Review: Queen Sono

Queen Sono is Netflix first original African series. It’s an action series with a fabulous female heroine played by Pearl Thusi.

Queen Sono is impressive in several ways. It’s a good story and well-plotted. The actors do a terrific job. The settings and locations – chiefly in South Africa – are interesting and telling. The actors speak multiple African languages plus English, French, Russian and possibly even more.

Pearl Thusi takes command of her her role as Queen Sono and makes her character kickass, sexy, and undefeatable.

Queen is an agent for the Special Operations Group (SOG). Her mother was a famous freedom fighter. When Queen was 6 years old, she was in the park with her mother. Her mother was blowing bubbles for Queen’s delight. Her mother was shot right in front of Queen. She still has PTSD from the trauma to this day.

The bubbles were a good plot device. Each time the adult Queen was having trauma flashbacks she would see the bubbles. It was a good clue to the viewers that she was out of commission due to a flashback, which always put her in danger.

A man has been in prison for 25 years for the murder. He’s going to be released. It brings a lot to the surface for Queen. She looks into the story from her childhood, talks to the man in jail, and talks to her grandmother Mazet (Abigail Kubeka). She concludes that he wasn’t really the killer and sets out to find her mother’s real killer.

While this is ongoing in her personal life, she’s investigating murders, rebellions, takeovers, and events affecting the country as part of her job at SOG.

At SOG, Fred (Loyiso Madinga) is the computer guy behind the scenes who feeds info through an earpiece to Queen while she’s working. The head of their operations is Sid (Sechaba Morojele).

Shandu (Vuyo Dabula) was (and still is) her love interest. Right now he’s working for a security company out of Russia. The company promises to bring peace but is really out for power and money. Shandu doesn’t see it that way yet.

eKaterina (Kate Liquorish) runs the security company. She’s a sociopath and the true villain of the piece although there are plenty of corrupt folks about.

Another important character Queen interacts with is William (Khathu Ramabulana). He was a childhood friend and is now a psychologist.

My favorite scene in the series was a brief, touching moment. Queen had been in a fight, she’d had flashbacks, been in danger. The instant it was over her phone rang. It was her grandmother telling her a story about an article on how it was a good thing she never made her bed. Queen listened to her grandmother prattle on as if it was a lifeline. You could see her relax into the sound of her grandmother’s voice and the sense of her love. It was a small moment but so human.

There are 6 episodes in season 1, which ends on a cliffhanger and hints that there will be more seasons.

Queen Sono was an excellent choice by Netflix to be the first African series they originated. The kickass female action hero is a proven popular genre. Pearl Thusi has worked on some American shows and is a known entity. Thusi has swagger to spare and is an outstanding actress. She’s gorgeous, which doesn’t hurt.

If you like Lost Girl or Jessica Jones or Wynonna Earp or any other series of that type, I think you’ll enjoy Queen Sono.

Have a look at the trailer.

Have you watched this series? What did you think of it?