (played by Rosemary Zimu) who has now won the Bhengu Beauty competition search and is now the face of the brand. What the Bhengu doesn’t know is that Zinhle purposefully entered their competition to actually get back at the Bhengu family for what they did to her and her siblings growing up.
With tons of twists and turns, we’re met with several secrets which have now been disclosed as a result of Zinhle’s plan to topple the Bhengu empire and expose it’s affiliates for what they truly are.
Final Thoughts
Personally, the storyline was a bit different as the focus was on the beauty industry and not taxi or drug related. Even though the first episode was a bit predictable, it came with so much cutting edge moments that you couldn’t take your eyes off the screen.
The cast on Savage Beauty was exceptional and I couldn’t picture anyone else to play those roles.
Score
This was a 10/10 for me. I can’t wait for Season 2 to come out. Hopefully it won’t take over a year for it to be released.
