Blood Psalms episode 10 recap: The return of the gods

Blood Psalms is set at a time of upheaval in Ancient Africa, around 11 000 years ago. Five tribes – the Akachi, the Uchawi, the Ku’ua, the Chini, and Great Nziwemabwe – whose ancestors all fled the destruction of Atlantis together 1 000 years before the story begins – share a prophecy about the end of days. Signs are growing that the end is coming soon, and unstable tribal truces fall apart in the chaos after Mad King Letsha’s wedding goes south.

Episode 9 in 10 points

1. Umna was helping Princess Zazi to focus her superpowers when they narrowly escaped being seen by a search party of Akachi riders.
2. Burutti’s friend iLitye guided her through the Chini cave complex and revealed that her grandfather had mapped the tunnels, which had originally been constructed by their ancient Chini ancestors, about 10 years before the Chini became cursed.
3. King Letsha’s uncle Nkamanzu struggled to regain control of the citadel following Letsha’s wedding day self-mutilation, the revelation of Princess Zazi’s pregnancy out of wedlock, and the live burial of Zazi’s lover, General Toka.
4. Senator Jabari dictated a message requesting the aid of the Great Nziwemabwe council, revealing that he would be taking custody of the Akachi throne.
5. Lala and her escort of Ku’ua women returned from the citadel and Lala bribed her warrior sister Kuthala to accept a mission to go into the citadel, kill Chief Xemantso, and frame Lala’s husband Qotha (Xemantso’s heir) for the crime.
6. The Chini’s Overseer Mzini and his warriors killed the trespassing Chini attackers who took the Uchawi’s Prince Teborah and his father, Queen Assili’s husband Ntuka, prisoner.
7. Circus performer Pee-erot, Umna’s right-hand man, sold out Umna and Zazi to the Akachi soldiers, who massacred the performers and recaptured Princess Zazi.
8. At the Akachi citadel, Senator Jabari and his men tossed a small dragon over the citadel walls before beginning their attack on the Akachi.
9. Nkamanzu scapegoated the recaptured Princess Zazi and the Akachi crowd beat and stripped her naked while Nkamanzo sentenced her to be burned to death.
10. iLitye and Burutti watched in horror from a hidden Chini trapdoor as Zazi was burned at the stake at the temple of Heka.

Watch the trailer for Blood Psalms episode 10

Ashes to ashes

Umna reaches the Temple of Heka, where Zazi’s screaming from the flames has stopped. Meanwhile, Queen Assili and Nkamanzu discuss the obstacles to the throne that remain, including Assili’s daughter Thozama, who’s now married to King Letsha. Facing a stalemate, they reluctantly agree to remain allies until they’ve defeated their common enemies. Two Akachi soldiers discuss a typical day in the service of King Letsha: fighting were-hyenas before dawn, killing their own general at dusk, and helping to burn a child Princess at midnight.

Under the temple, Burutti, feeling the heat from the pyre in the cave roof, breaks through the rock, bringing Princess Zazi’s corpse, hot rock and flaming wood down on herself. After pulling herself and Zazi loose, Burutti is convinced they can save Zazi if the Chini Mother Superior washes her in their sacred pond, The Swirl of Zam-Zam.

Golden Army: 1, Akachi: 0

The Golden Army massacre the Akachi garrison stationed at the seaward wall of the Akachi citadel, along with the palace guards, and take the palace servants prisoner, including royal governess Madlamini. Jabari and the Golden Army are waiting when the two Akachi royal carriages carrying royal bride Thozama and her mother Assili, and Akachi high priest Mfengetho and Nkamanzu, return from executing Princess Zazi at the temple of Heka, and he greets them with a declaration of war.

Inside the palace, Ku’ua heir Qotha kills two Golden Army soldiers and uses a metal disc to deflect blows from the energy weapons (which can shatter huge stone pillars) killing two more of them. Qotha is cornered in a dead end when Sithenjwa pulls him through a hidden door and leads him through the palace’s secret passages. Meanwhile, King Letsha, muzzled and strapped to his bed after cutting out his own tongue on his wedding day, struggles as Senator Jabari has Letsha’s most devoted ally, Chief Xemantso of the Ku’ua, restrained and silenced at Letsha’s bedside so Jabari can taunt him at leisure. As Jabari leaves, he tries to kill Letsha’s god-panther, Sekhmet and orders his men to finish the job.

Lekoya and his men realise that the Akachi are under attack when they return to the citadel and the corpses of the citadel watchmen are thrown down at them from the walls. Sneaking around while carrying lit torches on an open plain and being watched from the walls, Lekoya and his soldiers prepare to slip into the citadel through its sewers, only to find themselves surrounded by the Golden Army. A Golden Army commander orders his men to kill Lekoya and his soldiers, and instead of blasting them, they opt for hand-to-hand combat until Lekoya seizes one of their weapons and turns it against them. Lekoya’s about to get blasted himself when Onyo Lord of the Underworld and Kike the Chini save him. Surprise!

Up top, Jabari has Mfengetho, Nkamanzu, Assili and Thozama brought into the Akachi council chamber, announces his coup and reveals it was Great Nziwemabwe who brought Assili to power. Jabari claims his father was a seer until soldiers (implied to be Akachi) destroyed their sacred shrine and took over their homes and land, leaving Jabari as the sole survivor. He announces they are now under the rule of Great Nziwemabwe, and until his backup comes, he is taking Nkamanzu as his personal hostage. Jabari then pushes Nkamanzu into a room with Madlamini, Prince Teborah, Ntuka, and Chief Xemantso.

The resurrection

In the Chini caves, Overseer Mzini courts iLitye until they’re interrupted by Burutti, bringing the burned princess to Mother Superior to beg her to heal Zazi. Mother Superior refuses point blank, but to Mzinzi’s horror, she eventually relents. The argument over whether to heal Princess Zazi or exile Burutti leads to a rift in the Chini until only a handful remain to do as Mother Superior commands.

At the temple of Heka, Umna sobs on the ground and pledges to continue fighting to free her people from poverty and death, when she spots the entrance to the Chini cave system and she stumbles across Mother Superior and the Chini carrying the burned Princess and a statue of the god Thoth (who protects souls and helps restore them to life in the underworld) to the Swirl of Zam-Zam. While she’s watching, though, iLitye sneaks up behind her and knocks her out.

Mother Superior calls on the crocodile god Sobek to take Princess Zazi’s soul into his care. And out of the mists over the red-lit Swirl of Zam-Zam, a great crocodile emerges, snatches Zazi’s feet, and drags her down into a red vortex. Zazi emerges in still, dark waters, whole and healed but with an umbilical cord attached. Watching over her on a jackal-headed boat stands a masked, dark figure with black wings, who answers her question with silence. When Zazi prays to Isis, the winged boatman shows her a vision of her mother, Ndiya Zazi, who tells Zazi that she loves her with her whole heart. In a second vision, Zazi sees an eternity of apocalyptic human suffering throughout history, colonisation, nuclear war, and even alien attacks from space. The visions fill Zazi with defiance and when she challenges the winged boatman, he flings her back into the world of the living through the Swirl of Zam-Zam.

Catch up on Blood Psalms

Confused about who’s who and what they do? Swot up on the Blood Psalms story, major characters and tribes and houses in the Showmax blog. And see what Onyo and Umna are all about.

Also read

10 things to know about Blood Psalms so far

Episode 1 recap

Episode 2 recap

Episode 3 recap

Episode 4 recap

Episode 5 recap

Episode 6 recap

Episode 7 recap

Episode 8 recap

Episode 9 recap