Kings Of Jo’Burg has had a checkered history, with its creator, Shona Ferguson, dying of COVID after completing its first season. His widow, Connie Ferguson, took over the show and also stepped in front of the camera as Veronica Masire, who becomes the “Queen” of the gang her brothers used to lead. But as the second season went on, the mystical aspect of the series became more prominent. Now in its third season, the series feels like it’s more about the mystical aspects than about crime.
Opening Shot: Veronica Masire (Connie Ferguson) looks out a balcony and contemplates the chaos of the last eight years.
The Gist: Veronica is living in San Francisco with her boyfriend Isador (Malik Yoba), pregnant for the third time after two miscarriages. But the situation back in Johannesburg is descending into chaos, with Aliko Bajo (Enyinna Enwigwe) taking more territory in the war between his hang and hers, and leaving more bodies in his wake.
Veronica tells Isador that she needs to go back to Jo’Burg, which he thinks is a bad idea, given the fragile nature of her current pregnancy. Almost as soon as she gets back, she and Sting (Nnekwa Tsajwa), her driver and one of her closest underlings, run into Bajo and his gang. Bajo’s eyes turn red, possessed by a different demon than Veronica and her brother Mo (Zolisa Xaluva) are, but Veronica channels the Mermaid (Ferguson, with the voice of (Mpho Makhalemele) , her eyes turn blue, and she shifts cars out of the way so Sting can go through.
Meanwhile, Mo is in prison, and has taken over the import and distribution of drugs to the population there. His inside informant, Lester (Abdul Khoza), is threatened by Outje (Maurice Paige), the prison leader of the gang controlled by Cape Town philanthropist/drug dealer Gavin Salat (Clint Brink). Gavin provides the drugs that Mo brings in and distributes, and Outje thinks this makes him the kingpin of the prison yard, not Mo.
Salat is ruled by his own demon, Oom; when he channels Oom, his eyes turn white. We see how devastating Oom can be when Salat sacrifices an associate who went behind his back, bringing the associate to a room deep within his mansion to get eviscerated.
Veronica, via the Mermaid, intuits which of her men leaked her location to Bajo, and the doomed associate tells Sting what he saw from Veronica. And while Sting ends up killing the associate, anyway, he can’t shake the guy’s observations of Veronica’s behavior.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Think Gangs Of London mixed with Lucifer.
Our Take: The spiritual and demonic aspects of Kings Of Jo’Burg have been in place since the first season, when the show was the vision of the late Shona Ferguson. But now there are more episodes that have been run by his widow Connie Ferguson, and the show has progressively leaned into the demonic stuff. Whether that was Shona’s plan all along or something that Connie has pushed is anyone’s guess. But in the third season, the show seems to be a lot less about gritty gang wars and more about the ultimate showdown among demon-possessed criminals.
There’s ostensibly a story here, but it’s mostly revolving around Veronica and her miraculous pregnancy — like Connie Ferguson, it’s likely that Veronica is in her 50s. We find out later that these pregnancies are perhaps not as miraculous as we think, as they seem to be linked to her and Mo’s debt to the Mermaid. But her relationship with Isador, as well as her most loyal employees questioning how she can do some of the things she can do, will likely make up the rest of the season.
The rivalry with Bajo and Salat’s activity fully feel like demon stories, and we don’t know if we’re completely here for them. When Kings Of Jo’Burg was rooted more in reality, it was easier to get into the story despite the shows sometimes-lo-fi vibe. With these spiritual elements dominating the story, it feels like we’re not really watching a crime story anymore, are we? Yes, crime and possession can coexist, like we saw in Lovecraft Country, but it takes a lot of deft writing to not go overboard on the demonic part of the equation. Lovecraft Country went off the deep end in its finale, and we can see the same thing happening with Kings Of Jo’Burg.
Sex and Skin: Ferguson’s Mermaid is topless, but that’s about it.
Parting Shot: The Mermaid demands that Veronica give up the third baby, just like she did the first two. When Veronica expresses that she wants to keep this baby, the Mermaid demands a life in exchange: Gavin Salat.
Sleeper Star: How do we not get nostalgic for New York Undercover when we see Malik Yoba on screen? Besides, he’s also one of the best actors on the show.
Most Pilot-y Line: The prison uniforms Mo and his fellow inmates wear are really swaggy, with bucket hats and other accessories that feel more like they belong at a prison-themed fashion show than, you know, an actual prison.
Our Call: STREAM IT, but this is a tentative recommendation. In its third season, Kings Of Jo’Burg has swung towards the mystical, and we’re not sure if that is going to play well with the series’ overall gang-related theme.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.