I finally watched To Kill a Monkey last week, mainly because my friend Philomena said one of the characters wore a beautiful earring she thought I might be interested in. In case you don’t know, I sell jewelry on the side (@Lessencekanzah on IG), but that’s not the point of this post.

The point of today’s post is to reflect on what I just watched and share my thoughts with you all.

First off, I wish I had seen the series before all the online tussle and arguments over people’s reviews. I get it, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But one thing you can’t take away from TKAM is the fact that it’s fresh. It’s thrilling. Acting 100! Cinematography 100! I love how Kemi Adetiba zoomed in on one of the major issues Nigeria grapples with: internet fraud, aka Yahoo.

Right from the start, Kemi carefully showed us just how demeaning and degrading poverty is. The insults Efe had to endure. The impossible choices he had to make. I felt especially moved when he mentioned how relieved he was when one of his triplets died. That hit me. Poverty throws you to the bottom of the totem pole in Nigeria and then crushes you even further.

I also admire how Kemi showcased the South-South part of Nigeria. Full representation on a big Nollywood screen. That’s rare. Usually, we get major characters with names from the three dominant ethnic groups or foreign names. But here, we’re introduced to names like Obozuhiomwen, Efemini, Nosakhare. The premise of TKAM isn’t just new, it’s rich.

The attention to detail in the characters’ outfits also stood out to me. Clothes can say a lot about a person before they even open their mouth. That’s why I really appreciated what the costumier did with Idia. The loud jewelry, the overdressing, the BBL she flaunted, the NAILS. The fashion spoke volumes. She immediately captivated me with her gaudy style. Her husband’s equally tacky and shiny fashion choices sealed their portrayal as the classic money-miss-road couple.

Power couple for real.

And the smatterings of Edo here, “ekpa,” “iye,” and Urhobo there? Let’s go. Kemi did a great job showcasing languages we rarely hear on Nollywood screens.

That said, I wish there were more attention paid to the little things. What we got to see, details that would’ve given the movie a more solid finish. I’m not knocking Kemi’s brilliance. I’m just sharing my thoughts as a viewer.

I wish the subtitle people did a more thorough job. It was an eyesore. From misspelling some names to typographical errors. I kept wondering whether the subtitlers were more than one because a name like Eno that was correctly spelt in some episodes was wrongly spelt as Ebun in some other episodes.

Then, it would have been nice if we saw more of how Obozz da Boss and Efemini did their dirty work. Instead, there was just a four-year time jump and suddenly Efe is living large. I would’ve loved to see how they used AI like Efe mentioned, or scenes of them catching a “mugu” in Obozz’s cell or house. I wanted to see what Efe did when he got his first big check, his reaction, his wife’s reaction. I wanted to see how things shifted between him and his mother-in-law. All we got was her flexing that Efe, whom she now proudly calls her son, doesn’t let her repeat jewelry. Cute, but not enough.

Another gap for me was the disintegration of Efemini’s marriage and his wife’s descent into alcoholism. One minute, Efe and Nosa are jointly making decisions like a healthy couple, the next they’re at their twins’ party, still okay, and then suddenly the twin is in the hospital, Efe is nowhere to be found, and it’s implied that he’s been an absent husband. But how? Why? Was it work? There were no signs of cheating. Before the drama with Teacher, what else happened? When did they stop communicating like they used to? I wish we saw the gradual drift between them. I wish we saw what led Nosa to find solace in the bottle to the point where she became non-functional. That would have made the eventual cheating with the doctor more grounded. Their affair felt rushed. A conversation here and there and boom, he’s at her house, in her bed? Compare that to how Omoye and Mo’s relationship was built up. Same could have been done for Nosa and the doctor.

Then there’s the whole thing with Ivie, Efe’s daughter, and Obozz. The way he handled it was too casual. Ms. Sparkles was positioned to land a major blow to Obozz, but what did we get? A basic threat and then he’s off, only to be resisted by a daughter who’s whining about loving Obozz. We got no backstory on how that relationship began or got so deep. It made her character look foolish. After the suffer you suffer with your papa, this is what you do?

Lastly, let’s talk about Teacher. He could have been such an interesting character if we actually got a backstory explaining what made him so menacing. Putting a child in a freezer and then saying he didn’t intend to kill her? Please. Attacking Idia with “coid”? Weak attempt at showing his menace. At least Obozz walked the talk. The man showed up to a fistfight with a whole bazooka. What did Teacher do? Sent men to shoot Obozz, something he couldn’t even handle himself and needed Efe’s help for. Lame.

In the end, I didn’t enjoy how everything was tied together. Efe’s final summation felt underwhelming. But one thing you absolutely can’t take away from To Kill a Monkey is the brilliance of the characters. Again, the actors DELIVERED. Everyone ate and left no crumbs.