Adulting Season 1 episode 1 recap: Meet amaGents

Adulting episode 1 is a feast, but let’s start at the end, because that’s when you get the bill.

By the end of episode 1, Bonga (Thembinkosi Mthembu) has blown through close to half a million Rand. That’s R250 000 on a Mercedes G Wagon Brabus, R200 000 to bribe a crooked cop to spring his bestie Eric (Nhanhla Kunene) out of jail after he fires a gun in the middle of a rich-people party, a new phone for his mom, plus a bar bill for a “billionaire’s briefcase” of champagne and four Clase Azul Reposado Tequila bottles (R3 400 retail) at a place called Konka, which might sound like the isiZulu word for "everything", but is also Swedish for bankrupting someone!

Bonga has a shiny new R80-million construction contract in his pocket thanks to his tenderpreneur business partner, Sello (Isaac Gampu) – a man so rich that even seeing levels would mean he’s looking downward. When Bonga takes his three best friends to visit Sello’s Top Billing mansion in the final scene, each of them sees something they want … something that’s going to cause drama.

Watch the trailer for Adulting Season 1

Commitment-phobe Bonga sees the woman he wants to take home to mother, Nkanyezi (Londeka Shishi), climbing out of Sello’s swimming pool in a bikini. Carjacker and chop shop owner Eric sees a fleet of cars that Sello would surely never miss if they somehow strayed like cattle. Toyboy slay king Vuyani (Luthando ‘BU’ Mthembu) sees what it’s like to be the kind of man who goes to fashion week in Paris and buys art instead of getting pocket money and shopping trips from his indulgent politician sugar mama, Beth (Winnie Ntshaba), while appeasing her violent jealousy and abusive outbursts.

And polo shirt and vellies-wearing suburban father of two Mpho (Thabiso Rammusi) gets a taste of how sweetly relaxed life can be without pinching pennies. In other words, Money gives each of the four friends the most seductive lap dance of their lives! We can only hope she doesn’t wreck the friendship.

Ride-or-die bras

Bonga, Eric, Vuyani and Mpho already share something cash can’t buy – and that’s having four ride-or-die bras to fill a Brabus (honestly, why else call it that?). We see acceptance and forgiveness early in their nicknames for one another, how they stand up for one another, call each other out, and make each other laugh.

Bonga’s besties celebrate his success without jealousy, greed or expectation when they call him The Big Shot, but also acknowledge his habits with women when they call him F***boy. Eric’s nickname is Tsikitsiki when he’s awesome and Papa Action when he’s being an off-the-rails gangster with a bucket hat and a gun.

Vuyani gets teased for being a kept man but when they call him Shakira or Beyonce, he pulls out his best moves and dances along, and he’s the one who knows how to break the tension and get everyone laughing again.

And Mpho? Well, Mpho might be nagging everyone to get married and have children 24-7, but he’s the one running for backup and leaping in when the fists fly. This is brotherhood, and it’s a world away from how we see Bonga treat his drunk brother by blood, Zakhele (Brian Khumalo), when he visits his mom back home to spoil her with groceries and house plans.

Giving thanks for - and with - mothers

Bonga’s bros aren’t the only ones celebrating his success. Aside from his friends, Bonga shares his celebration with two other essential people in his life: Eric’s mother MaGetty (Mam’Nandi Nyembe) and his own mother Thandeka (Deli Malinga). The guys have just hit 30 – they’re just one year off from being the Born Free generation. But their mothers grew up in a wildly different world, with far narrower horizons. To them, Bonga’s newfound wealth is a gift from a higher power, something a fickle god or government could take back unless they give thanks.

Eric and Mpho as fathers

As for the fathers, so far in the Adulting world there are just two: Eric, who lands in jail for kidnapping his teenaged daughter Ncumisa (Siphesihle Khanyile) when her mom, his ex-love Natasha (Sikelelwa Vuyeleni), leaves her at home and goes partying with her rich, politically connected boyfriend Cyril Nyathi (Fezile Mkhize).

And Mpho, who’s stealing time from his own two little sons and his unsuspecting wife Zithulele (Lungile Duma) to blow off sexual tension with his mistress Palesa (Dippy Padi). Mpho might love his little rascals and he’s ever-ready to lead them in an Amapiano dance party, but their private school fees have him on a choke chain.

More money, better hunnies?

In episode 1, Adulting’s creators, Tshedza Pictures’ Phathu Makwarela and Gwydion Beynon, have set up an intriguing portrait of South African men in their 30s, and their tension with women and money. In these four friends’ world, the more money you have, the higher the “quality” is of the women you can pursue for sex (as seen in the contrast between the hunnies at Konka and the ones the guys turn their noses up at when drinks are on Vuyani).

It’s a world in which a woman is only “yours” until a richer man comes along – as seen with Eric’s tale of woe. And it cuts both ways when we see Bonga offload his “cheap” sexpot mistress of six months without blinking the instant that he spots “classy” Nkanyezi. But Adulting doesn’t give us a black-and-white world of Blessers and Slay Queens. The lines already blur in Eric’s fatherly adoration of his daughter, and in Bonga’s respect and reverence for his own and Eric’s mothers. What else will Adulting show them?

Meet the cast of Adulting

Thembinkosi Mthembu plays Bonga

Luthando 'BU' Mthembu plays Vuyani

Thabiso Rammusi plays Mpho

Nhlanhla Kunene plays Eric

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