All The Clichés Are Here To Play In Episode 1 of EbonyLife TV’s “Castle & Castle” – #EpisodeReview

Did you ever see “Suits”? If yes, do you remember any of the first scenes? Odds are that this is the scene you remember the most. If not Suits, then maybe you saw Hotel Majestic or The Crown or Scandal or This Is It. Whatever the show, the same rule applies – to create interest, you need a hook or a bang or a thrill. None of the three were anywhere to be seen in the first episode of Ebonylife TV’s Castle and Castle. 

The show starts off by first stunning you with that impressive opening sequence where all of the cast members walk in synchrony towards the camera. They sell you the idea that you are in for a treat. The idea that this is something to watch. The idea that this is some groundbreaking stuff. However, the only thing groundbreaking here is how intense your prayer and intercessions are for the end credits to roll on.

The disappointment actually begins from the first scene. This is because the mind that conceived that a scene where Egbuson-Akande and Mofe-Damijo are toppling over each other in a filing cabinet is attention grabbing enough to start a show with, was probably the same mind that thought that a young professional seeking to leave a firm that has refused to give him room to grow is enough firewood for a villain. Neither is true. After the first scene, I took a deep breathe in and thought to myself “wait! The greatness is coming”, but when that scene was followed by an awkward party scene where it seemed most of the attendees were more concerned with standing in their staged spots than in actually bringing any life to their character, my hope truly began to dwindle.

The problem with Castle & Castle is not the production quality. That is present in abundance. The cast is stunning, the props are well thought out and all the bodies are snatched in the finest of trims but no one was worried about building an audience with a story that gives people reason to come back week after week.

The initial conflict introduced in this episode as already mentioned was barely much of a conflict. Our supposed villain, Mike – played by the able Daniel Effiong where he basically reprises his legendary Gidi Up character of Folarin – barely has any foundation for villainery. I mean we’d all be hard pressed to rationalize why a capable young man should choose to live forever in the shadows as some form of misguided gratitude to the people who trained him. One of the best lines of the night was when Mike’s character responds to Remi’s accusatory “we’ve been good to you” with a poignant “we’ve all been good to each other”. But then again, it is only episode 1. Maybe Mike might have more Folarin in him than meets the eye.

Then the second conflict of the night enters the screen in the person of Seyi Law. Here again, Seyi Law reprises his role as a “man of God” from the nollywood movie My Wife & I.

Oooh my darling originality, where art thou? Thou seemest to have taken a vacation this evening! 

Upon entering the law firm, Seyi Law is sandwiched by two ladies – most recognizable of which was Chigul. The moment when Chigul’s character begins to speak to the receptionist (played by the effortless Anee Icha) is the moment it finally dawns on me – none of these people are taking any of this seriously. Chigul’s character was very obviously intended as comic relief but even when compared to her performances on her instagram skits, her performance here is grade school level. It almost seemed like she is first trying to convince herseslf that she needs to take this seriously.

But nothing really peeves the soul as much as the music direction or absolute lack of it in this show. If you called roll for this episode of Castle & Castle it would kind of go like “Costumier, present. Props manager, present. Actors, kinda present. Music director, missing in action”. I firmly believe that the EP for this show should go back to whoever was in charge of the music and demand reparations. I understand the concept of using silence in productions but this one made no sense. There were scenes with gapingly vacant holes where music should have been but nothing was. Then in the scenes in which the music finally showed up, the whole thing ends up feeling quite elementary.

Why is the issue of the music so important? Because if y’all decided that y’all didn’t really feel like busting your brains with the writing, and your acting didn’t feel like showing up 100% for this, then someone in post-production should have had the sense to fill it with decent enough music that we – the audience – are at least confused into believing that we are watching something we connect with. Honestly, even if y’all hired Austine Erowele and he added some “Beyonce the presidents daughter” level music, it might have made more of a connection.

Now if you have seen the first episode or you read this review and then see the first episode and you feel a need to say “it’s not that bad”, I agree with you. It wasn’t that bad at all. It was alright at best. We’ve seen many movies that were alright at best and that’s fine. The difference is those are movies and they don’t require you to return to continue the long-suffering next week. Much of the frustration here is that this show is made by people with the means to do better. So please do better next week. I am really looking forward to eating my words in the review for episode 2.