Lioness: She is woman, hear her roar

It’s hard to imagine a worse nightmare: to simultaneously be framed, convicted and jailed for fraud committed by a spouse; and as a result, lose your children.

This is what happens to Sam (Shannon Esra), when her husband Adrian Hugo (Jacques Bessenger) realises he’s in deep trouble with his financial scams. In a frantic attempt to escape the law, he bundles Sam and their three children into a car in the middle of the night, tells them to flee and assures them he’ll catch up with them later.

Things don’t go according to this “plan”; Sam is apprehended and arrested, and wrenched away from her screaming children right there at the roadblock. Adrian had covered himself by having Sam sign the dodgy documents so she would take the fall even though she knew nothing about it, and, oh, would you look at that? Adrian has mysteriously disappeared and is later declared dead. Which, as it transpires, was his real plan.

While Sam is in prison, her brother-in-law Jason Hugo (Frank Rautenbach) and his wife Megan (Natasha Sutherland) take in the children, all very young at the time. When Sam is released, a changed woman after eight years behind bars and possessed of steely resolve, the first thing she wants to do, of course, is reunite with her children. In the first of many surprises, twists, and kicks in the teeth, she learns in no uncertain terms that her children don’t feel the same way.

The eldest, Miranda (Jazzara Jaslyn) was and still is Daddy’s girl and wants nothing to do with her mother, having cast her as the villain. Middle child Liam (Joshua Eady), 11 years old at the time of Sam’s arrest, was closest to her but he’s grown up into a troubled teen with a drug habit. Baby Caitlyn (Avianah Abrahams) was only three when Jason and Megan took her in, the perfect age to be moulded by Megan into being her own daughter, whom she will not give up at any cost.

Sam’s frantic efforts to fix all these broken pieces into a semblance of a family – her family – become further complicated when she discovers Adrian might be alive and well, living a new life with a new family. The story knits into one of revenge and redemption as Sam tries to uncover the truth.

While this plays out, there are underlying themes of the results and effects of emotional trauma, abandonment issues, and deep betrayal.. Sam is relentless in her efforts, often going to extremes that will invoke terrifying anxiety in empathetic viewers. There is nothing she won’t do to get what she wants, and for the most part, she’s doing it all alone. You really shouldn’t mess with a mother.

As the series lurches dangerously from one drama to the next, you can be glad all 10 episodes are available to binge and you don’t have to wait for the next thrilling instalment as you root for Sam and loathe those who are against her.

Watch Shannon Esra in Still Breathing, another superb South African drama series. Also highly recommended for homegrown flavour is Inconceivable.