Youngins Season 1 episodes 22-24 recap: Valentine's Ball

Episodes 22-24 of Youngins centre on the Olifants students doing the most for Valentine’s Day. When Principal Mthembu tries to cancel the Valentine’s Ball to punish Amo and her friends, Buhle pushes back with a PowerPoint presentation, pleading and persistence. A student named Tshepi shows Mahlatse how to tell someone, unmistakably, that you’re actually into them, while Alex and Buhle set up a Bachelorette-style rose ceremony so Amo can pick a date for the ball. And Khaya goes all-out with a Zulu proposal to invite Buhle to be his date to the ball. But the shocker of the night happens when Amo rolls up with her date…Sefako! 

What happened in Youngins episodes 19-21? 

Frightened by Principal Mthembu’s (Loyiso Macdonald) threat of expulsion and furious over his revelation that Amo (Ayakha Ntunja) had been lying to her friends about her parents’ “happy” marriage, Buhle (Kealeboga Masango) turned on Amo and started bullying her and turning the other students against her. When Khaya (Toka Matabane) and Tumelo (Lebohang Lephatsoana) fell in line with Buhle, Amo asked Mahlatse (Thabiso Ramotshela) to stay away from her for his own sake. But Khaya also saw this as his chance to flirt with Amo while secretly blaming her for anything that goes wrong. Looking for connection, Amo befriended Palesa (Amogelang Telekelo)  and Tumelo’s ex, Alex (Katlego Moloke), and started getting to know the school’s “wild” students like Mazambane (Kadiya Banyini) and Tshepo (Tshepo Matlala). And Tumelo managed to get Sefako (Tabile Tau) to agree to be lovers again. 

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What happened in Youngins episode 22?

At assembly Principal Mthembu continues to retaliate against Amo and her friends as he tells the students that he’s cancelling the school’s Valentine’s Ball thanks to a certain bunch of troublemakers. The students are ready to riot, but Buhle, Sefako and a core group of friends prepare to win over Principal Mthembu with a 15-point presentation.  

Palesa and Alex have Amo’s back when Tshepo comes onto her like a dog humping her leg. Amo has to fend off Khaya’s advances, too, but she’s starting to fall for his flirting. There’s romance in Mahlatse’s future when feisty young Tshepi (Oratile Dithakgiso) calls him the “Neil deGrasse Tyson of Grade 10” and asks him to be her date to the Valentine’s Ball. Mahlatse is not interested and he reaches out to Amo again, only to have her tell him to back off because he’s not her boyfriend.

Palesa and Alex tell Amo that Mahlatse is crazy about her, and they pressure her into smoking her first joint, shocking Mahlatse, who tells Tumelo that Amo has changed into a completely different person. Realising that Mahlatse is truly heartbroken, Tumelo sets aside jokes and reminds him that he is a great guy who deserves to be loved. And after Khaya finds a love letter in Sefako’s textbook and teases him about being secretive, Sefako promises to introduce Khaya to his “girlfriend” on Valentine’s Day.  

What happened in Youngins episode 23? 

Buhle makes her Valentine’s Ball presentation to Principal Mthembu but while he’s impressed, he reminds her that certain “unruly” students have been sneaking out to go clubbing, getting drunk and swearing at teachers, and that she and her friends tried to expose him as a groomer and abuser. But when Palesa gives Buhle a new idea for the Principal – breathalysers and bouncers – he realises that Buhle isn’t going to give up and finally relents. The ball is back! 

Valentine’s fun picks up at the school. Tshepi comes into Pearl’s (Keneilwe Matidze) class to announce that Principal Mthembu wants to see Mahlatse, but it’s just her way of arranging a sneaky chat. Tshepo “pays lobola” to Palesa with a rose wrapped in a R20 note and a packet of meat. Palesa rejects his suit, but keeps the R20 as she has bigger fish to fry. Palesa is having none of Amo’s insistence that she, Palesa and Alex don’t need dates for the ball, and their attempts to convince Amo to just pick a guy are interrupted by Tshepi’s singing, dancing Valentine’s tribute to Mahlatse. What’s that we see? Is that jealousy, Amo? Amo shouldn’t worry too much, because Mahlatse takes Tshepi aside to ask her what she thinks she’s doing and while he agrees to go to the ball with her, he clearly has an agenda again.  

Palesa is the fairy godmother who’ll make Princess Amo go to the ball, even if she has to make magical cockroaches drag her there by her hair. Alex sets up a Bachelorette style rose ceremony for all the students who want to date Amo (Khaya not included). And while Amo’s on her sexual harrasment speed date, Tumelo and Mahlatse have a heart-to-heart about Tumelo’s struggle to live out of the closet, putting up with all the fights with his family and the abuse he gets at school, only to have to sneak around because Sefako isn’t willing to take the same journey.  

What happened in Youngins episode 24? 

Tumelo rejoices when an anonymous Valentine’s Ball invitation slips under his dorm room door. And there’s a buzz in class when Pearl brings her whole wardrobe in to share it with the girls. And by share, we mean sell her “vintage” outfits for R500 a pop. Speaking of vintage, Buhle tells Palesa that guys her boyfriend’s age are applying for social grants, so he can’t come to the ball. 

Khaya accuses Buhle of being dramatic when she thinks that he’s not going to invite her to the ball in a creative way. Tumelo gets his second Valentine’s letter on his desk and while Mahlatse warns him to reduce his expectations to zero, Tumelo excitedly goes on his Valentine’s scavenger hunt, which leads him to the bushes where he and Sefako normally make out. Buhle’s expectations about creativity are more than met when Khaya stages a huge traditional Zulu proposal and wedding for her to invite her to the ball, complete with alcohol, headdresses, poetics, blankets, and a praise singer who calls Buhle a baddie. Boyfriends, start sweating. This is now the standard. Not even Palesa’s Mr Delivery can compete! PS: Khaya’s outfit from where, please? 

Tumelo calls on us all for our thoughts and prayers after Mahlatse makes a last ditch effort to invite Amo to the ball only to be told he and Tshepi make a great couple. You know who also makes a great couple? Amo and Sefako! Tumelo is filming what he thinks will be his and Sefako’s big “coming out” moment as a couple, only to discover that his lover has grown a beard overnight. While he’s grieving outside, he finds out that Sefako wasn’t his secret Valentine at all. Another student has had his eye on Tumelo but gets rejected to his face as Tumelo goes off to confront Sefako. Is this the start of Tumelo’s villain era? When Khaya goes to confront Amo, too, she refuses to accept his double standards until he stops their argument with a kiss. And Amo kisses back before walking away. Alexa, play Jolene.  

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. When Amo uncovers Principal Mthembu’s (Loyiso Macdonald) predatory behaviour around female students, she and her four new friends become targets.  

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