What happens, when the richer, cuter ex-lover comes along on your wedding day!?I have watched enough Hollywood movies that end with this scenario, so I was obviously intrigued by a TV show that answered my questions of “and then”?
The first episode starts off on a good note. It brings Ariel (played by Marie Humbert) and Henry (Adjetey Anang) into the picture. Their dialogue felt a bit too Romeo and Juliet (you know…oh don’t leave… Stay longer…) for my liking. However, Marie and Adjetey’s acting were good enough to reveal their positions in the relationship. We could tell that that the love was one sided (coming from Henry), leaving me wondering “why the hell is she with him?” This question is intentionally stimulated at the beginning to draw closer attention to the details and essentials of Ariel’s character development. So, kudos to the writers for achieving that!
Ariel, is a struggling literary manager, about to get married to a man, Henry, who is “good for her”. Right at the start we identify the prevalent theme of a gap in the lead characters life. But we are not left wondering for too long why she is that way or what happened when Bernard slides oh so gracefully into the scene. Bernard is played by the amazing Gideon Okeke, who has continued to prove himself a star in the making and definitely looks AMEN! in a suit. He gave so much definition to the role that I felt my self hating him and loving him at the same time. His understanding of his character was evident in the way he interpreted his role, and his ability to win your votes while leaving room for you question his character. Marie Humbert and Adjetey were equally solid and definitely overpowered the poorly acted and unnecessary scenes from a lot of minor charachers.
The show does the wonderful thing of slowly weaving together other storylines around Ariel’s; a struggling writer with a failing marriage, a homosexual boxer (the fist, played by John Dumelo, who I would have preferred to see in a stronger role and has evidently never taken a boxing class – I burst out laughing at the sight of him as the fist lazily bumping a punching bag. Sigh!), and a young Personal Assistant with a dark and heavy secret. What seems like a basic story line slowly gains climax and will glue you to the screen. I couldn’t place a solid finger on Mary Remmy’s acting but her growth as an actor was evident. Naa ashokor impressed me with this show. Her performance sometimes wavered between trying and solid but I could see the potential and would definitely watch her in another movie. I was a little disappointed that despite the attention to detail, cinematography and development of a story line the movie still seemed to fall back to the stale and well known pitfalls of Nollywood…for example Mr. Henry fixing his tie, sipping his tea on his wedding. Really!!!!? That scene was empty and poorly used (if it had to be there)
One thing that held me through this show was the dialogue between Bernard and Ariel, Ariel and Henry. It wasn’t ground breaking words or a thought provoking script but delivery by Gideon and Marie Humbert and their amazing display of chemistry. Adjetey Anang as Henry was so good that I was heartbroken for him. A few times I wondered if they changed directors per shot because some moments had me enthralled and in others the acting was a bit awkward and I couldn’t place a mood. There was the occasional camera zooming in way too much and a bit too little soundtrack that made it feel dead and slow-paced. The flaws were not overwhelming enough to bring down the appeal (thankfully!)
Season 1 ended on a great note and I am looking forward to the second. The story gradually snowballs from the typical drama to include a little bit of crime and more tangled webs of lies and deception so season 2 definitely looks promising. I would say it is worth watching if you can ignore the minor characters and are open to stories built on controversial topics like extra-marital romance and feminism (in AFRICA ).
House Of Ga’a
Lekki Wives (The Reunion) is Coming This June!
