Youngins Season 1 episodes 40-42 recap: A cruel world

Prepare to get emotionally wrecked in episodes 40-42 of Showmax Original Youngins, as the five expelled students continue to suffer for Principal Mthembu’s sins.

After seeing her preacher dad fondling a young woman, Buhle finally tells her mom about his infidelity, only to be warned not to rock the boat, and told that her dad has found a new boarding school for her in KZN. Tumelo moans about everything on the farm and even calls a meeting with family elders to insist that his dad is being abusive by making him work with the cows, and ignoring the fact that he’s gay. Khaya’s dad relentlessly starves and verbally batters him every hour of the day. Mahlatse loses his scholarship when the administrators find out that he tried to cover up the fact that he’s been expelled. And Thuli pleads with Amo to make peace with her father because if he wins his appeal and comes home from prison, they’ll all be living in his house together. Meanwhile Pearl has flickers of doubt when Principal Mthembu takes over the girls’ netball team and announces that he’s taking them on a trip. 

What happened in Youngins episodes 37-39

Amo (Ayakha Ntunja), Buhle (Kealeboga Masango), Mahlatse (Thabiso Ramotshela), Tumelo (Lebohang Lephatsoana) and Khaya (Toka Matabane) celebrated their video getting over a million views, but none of Principal Mthembu's (Loyiso Macdonald) former grooming victims came forward. Principal Mthembu set up disciplinary hearings with representatives from the Department of Education and the students’ parents and after the five presented their arguments, the department's representatives decided unanimously to expel them immediately.

Back home, each of the five went through their own struggles. While Khaya's father, Freddy (Ncibijana Madlala), poured out verbal abuse 24/7, Mahlatse and his mother (Sibongile Phakathi) supported one another despite having no money, no job and no food. Tumelo pouted over having to herd cattle, Amo became an outcast in the house where her father murdered her mother, and Buhle saw her father (Vutani Mgugunyeka) flirt with one of the church women. 

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What happens in Youngins episode 40?

Buhle probes her mom (Winnie Kunene), who doesn’t seem to suspect her husband’s infidelity, and later Buhle walks in on Pastor Musa groping a young woman while preaching to her about the elders of the church laying hands on those who are impure. Stuck in her childhood home, Amo has terrifying flashbacks of her father attacking her mother, while her cousin Thembeka (Karabo Ngubane) keeps bullying her and accusing her of eating all their food.

Freddy wakes up Khaya by throwing a bucket of cold water over him, and while Khaya’s mom does her best to comfort him and sneak food to him, nothing Khaya does can appease him or stop his father’s horrifying flood of abuse. Tumelo is going out of his head with boredom and frustration on the farm. And Mahlatse panics when he gets a call from the scholarship fund looking for his end-of-term results. He also desperately misses his friends, especially Amo (playing Sun Is Dark by CTRL S on the soundtrack at this point is emotional warfare!).

Back at the school, Principal Mthembu holds a post exam assembly during which Palesa (Amogelang Telekelo) and Alex (Katlego Moloke) find out for the first time that their friends have been expelled. The principal claims that action was taken after a hearing and an intensive investigation (hiding the fact that no investigation whatsoever took place) and he uses their fate as a warning to the others. But when Principal Mthembu announces that he’s taking over coaching the girls’ netball team and taking them on a trip to Mpumalanga, Pearl (Keneilwe Matidze) feels the first seed of doubt begin to sprout, while alarm bells ring for Alex and Palesa. 

What happens in Youngins episode 41?

Aunt Thuli (Londiwe Nene) praises her daughters for bringing home excellent report cards, but adds to Amo’s pain by revealing that she has gone to see Amo’s father (Aunt Thuli’s brother) in prison, and that he’s complaining because Amo isn’t responding to his calls. Aunt Thuli insists that Amo make peace with him, because her father has applied to appeal his conviction and if he wins, he’ll come back to his house, where they’re all living. Aunt Thuli urges a despairing Amo to accept that the world is cruel.

Mahlatse sneaks back into the school but the secretary (Baatseba Masala) refuses to hand over his report. While he’s there, Pearl asks Mahlatse what he knows about Principal Mthembu’s iPad, and he reveals that Khaya found nude photos of schoolgirls on the tablet.  Freddy catches Khaya raiding the fridge because Freddy is literally starving him and when Khaya tries to stand up for himself, Feddy taunts him until Khaya takes a swing at him. 

Tumelo and his dad Sello’s (Tumelo Matlala) gentle clash of opinions over what to watch on TV exposes a deeper lack of understanding and acceptance between the two, as Mr Dibakwane approaches impressive levels of delulu by insisting that Tumelo could be a PSL football star. After Buhle’s dad buys her a handbag to tacitly thank her for her silence about his infidelity, a disgusted Buhle decides to tell her mom the truth, and her mom’s immediate reaction is to comfort her. 

What happened in Youngins episode 42?

Khaya has had to sleep outside after taking a swing at his father, and Freddy continues his relentless verbal battery as he accuses Khaya of squandering his future, then reveals that he’s gotten Khaya a job at the local garage. Tumelo continues to test his father’s last nerve as his dad reveals that he has secured a place for him at the local farm school – even though the only benefit that Tumelo seems to have gained from education is that he can now also complain about everything in English.

Tumelo calls a meeting with his elders to claim that his dad is abusing him, but the uncles can only shake their heads when Tumelo acts as if he’s too good for their work, and insists that it’s homophobic when none of them acknowledge that Tumelo is gay. Amo is appalled when Principal Mthembu posts a video of himself dancing with the girls’ netball team on TikTok, while a flurry of emojis hints that even the public think he’s being completely out of pocket.

Mahlatse tries to apologise to his mom for ruining his education, but she proudly insists that what he did was right. Alas, the truth about his expulsion finally catches up with Mahlatse and he and his mother break down in tears when they get a call informing them that his scholarship has been revoked. And Buhle finds out that her mother is perfectly aware that her husband is cheating, but that as long as he provides, she’ll turn a blind eye. Buhle won’t have to pretend to be blind much longer, though, because her dad has found a new boarding school for her in KZN. 

As the episode ends, Amo tends to her mother’s grave and she begs for her help and guidance, because she feels helpless in the face of the injustice in the world. And Khaya spots Principal Mthembu in his car at the garage, holding hands with a schoolgirl in uniform and asking her if she’s ever had a lover. All Khaya can do is lean in his window, stare him in the eye and say “Sies”. 

Stream Youngins S1 on Showmax now. 3 new episodes each Thursday

What is Youngins about?

Tshedza Pictures’ (Adulting, Outlaws) Youngins follows five students at government boarding school Olifantsfontein High – new girl Amo Mosweu (Ayakha Ntunja), head girl Buhle Kunene (Kealeboga Masango), Buhle’s soccer star boyfriend Khaya Jali (Toka Matabane), Tumelo Dibakwane (Lebohang Lephatsoana) who’s the only openly gay boy in school, and his Grade 10 friend and roommate Mahlatse Jiyane (Thabiso Ramotshela), who’s the school’s drug dealer. After Amo uncovers Principal Mthembu’s (Loyiso Macdonald) predatory behaviour around female students, she and her four new friends become targets. 

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