Die Spreeus Ep 13: The Devil is loose!

NB! This episode is not for sensitive viewers!

One night while enjoying a drink in Cape Town pub Van Hunks, Tertius Kapp got chatting to a woman about the history of the bar’s name. “Jan van Hunks was a pirate who retired in the Cape after he had plundered everything under the sun,” explains Tertius, creator and writer of Afrikaans supernatural thriller series Die Spreeus (all 13 episodes from season 1 can be streamed from Showmax here).

“No one wanted to be his friend or associated with him because of his reputation and he smoked at the foot of Table Mountain alone every day. Everyone in the city knows the legend of the stranger who challenged Van Hunks to see who could smoke the most.” That legend became what Capetonians call Van Hunks’s Smoke – a low cloud that often hangs over the mountain and in the City Bowl. The woman was so enthralled by the story that Tertius knew right away it had to be part of his show, and he then incorporated it into the season finale.

A deal with the Devil

Shaun Vink (Charlton George) is a hardened criminal and gang boss who was arrested in the early 90s by Spreeus lead detective Bas Koorts (Chris Vorster) and he returns to South Africa unexpectedly in episode 13. Shaun became a state witness and helped to convict a number of his former accomplices while exiled in London, where he’s lived for the last 20 years.

When he arrives in the Cape, Shaun heads straight to Bas’s door for help – he believes that his daughter Jenny (Crystal-Donna Roberts) is being targeted by rival gangsters in the Zone X area on the Cape Flats. She is currently hospitalised for a drug overdose, which Shaun believes was an assassination attempt – Jenny is a conscientious student and has never put a foot out of place, let alone used drugs. There’s no way she would start now.

Figure in the Shadows

Bas and his Spreeus colleague Beatrice (Monique Rockman) decide to investigate the matter, which is a little different from their usual work as there’s no supernatural influence … at first. Their main suspect is a gangster named Lou C (Jacques Bessenger), who Jenny was spending time with recently.

As the story unfolds, viewers will begin to notice that Lou C (a play on the Devil’s name Lucifer) is also the dark figure hiding under a hoodie who has been harassing and tormenting Bas throughout the series. “It was my plan to have this mysterious figure right through the series,” reveals Tertius. Now, as the season ends, both Bas and Shaun are going to free themselves from the Devil’s grasp – and all that we can say is that it’s going to be intense, so don’t miss this episode!

Laying ghosts to rest

Bas has a vision of Lou C’s face and in his dream state, he confronts the demon for taking his wife Renzske (Vicky Davis) and son Dewald (Anderson White) from him. “Bas has to get rid of his guilty feelings and let his past go, the fact that his wife and son are dead,” says Tertius. “When he later sees the spirit of his son [who lives with Bas in his home], Bas tells Dewald that it’s okay to go to his mom. He doesn’t have to watch over Bas any longer and the boy can be at peace.”

Beatrice also exorcises her demons and in her vision, she sees her mother Erica (Theresa Sedras) giving her a necklace before bidding farewell – in the real world, Erica dies at that moment. “Beatrice decides to open the letter that her mother gave her [in episode 9] and she’s stunned. Erica has left her her share of the lucrative spa business that Erica owned with Beatrice’s father, Bernie (Kevin Smith),” says Tertius.

Looking back

“Pride and gratitude” is what Tertius feels when he looks back at the series. “I would have liked to make the stories even more challenging and daring, but in the end, I think that with director Jaco Bouwer and the production team’s help, we have found a great balance.”

As for a second season, “That depends entirely on the broadcaster,” says Tertius, adding quickly that “I’m ready with many more stories that Bas and Beatrice can tackle together as Die Spreeus investigative unit!”

Now that the season is finished, you can binge the whole thing on Showmax.