“The Season of Growth” – NR’s Review of “The Men’s Club” Season 3 Episode 1-5 (Part 2)

Now that we have caught-up on all of the happenings of “the men”, we can finally break down the show as a whole.

READ the first part of the review, “The Catch-Up” at the link HERE

From season 1 to the current spot at the fifth episode of season 3, there are two changes that are the most evident. The first is improvement in writing, and the second is chemistry between the boys.

The plot of the first season was remarkably laughable then and now. At some point in the review, we had likened it to a soap opera because of the ridiculous manner in which the characters were progressing (or not progressing at all). Since then, each and every one of our characters have developed sense – even Louis.

And to some extent, the character development has improved for each of the boys. Overtime the boys have become more of men in our eyes, as (sometimes) we get to see more of the reasoning behind their actions in this season. There’s still much to be desired here though especially with the character of Lanre. While Louis, Tayo and Aminu (maybe) seem to be making strides towards growing as individuals, Lanre is the only character so far whose motivations and directions are still very cloudy.

Louis is shaking off his shackles and gaining freedom from his mother. Tayo is ‘manning-up’, taking risks, and pushing himself in his career despite his questionable choices with women. And Aminu is… well despite his current confusion in Season 3, Aminu showed some growth in the second season when he shook Jasmine off and chose his true love, Tumini. Lanre, on the other hand, just seems to be a supporting character for the friends who occasionally sleeps with older women.

There is hope yet though for Lanre. With the recent presence of his mother in his home, we hope to get more of a back story, more development, and hopefully form a stronger connection with the character.

Then there are the boys! Over the seasons, the chemistry between the boys has deepened both in the writing of the characters and the connection with the audience. Initially it seemed like a group that occasionally met in good times, but now the strength of the bond is overly evident as each of the boys show up for themselves through thick and thin. They’ve even evolved enough to force each other to have uncomfortable yet growing conversations. So even when there is no romance on scene between the boys and their love interests, the bromance between the boys themselves has been a thing to keep us coming back.

Then there are our performances! So far in the season, there are two performances that have stood out the most: Baaj Adebule as Louis and Mimi Chaka as Tumini.

It’s hard not to notice Baaj’s Louis these days because the way Baaj has come into the character is quite remarkable. There is a swag about it, a certain bounce in the step, a smirk here and there, Baaj has been able to transform Louis from this generic idea on paper to an identifiable character with certain sensibilities. Obviously, the rendition is not air tight yet but the growth is quite commendable.

Then there is Mimi Chaka. She hasn’t had too much action in this season but in the singular scene that she had to shine in episode five, the rendition was painful to watch. She seemed to choke when required to depict the weight of the pain Tumini was in as well as the tension between the characters. Watching that scene between herself and Ayoola (Aminu), was like watching a tennis tournament where one player constantly drops the ball after a strong serve from the opponent. There are more episodes to go, so we hope this changes but so far Chaka leaves much to be desired. 

As the rest of the season moves forward we are looking forward to more growth in the performances and the characterizations, we hope Aminu and Tumini figure their issues out, we hope Tiara starts to learn the value of money, and we are excited to find out what role Sola Sobowale will be playing in the season.