Adulting Season 1 episode 3 recap: Lads v ladies in Sun City

In Adulting this week, we see the gents going on a crazy trip to Sun City, which starts with meeting four gorgeous women and ends with fighting about buried secrets and old betrayals.

What happened in Adulting episode 2?  

Thirty-somethings Bonga (Thembinkosi Mthembu) the success story, toyboy Vuyani (Luthando ‘BU’ Mthembu), suburban dad Mpho (Thabiso Rammusi) and carjacker Eric (Nhanhla Kunene) have been ride-or-die friends since their university days studying engineering.  

In episode 2 we met Bonga’s deadbeat dad (Bongani Gumede), and Bonga caught feelings for his tenderpreneur business partner Sello’s (Isaac Gampu) sister, Nkanyezi (Londeka Shishi) but she told him that she didn’t do relationships.

Eric flipped into a violent rage after his ex and baby mama, Natasha (Sikelelwa Vuyeleni), took out an order of protection against him and he lost contact with his daughter, Ncumisa (Siphesihle Khanyile). Cheating Mpho got scammed when his gym bunny dinner date Nobuhle (Naledi Boltina) turned out to be a sex worker – who threatened to tattle to his wife Zithulele (Lungile Duma) unless he paid her. And Beth (Winnie Ntshaba) treated her toyboy Vuyani like “the help” at a posh event, while Beauty (Zola Ayabulela Myeza), an old sex-worker friend of his, warned him that he was getting too old to be a top-tier escort.  

Read more about episode 2 

Read more about episode 1 

Watch full episodes now 

And now, in episode 3… 

Copout 

Bonga is taking the guys to Sun City to celebrate Eric’s birthday, and Vuyani smooth-talks four women – who’re also friends from the university days on a trip to Sun City – at a snack stop along the way. The trip is nearly derailed when Vuyani cracks open a drink early, Bonga’s caught speeding, and Eric punches a cop for demanding a bribe. It looks like the boys will spend the weekend at a government “hotel”, complete with white van chauffeur service and VIP access cuffs … until Vuyani saves the day with a sneaky call to Beth.  

The flirtation game 

At the pool Eric has the birthday blues because Ncumisa hasn’t been allowed to phone her daddy on his birthday. Bonga’s keeping his mouth shut about the stinging rejection he got handed by Nkanyezi. And the moment the ladies rock up, Vuyani wants to soothe his ego by proving he can still pull a hottie.  

Aside from a brief golfing interlude during which Eric nearly punches two guys who want to play through (golf clap for Eric), the two teams take the field in equal numbers. On the ladies team we have Funeka (Keri Mabope) in the red bathing suit, Phindile (Seipati Mahamu) in the floral bathing suit, Tshidi (Tumelo Matlala) in the orange bathing suit, and Tumi (Loyola Xundu) in the colour-blocked bathing suit with the blue top.  

Here’s the play-by-play… 

It’s an immediate fumble from the guys’ team: Bonga and Vuyani both make a play for Tshidi, with Bonga vetoing Vuyani’s call for dibs. Vuyani fumbles his first, second and third passes by pretending to be a big businessman, claiming he can pleasure a woman thanks to high school biology classes, and ignoring Tshidi’s clear physical signals to back off. With such dire footwork, all Bonga has to do is stand there and look pretty. 

Funeka targets Eric and, like Vuyani, she ignores all signals that he’s not into the game, even holding his phone up in front of his face while she’s trying to engage with him. But that’s catnip to Funeka, who seems to have a gangster fetish and the idea that rejection is a personal challenge.  

Mpho’s first move might have you asking, “Does this man even have game?” But wait! He singles out Phindile, whips out his phone and starts showing her photos of his kids. Phindile immediately relaxes and the two get chatting about soccer. Mpho is upfront about having a wife and family, and when Phindile makes her play, it looks like she’s fine with that. Score!  

Tumi has been benched due to lack of interest from the guys' team, but for Bonga and Vuyani, this is where strategy comes into play. Bonga includes her in his conversation about business with Tshidi and the talk is flowing. Then Vuyani makes one last play for Tshidi by physically climbing over Tumi as if she’s furniture, turning his back to her, and freezing Tshidi’s ride-or-die bestie out of the conversation. That’s the Red Card, and the man who can't even show basic courtesy around a woman he considers unattractive gets sent off.  

Game, sex, match 

Eric interrupts the big game with a side quest to a house party in Rustenburg. Sports fans will see Funeka blocking Vuyani’s attempts to dance with Tshidi, while allowing Bonga to slip in from behind. It’s a decisive move that sees Vuyani benched with Tumi. And when the matched pairs go off for “a swim” and other activities, Tumi makes her own play, leading to a backyard hookup under the laundry lines. Pure class.

Phindile and Mpho scatter their rose petals under the trees back at Sun City. And Bonga and Tshidi crease the sheets after she blows kisses to her husband over the phone and he tries to stop thinking about Nkanyezi. Later Tshidi calls out Bonga and she warns him that once he gets the woman he’s so hung up on, the one who’s so unattainable, he’ll get bored of her. Meanwhile, just as Eric is about to get ridden like it’s the Durban July, the phone rings and Ncumisa, his little mosquito, sings happy birthday to her daddy. Unable to read the room, Funeka tries to get him back in the saddle, but Eric happily trots off back to his room.

Playas on a game drive 

The next morning Eric greets his “Sex Champions” and the guys report back aside from Vuyani, who refuses to kiss and tell. Apparently it’s Tease Mpho Day as both Bonga and Vuyani joke about married people like Mpho and Tshidi cheating, until Eric tells them to knock it off. Eric also refuses to go on the game drive that Bonga has arranged in favour of gambling. Later, on the casino floor, Eric tries to dodge Funani, but eventually gives her what she wants after she accuses him of being a “plastic tsotsi fake gangster”.  

On the drive, Bonga needles Vuyani about being a sex worker again. And after the guys bribe their driver to allow them to drink, Vuyani and Bonga scare off the watering hole wildlife when Vuyani lets slip that he had sex with Bonga’s university girlfriend, Lerato – the first woman Bonga was ever hung up on – and fists fly when Mpho confirms Vuyani’s taunts.  

The road home 

The fight breaks up the weekend, and there are three sulky silences in the Brabus once the guys are together again, until Eric demands that someone cough up the truth. When Vuyani taunts Bonga about loving a cheater, Eric confronts Mpho for knowing about it and keeping Bonga in the dark.

Furious, Mpho explodes, ordering Bonga to stop the car so that he and Vuyani hash things out like adults. Instead Bonga throws Mpho and Vuyani’s luggage out of his car and leaves them both on the side of the road. As Vuyani is calling Beth for a rescue, though, Bonga turns the car around to pick up his bros. Somehow, Eric, who’s become this weekend’s guardian of the brain cell, has managed to get Bonga laughing again. But will what happened in Sin City stay in Sin City? We’ll find out on Monday, 10 April. 

Watch the trailer for Adulting 

Who’s who in Adulting: Meet 4 ride-or-die BFFs 

• Thembinkosi Mthembu plays Bonga: The Alpha. Hot bod. Daddy issues. R80 million tender burning a hole in his pocket. 

• Luthando ‘BU’ Mthembu plays Vuyani: Madlisa. Joker. Professional escort with expensive tastes. But check the sell-by date before buying. 
• Thabiso Rammusi plays Mpho: The Family Man. Traditional husband. Father of two. But a dead bedroom has him on the prowl. 
• Nhlanhla Kunene plays Eric: Gintsa. Loving dad. Great friend. Crazy ex-boyfriend. Carjacker, and off the rails gangster. 

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