Netflix’s South African crime thriller Unseen ends protagonist Zenzi’s journey on a completely ambiguous note — here’s what happened to her. Unseen is based on the Turkish series Fatma and follows a cleaner whose husband has inexplicably gone missing after being released from a two-year prison sentence. Unseen chronicles Zenzi’s (Gail Mabalane) journey to find her missing husband Max (Vuyo Dabula), but along the way she finds herself caught up in the dark underbelly of her husband’s gang who thwart her attempts and try to use her newfound proficiency for murder for their own gain.
Netflix’s Unseen had somewhat middling reviews upon its release, but Zenzi’s story became more complicated and intriguing as the series went on. Toward the end of Unseen, Zenzi finds herself being chased by both the gang and the police. Zenzi lets her son’s killer Raymond (Brendon Daniels) die in a burning building after their final confrontation, and afterward, she makes her way to a building, but the police aren’t far behind her. She makes to commit suicide by jumping off, and her sister pleads with her not to. The final shot of Unseen sees Zenzi take a step forward, but then cuts off before it can reveal what Zenzi does.
Zenzi May Have Died In Unseen Season 1’s Ending
While it isn’t explicitly shown, it’s likely that Zenzi commits suicide at the end of Unseen. At the endpoint of season 1, Zenzi had officially lost everything. She was deeply affected by her son’s death at the hands of (at the time) unknown assailants, and to find out that Raymond and Joseph were the culprits when they had promised Max that his family would be taken care of courtesy of Blessing and had essentially coerced Zenzi into committing murder for them, it was too much to bear. In addition, her husband, who she spent the entirety of the miniseries searching for, was now dead because of a police shootout.
What’s worse was that any chance of finding justice for Zenzi and her family flew out the window when Raymond got ahold of the incriminating flash drive that held the secrets of the gang’s money laundering exploits. From the beginning of the Netflix crime thriller to the very end, Zenzi is disregarded and abused by authority, and hunted down by the crime organization that once promised her protection. Whether it’s her unseemly landlord Enrico, the police, Raymond, or Reuben, Zenzi is put through abuse after abuse and by the end of Unseen season 1 finds herself at the end of her rope.
Why Unseen Season 1’s Popularity Makes It More Likely Zenzi Lived
Unseen‘s ending heavily implies that Zenzi can’t take it anymore and is driven to suicide, but the final shot is ambiguous enough to suggest that she could’ve lived and taken her sister’s advice, which would set the stage for Unseen season 2. In the last moments of Unseen, Zenzi’s sister Naledi pleads with her not to jump off the building and desperately tells her that they can work together to bring the perpetrators to justice. It’s possible that Zenzi could, in the last moment, heed her sister’s words, which would see Unseen season 2’s story putting Zenzi up against the whole operation’s mastermind Andrew Harting.
This all depends, however, on Unseen‘s ratings. The series did well enough among audiences that there could be a demand for season 2, and actress Gail Mabalane proved herself to be a likable yet complex protagonist in the role of Zenzi Mwale. In addition, the series has been praised for its writing, and the new Netflix show is packed full of twists, turns, and enough action to keep viewers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. It’s possible that Zenzi’s final decision is left purposely ambiguous to leave room for a possible Unseen season 2, but that remains, appropriately, unseen.
