Reyka review by Fabio Agius

When I look for something to watch, which is likely my cup of tea, I always look for the detective/thriller series. Thank god I found this South African production called Reyka on GO TV On Demand, which ticks all my boxes. Being called The Cane Field Killings in some countries, Reyka may pass as a true story, which I had to Google. I found out that though it is based on the Thozamil Taki killer who was convicted of 19 life sentences in 2011 for murdering 13 women, 10 of whom were murdered in the sugarcane fields in Umzinto, thus the series’ alternate name.

Reyka is about a criminal profiler investigating a serial killer. This series alternates between the main protagonist’s past and present. Reyka (played by Kim Engelbrecht) has a shady past because she was kidnapped in 1994 by Angus Speelman (played by Iain Glen), a banana farmer with a curious pathology. He wants to create a virtual family with her and sexually assaults her for four years until she escapes at sixteen from her captor. This experience leaves her scarred for life, creating a virtual wall with her family, especially her mother and daughter. She takes a peculiar interest in this case because she tries to rehabilitate herself during this investigation by immersing herself in her work.

Though this series has 1 season, I am looking forward to more! It is intriguing, and its central selling point is that it is very close to reality, so close that I thought it was based on a real story. If you like this kind of investigative thriller, I can’t recommend this series enough.