How to Ruin Love is a spin-off of the How to Ruin Christmas series and focuses on Kagiso and Zoleka’s love story. The series is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
Zoleka stars in a popular telenovela, but when she doesn’t get any updates on season two, she stresses out about her job.
Her boyfriend Kagiso calms her down and reminds her they have a wonderful Valentine’s Day planned in three days.
He’s got a business trip in between and plans to spend his time before that with Zoleka. His sister, Katlego has been crashing at their place since her split from her husband Sicelo.
Zoleka comes from a rich family and doesn’t have the same life experiences as Kagiso and his family.
While meeting some friends, the topic of marriage comes up and Kagiso says that he doesn’t want to get married just yet.
Zoleka is shocked by that admission and they argue with each other. She goes back to her place and rants to her best friend Amahle.
She wants to prove to him that she can be wife material at Kagiso’s sister’s birthday party the next day.
Kagiso’s family is very chaotic but they all admire Zoleka. His youngest sister, Omphile, loves getting expensive gifts from Zoleka.
During the party, Kagiso acts suspiciously, and Zoleka wants to know why. She finds out other scandalous things about her boyfriend’s family.
His father is in debt and at risk of losing the house, his mother smokes, and his niece has failed out of school.
She forgets about the traditional dish she was making and burns it, drawing ridicule from Kagiso’s family.
Since her argument with him isn’t resolved, she doesn’t call him for dinner with her father. Kagiso has been waiting for a long time to meet her father.
She gets worried when he stops answering his phone and returns to his place. Katlego is there with her husband and keeps him hidden while dealing with Zoleka.
She tells her that Kagiso has gone to Durban on his trip, but Zoleka finds one of Katlego’s condoms and assumes that Kagiso is cheating on her.
She asks her cousin to take her to Durban to find out what Kagiso is up to. She walks on the beach and sees him proposing to Amahle; his entire family is present.
Zoleka loses her mind and spills out all of the family secrets while Kagiso’s niece, Makgotso, records everything.
After she is done, she sees a plane flying by with a message asking her to marry Kagiso. He was planning a surprise proposal; this was the practice round, but she ruined it.
Kagiso is devastated, but the real trouble comes the next day after Makgotso posts the video of Zoleka’s outburst online.
Kagiso was working on an app deal that would bring him 33 million, but that was one of the things exposed in her rant and the buyers asked to shelve the deal.
Zoleka’s future on the telenovela is also in jeopardy and she spoilt the climax of the latest season. Kagiso had asked them to give her some time off which is why she was kept in the dark.
She manages to convince the producers that her leak can be turned into a positive, but that is the only problem she fixes.
She tries to get their families to meet and get to know each other, but Zoleka’s father is a high-class individual who looks down on Kagiso and his family.
Kagiso’s mother, Khutso, leaves her husband, Papi because he didn’t tell her about the debt and the house.
Papi’s sister Doreen offers to help since she has the money, but he is too proud and stubborn to accept her offer.
Zoleka cuts off her dad after he insists she not marry Kagiso because he cannot support her.
She then pleads her case with Kagiso and suggests that they elope since their families are too much drama anyway.
Zoleka makes peace with Amahle and they manage to get a venue at short notice but their families find out and cause more chaos for not being included.
Things finally settle down and the wedding is supposed to go through with Kagiso’s family present, but a notification on Zoleka’s phone changes her mind once again.
Ending explained:
Not enough trust
Kagiso asks Zoleka what the matter is this time and she says that he wanted to withdraw the money from the joint bank account after two days of uncertainty.
He tells her that he wanted to take it out and help his parents who were getting evicted. She apologizes to him but he says that she never stops and thinks, only reacts.
He walks out on her and Zoleka is left heartbroken once again.
Family drama
Doreen starts pushing her weight around the house after Khutso asks her for the money to pay off the house debt.
Papi is hurt that Khutso did that, and Omphile locks Doreen and Papi in a room to work out their issues.
Zoleka goes back home and patches things up with her father. Khutso returns home and agrees to quit smoking after making up with Papi.
Doing it right
The only thing left is for Zoleka to fix things with Kagiso but she has trouble finding him. When they eventually do, he talks about how frustrated he is dealing with his family and Zoleka.
She bares her heart out to him but he refuses her offer. He then visits her father and tells her that he wants to do things how he initially planned.
Then he meets Zoleka on Valentine’s Day which is also their third anniversary of meeting each other and he sets up another surprise wedding.
They finally tie the knot and all of their loved ones are there to witness it.
