Summary
The second volume of Fatal Seduction raises the stakes immediately, providing more of the same but at a slightly more frantic pace.
This review of the Netflix series Fatal Seduction Season 1 Volume 2 does not contain spoilers.
Scarcely a month after its debut, Netflix’s steamy South African sexcapade Fatal Seduction is back for the second volume of its first season. What began as an erotic murder mystery goes full-on revenge thriller in the second batch of seven episodes, though fear not – it still spares plenty of time for all the naked depravity you’re unashamedly here for.
Seriously, though – there’s a sex scene in the first episode that includes a flashback to another sex scene. The sex in this is fractal. And there’s murder, too.
Fatal Seduction Season 1 Volume 2 review and plot summary
In case you’re in need of a refresher, sex and murder were indeed quite central to Volume 1, which was about a married law professor, Nandi (Kgomotso Christopher), striking up an ill-advised affair with the enigmatic Jacob (Prince Grootboom). To be fair, Nandi suspected her husband Leonard (Thapelo Mokoena) of cheating first, so it was kind of tit for tat in her mind, but little did she know that Jacob was really carrying out an elaborate revenge scheme against Leonard, who used a false statement from Nandi’s best friend Brenda (Lunathi Mampofu) to wrongfully convict Jacob’s father of a sex crime, the shame of which ultimately drove him to suicide.
As though that wasn’t dramatic enough, Brenda ended up dead, various truths were exposed – many thanks to Leonard’s investigator brother Vuyo, who was the detective on the case against Jacob’s father back in the day but was also in love with Nandi secretly and oh goodness this is silly, isn’t it? – and everything came to a tantalizing cliffhanger conclusion.
Volume 2 picks up from there, with Nandi worried about Jacob enacting his revenge on her entire family, coming clean to Leonard about her affair, and then discovering that her daughter Zinhle (Ngele Ramulondi) has absconded with Jacob.
This second batch of episodes has much higher stakes right out of the gate. Jacob, his full motives now exposed, cuts a much more dangerous figure, and the reveal that Leonard was having a years-long affair with Brenda makes the mystery surrounding her death much more complicated.
Many other characters have pretty important secrets too, and the complex interlocking narrative comes together quite nicely across seven very breezy half-hour-ish episodes. Every show is a potential binge-watch these days, but Fatal Seduction is polite enough to be structured and paced in exactly the right way to be gobbled down in record time.
Is Fatal Seduction Volume 2 good or bad?
Is the payoff worth it? Mileage may vary, of course, but those who watched the first volume and understood what they were getting into will get pretty much exactly the kind of experience they’re expecting. Netflix knows there’s a market for silly, sexy thrillers, otherwise ridiculous claptrap like Obsession wouldn’t exist, and Fatal Seduction is very much playing up for the crowd with how overtly twisty and soapy it is.
But even with this in mind, it’s also pretty well-constructed, decently acted, and chock-full of twists and turns that do genuinely constitute surprises. It’s trash, but it’s a very efficient and enjoyable kind of trash.
Is Fatal Seduction Volume 2 worth watching?
If you’re looking for sex and skin – which we know you are – then Fatal Seduction delivers once again in that regard. But if you’re looking for highly dramatic thriller shenanigans then this show has you covered too.
It isn’t perfect, and frankly, it isn’t even all that logical most of the time, but it’s also pretty much exactly what it sets out to be, for better and worse. There’s honesty in that, at least, and fans of Volume 1 will know exactly what to expect.
What did you think of Fatal Seduction Season 1 Volume 2? Comment below.
You can watch this series with a subscription to Netflix.
