How to Ruin Love: Should you watch or skip the Netflix comedy? A viewer's guide

How to Ruin Love! The title alone conjures up all the romantic chaos, awkward misunderstandings, and hilarious scenarios where good intentions go wrong in a big way!

So, is it a Netflix South African rom-com that you should watch or skip? The answer is straightforward; if you are a fan of light-hearted situational comedy and relationship drama centered around family, then it’s worth watching, but it’s not a game-changer and is not a must-see.

How to Ruin Love is, unlike many high-drama Netflix shows, a series that gets its charm from the audience's ability to relate to the characters and their conflicts, as they are based on minor issues. It is a comedy and a romance at the same time, showing how mistrust, suspicion, and cultural expectations can be the causes of laughter in couples' lives.

Moreover, it doesn't matter if you are alone or with friends; it gives you a very entertaining 'modern relationships' insight at a very low emotional cost.

What is How to Ruin Love about?

The How to Ruin Love series starts with How to Ruin Love: The Proposal, where we're introduced to Zoleka (Sivenathi Mabuya-Bukani), whose insecurity and uncertainty lead her to destroy her proposal with Kagiso (Bohang Moeko) without even realizing it.

The first part is very closely connected to our daily life and begins with one miscommunication that quickly escalates to chaos, creating not only hilarious but also understandable situations that touch the sensitive point of the triangle consisting of trust, communication, and love.

The second part, How to Ruin Love: The Lobola, continues the story by flipping the coin and bringing in the angle of customs and the families' participation. Lobola, the customary South African bride-price process, becomes the center of attention, adding not only a layer of pressure but also comic tension as families negotiate and misunderstandings arise.

This progression enhances the series' major themes while retaining the humor, light, and easy to consume.

Cast and character dynamics

The cast of How to Ruin Love carries out roles that are very realistic and, at the same time, very funny. Sivenathi Mabuya-Bukani as Zoleka, the storyline is all about her crying and hesitating. Bohang Moeko as Kagiso, the love issue is there, plus the questions of trust and family expectations.

Zola Nombona as Kazi, bringing more insight, and doing family interactions. Nevertheless, the support of Marjorie Langa, John Morapama, Thabo Malema, and Tina Jaxa, among others, who provide, besides the humor, the cultural bible with its authenticity.

The romantic bonding between Zoleka and Kagiso is the main theme of the story, from which misunderstandings, miscommunication, and varying expectations of the partners, as the case might be, naturally, tension arises.

Tone, genre, and style

How to Ruin Love is a classic romantic comedy. While being unafraid, its tone is kept light, playful, and, importantly, situational, thereby completely avoiding the high-stakes drama scenario.

Relationships' natural awkwardness is the source of humor: misinterpreted texts, minor conflicts that sometimes grow into major ones, and the battle between modern dating methods and traditional expectations result in the main source of comic relief. The narrative has an impressive episodic quality where every episode after the first deals with the last set of misunderstandings.

Such an episodic structure permits the conflicts to grow very slowly and the resolution to be very gradual to the point where the viewers can laugh at the chaos of the situation by relating to it without the feeling of being rushed.

Episodes and structure

How to Ruin Love, The Lobola, Season 2 is made up of three episodes, each of which looks at the changing relationship of the couple from the perspective of the cultural and family pressures. The episodes adhere to the classic romantic comedy pattern of story: setting, trouble, heightening, and partial solving, and thereby keeping the humor and the tension in the couple's relationship at a steady level in the whole time.

The storytelling framework is a mixture of character-driven narrative and farce. The duration of the episodes is short, yet the amount of humor, emotional dissimilarity, and cultural transaction is so great that the audience's attention is continuously captivated.

Cultural context: Lobola and family expectations

How to Ruin Love: The Lobola is a series that revolves around lobola, the bride-price practice in South African culture, as its main subject. Season 2 tells us about Zoleka and Kagiso's handling of the family negotiations, societal expectations, and cultural customs, unlike Season one which is full of misunderstandings.

The series shows these traditions in a light-hearted manner and, at the same time, captures both the absurdity and the authenticity of family participation. The practice of lobola not only enriches the culture but also attracts local viewers and makes the show instructive for foreigners who are eager to learn about the cultural practices.

Humor style and relatability

The comedic elements of How to Ruin Love are situational and relatable:

Misunderstandings of partners’ intentions lead to confusion that keeps growing by degrees.
Family members stepping in turn the situation into a mix of comic and tense drama.
Cultural and generational differences are not only laughing matters but also factors that move the plot forward.

With this style, it is impossible for the spectators not to visualize themselves in a character's place. The humor is, so to speak, a little through the top for shock value, which becomes one of the main attractions of the series.

Reception and viewer insights

How to Ruin Love was described as a source of fun but a predictable plot by the critics and the spectators alike. The humor and the romance were appealing to casual audiences. The situational charm was nice and easy, but the tension that was relational and the elements that were cultural were also balanced.

The series has been considered as a mirror by its critics, reflecting the life of South Africans, their culture, and the way their families get along. Even if the series does not engage in high-stakes drama or narrative innovation, its appeal still rests on its lighthearted approach and its easily relatable portrayal of love made difficult by communication gaps and expectations.

How to Ruin Love: To watch or not

Watch it if:

You like comedies with situations easy to relate to and romance as the main theme.
You want to learn about South African cultural practices like lobola.
You are in the mood for light, relaxing entertainment.

Skip it if:

You are looking for something new, a dramatic story of high intensity, or a character with a complicated arc.
You are looking for a sharp, clever joke or a suspenseful plot-driven exhibit.
You are in the mood for over-the-top Netflix stories instead of the usual romcom fun.

A romantic comedy from South Africa, How to Ruin Love, is delightful in its way, and the blend of humor and family tension, along with relational chaos, is just about right. The communication mishaps from Season 1 to the ones focused on lobola family negotiations in Season 2 continue to give the audience a light yet engaging viewing experience.

The entire humor is situational as well as rooted in real-life relational problems thusmaking it easy for casual audiences to watch. How to Ruin Love, though not a revolutionary addition to Netflix’s catalog, is successful in the areas of giving off good laughs, portraying authentic culture, and showing relatable chaos, and thus, providing a nice romantic comedy experience that mirrors the good and bad sides of love.

Also read: How to Ruin Love Season 2 ending explained: The lobola ceremony and why it changes everything

Edited by Priscillah Mueni

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