Adulting Season 2 episode 12 recap: Love is a verb

Our four gents ‒ Bonga (Thembinkosi Mthembu), Vuyani (Luthando ‘BU’ Mthembu), Mpho (Thabiso Rammusi) and Eric (Nhlanhla Kunene) ‒ sweat through a heavy relationship workout in Adulting Season 2 episode 12.  Watch Adulting Season 2 on Showmax now. New episodes every Monday. 

 Watch the trailer for Adulting Season 2

What happened in Adulting Season 2 episode 11? 

Bonga and Nkanyezi (Londeka Sishi) made up and got engaged. Zithulele (Lungile Duma) served Mpho divorce papers and when she resisted his attempts to blame her for everything, Mpho went to blame his mistress Palesa (Diddy Padi) instead and wound up yelling abuse at her. A kidnapper called Eric to demand R200 000 in ransom for his daughter, Ncumisa (Siphesihle Khanyile), but Ncumisa had set up the crime herself! And Vuyani phoned his powerful politician sugar mama Beth (Winnie Ntshaba) to get him and the guys out the back of a police van thanks to the kidnapping confrontation. 

And now, in Adulting episode 12… 

This friendship is in level eight loadshedding, because Bonga has left the guys’ Whatsapp group! He is back swimming with the sharks and laying the groundwork for big deals with the big boys. Bonga’s prepared to play the village idiot on the golf course with two separate groups of business contacts, so it looks like he still knows his friends from his enemies.   

It’s amazing what people will tell you about themselves when you put yourself in their hands. Are they patronising in a way that suggests that they’ll mock you behind your back? Do they hint at doing politically dodgy deals? Are they looking for a real partner, or do they want someone to do the work while they take the money? By yeeting his golf ball into the bushes, Bonga gets to see who the big players are, and who’s just talking a big game. 

Back at home, Nkanyezi proves herself a real one when she tells Bonga that while she likes his new focus, he needs to let his friends back in. And she asks him to invite Mpho, Vuyani and Eric to their wedding – for her sake. Bonga jokes that Eric will steal their guests’ cars and Vuyani will try to seduce her grandmother, but while she backs off, Nkanyezi is not defeated. She tries to involve him in every aspect of wedding planning including what her bridesmaids will wear. Vuyani, where are you!? And later at dinner with Nkanyezi’s successful friends, Bonga finally cracks when the talk swings round to flipping golf again. So with a kiss, he leaves Nkanyezi to make amends and invite his guys to their wedding. Hole in one, Nkanyezi! 

The therapy is therapising 

Eric takes Mpho’s advice to go to therapy. At Mapaseka’s office, Eric is despairing and Ncumisa seems totally disengaged. But there’s plenty to see after a couple of outbursts. Mapaseka lays down her ground rules: no violent actions, no attempts at intimidation, no insults, and no disrespect.  

A few moments into talking, Mapaseka sends Ncumisa out of the room to focus on Eric. She can see that Eric cares deeply about Ncumisa, and she wants to know what happened to him that he is so desperate to protect his daughter from. Eric goes into a complete stress meltdown during which he reveals that his parents died of Aids when he was 10 years old. And he didn’t understand what was happening. When Mapaseka explains that his anger is actively pushing Ncumisa away to the point where she feels as if she’ll also lose both parents, Eric breaks down again. Mapaseka reaches out to comfort Eric and later, back at home, Eric is deep in thought when Ncumisa sits down next to him to comfort him, too. 

Mpho digs the hole deeper

Mpho is on weekend dad duty and apologises for snapping at his boys after they ask him to make them pancakes for breakfast like mommy does because, despite YouTube existing, Mpho can’t make pancakes!  

Mpho sends his guys to negotiate with Zithulele. But when they give Zithulele flowers, tell her that Mpho knows that he’s messed up, and plead with her to treat them as family, Zithulele isn’t buying without trying. The guys claim that they see her as a sister, but she asks whether they actually even like Mpho, since they actively helped him to destroy his marriage by standing back while he cheated, and treating her like an idiot, not a sister. Zithulele tosses Mpho, his so-called apology, and his flowers in the trash. Defeated (without actually having done any work to reflect on his own behaviour), Mpho finally signs the divorce papers. 

And when Mpho goes to talk to Palesa, she arrives home with two cops to serve him a protection order.  

Setting boundaries 

The short-lived honeymoon period between Beth and Vuyani is over and she’s gone back to treating him like a sex toy who’s on low battery.  

Back at Vuyani’s parents’ house, when his father (Lindani Nkosi) tells him that he’s just baggage to Bonga, and he calls Vuyani useless to his face, Vuyani bites back by pointing out that his father lacks ambition because he’s old and he’s still living in his father’s house, that he keeps his wife locked up in the house all day, and that neither of his children actually like him. Vuyani takes that same energy back to Beth and warns her to stop treating him like an employee unless she wants him to hate her the way that her children hate her. He tells Beth that he is with her because he loves her, but if they are going to work as a couple, she needs to treat him with basic respect. And if she does not, he will leave. Bam, boundaries, son! 

With just one week to go till Bonga’s wedding, we’re checking our email for an invitation to the season finale’s big event.  

Who’s who in Adulting: the Big Four 

30 (ish), flirty and still raising hell, Adulting’s four big boys – Bonga, Eric, Vuyani and Mpho – have been inseparable since they were at university together.  

• Thembinkosi Mthembu plays Bonga: The Alpha. Hot bod. Daddy issues. Single, rich, ambitious and catnip to women. Bonga is a construction and development project manager. 
• Luthando ‘BU’ Mthembu plays Vuyani: Madlisa. Joker. Fashionista. The former escort is back on the game, using his money from “personal training sessions” to act like a sugar daddy to his girlfriend. 
• Thabiso Rammusi plays Mpho: The Family Man and father to two young boys. Traditional husband. Mpho is an electrical engineer whose money stretches to comfort, but not luxury. And now he has a mistress and baby to support. 
• Nhlanhla Kunene plays Eric: Gintsa. Loving dad. Great friend. Hair trigger temper. Now that he’s done his time for hijacking crimes, he’s determined to rebuild himself as a father. But when it comes to women, he can’t resist a baddie. 

Watch Adulting Season 2 on Showmax now. New episodes every Monday. 

Read more about Adulting.