This was good... until the ending really disappointed me.
/// spoilers //// Having her be the sacrifice at the end was a Choice, and one that I and my mother are hurt by. Instead of saving good people and have justice prevail in the evils of the town, or at least not ending it with a victim of sexual assault and rape being surrendered to more violence and assumedly more sexual violence and abuse... this is horrible in any situation and worse in a country which is often called the rape capital of the world, ending the series where there is no justice for her, only more suffering is a really damning and triggering decision. It seems specifically unfair to survivors of sexual abuse. Yola's story seemed to hinge on her figuring things out and finally getting back her power and facing the people who wronged her so one would assume this would end on that note, but instead she was sacrificed to the very violence she tried to save a young girl from and it turns out that she was the target all along. This series could have ended much differently and I personally choose to believe it ended with Yolanda sitting on the sand and then going back home, and after the end of the series gets the therapy and is safe as she deserves as well as giving Themba land and so on, instead of the canon where we end with her in a worse place than the one she started, which although somewhat arguable since she went through a lot to get to the truth and have agency but at least she wouldn't be back in the hands of the people who traumatised her before. I had higher hopes for this series but the ending trumps much of the good I had to say as that was truly devastating and I'm both sad and angry to see that while the glowing reviews are deserved to a degree, I wish I saw people critiquing the ending and handling of rape in this series, on which I have many more thoughts but I was willing to look past the rest to finish the series but the ending truly ruined it for me and my mom, seeing sexual abuse depicted is never easy, but the injustice of it ending this way is beyond words for me. Yola being sacrificed and abused further to "save the town" after running away from said town after a childhood of abuse is really horrible and I find it really upsetting that the decision was made to end it this way.
/// spoilers //// Having her be the sacrifice at the end was a Choice, and one that I and my mother are hurt by. Instead of saving good people and have justice prevail in the evils of the town, or at least not ending it with a victim of sexual assault and rape being surrendered to more violence and assumedly more sexual violence and abuse... this is horrible in any situation and worse in a country which is often called the rape capital of the world, ending the series where there is no justice for her, only more suffering is a really damning and triggering decision. It seems specifically unfair to survivors of sexual abuse. Yola's story seemed to hinge on her figuring things out and finally getting back her power and facing the people who wronged her so one would assume this would end on that note, but instead she was sacrificed to the very violence she tried to save a young girl from and it turns out that she was the target all along. This series could have ended much differently and I personally choose to believe it ended with Yolanda sitting on the sand and then going back home, and after the end of the series gets the therapy and is safe as she deserves as well as giving Themba land and so on, instead of the canon where we end with her in a worse place than the one she started, which although somewhat arguable since she went through a lot to get to the truth and have agency but at least she wouldn't be back in the hands of the people who traumatised her before. I had higher hopes for this series but the ending trumps much of the good I had to say as that was truly devastating and I'm both sad and angry to see that while the glowing reviews are deserved to a degree, I wish I saw people critiquing the ending and handling of rape in this series, on which I have many more thoughts but I was willing to look past the rest to finish the series but the ending truly ruined it for me and my mom, seeing sexual abuse depicted is never easy, but the injustice of it ending this way is beyond words for me. Yola being sacrificed and abused further to "save the town" after running away from said town after a childhood of abuse is really horrible and I find it really upsetting that the decision was made to end it this way.