A Masterpiece in Parts, A Mess in Packaging: Reflections on Aníkúlápó Season
A follow up on my very short review became necessary so we know that the first short instaletter on this subject wasn’t a paid gig but an honest appreciation.
Dear You.
1. I don’t tag recipients when I draft them an instaletter. I tagged Kunle AfolayanKunle Afolayan because I was being deliberate, and I know that’s the only way he could see my message.
2. Earlier on, I had a direct conversation line with him. That was in the earliest days of his career. That was during the BlackBerry days when we had BB Pins. I would have sent him the letter personally.
3. To those thinking I was paid to trash his latest work, you guys can do better. If I was paid to do that, I would come up with more brilliant strategies, not draft a letter that I know will also make people go see for themselves.
4. Did you see how short that letter was? That’s because I didn’t want to be a spoiler or a demarketer. I wanted those that haven’t seen it to enjoy it when they do. And I wanted the project to also win.
5. When I said it was a commercial decision to end the way it did and not an artistic one, it’s because the sudden end of this Anikulapo Season 2 left a lot of plots suspended and hanging. There are too many subplots in this series for it to end like this.
6. Movies and series are created for people to enjoy and review. Appreciating movies or artistic projects comes in different ways. If you read that short letter, you will see that I called the project a “beauty.”
7. Haven’t you seen a beautiful girl before with some defects? Big ass, big boobs, but hairy legs? Fine face, fine body, but bad communication skills?
Also Read: Why Koleoso’s Continuity Still Attracts Popular Demand — Unlike Anikulapo Season 2
This movie is like Simi to me. I love her, but she is already married to Adekunle Gold. The movie had all the beautiful African pictures, smooth flawless acting, great sets, great costumes, sweet storylines, but terrible packaging.
8. And the packaging here is the way it was served. Some of the “billion” plots in the series should have at least been resolved. Unless you are releasing the remaining parts in two weeks’ time, otherwise, it’s just a painful thing to do to an audience.
9. It’s like your wife sending you an SMS: “Tonight, I need your sugar.” Then she sends you a photo of her in traffic. You rush home to wait for her. She gets home. You see her from the CCTV. She knows you are watching her, so she gives you some twerking show.
Then she proceeds to her room. She knows you are seeing her. While in her bedroom, she tells you to start drinking some good wine. You already finish one bottle. You start bottle two. This is a wine of 45% alcohol.
She dances some more on the CCTV as she removes her clothes. Then she goes into the bathroom and has a shower. You are watching. After all these activities, she steps into your room and falls on your bed—into a deep sleep—and starts to snore.
You try waking her to no avail. She is fast asleep. No matter what anyone says about this, we won’t call this art. This is wickedness—especially if she isn’t going to wake up anytime within two weeks.
10. There are different kinds of endings in a project, and usually directors do these for reasons.
Open ending: The story stops without full resolution, leaving outcomes to the audience’s interpretation.
Ambiguous Ending
The lack of denouement is intentional and unclear, often provoking debate.
Also Read: Why Bambam Is Trending as Reports Surface About Her Marriage
Cliffhanger
The plot halts at a moment of tension, clearly designed to lead into a sequel or continuation.
Anti-climax
When the ending feels unsatisfying because expected resolution never arrives.
Unresolved Narrative
A more critical/academic way to describe a story that fails to complete its arc.
Directors can do these, but not when it’s a series with multiple parallel plots and subplots and all the plots are unresolved.
There’s no way we can enjoy the project like this. We enjoyed the movie. We enjoyed Anikulapo Season 1. And we all came talking about Saro and other characters.
Now, we sincerely can’t be talking about the antelope that turns into a beautiful girl because we have nothing concrete to talk about. We want to talk about the character that escaped hell, but what do we say about it?
Also Read: Her Fifth Sense Review: Drama, Secrets, and Unexpected Twists
Perhaps what we can really say is what I have said: the project is beautiful. It is indeed beautiful in terms of production. Again, kudos to the maker and crew.
Your Anikulapo Series Spotter
Ediale Kingsley
#ForTheCulture
PS: Kunle Afolayan is a national asset. The fact that we have this project shot in Nigeria is a plus. The locations were mind-blowing. And we have nothing against the quality of Anikulapo Season 2 but a lot of good things to say about it. And I know the decision to end where it ended was a commercial one.
Also Read: I Make Films For Intellectuals, Not Gbas Gbos – Kunle Afolayan
When the writer knows his audience;
Ejileye Abdultawba Olanrewaju:
We had this text that was part of our literature texts to be read during our secondary school, when we were preparing for WAEC, titled Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, It was a tragic drama, just like Romeo and Juliet.
Hamlet, as a tragic drama, was mostly written in verses (I think that’s what we now know as episodes of today), people who are familiar with texts like this will understand how difficult some scenes are, with the way it was narrated.
There are some areas where prose was used as well, just for comedic purposes, and I cant fully grasp them all.
Let me tell you what happened, none of us in the class was able to understand the text at once, due to the way it was written, not a normal English where you will be able to predict or grasp the meaning without having to break it down.
We were later taken to watch the play on a big screen at St Bernardine’s secondary school, just for us to understand it better.
I am not a movie critic, and I don’t do reviews of any kind, I understand how it would be taken by whoever produces or writes the story, especially, if its faults were laid out.
Also Read: Bolanle Ninalowo Biography: Why He Chose the African Dream Over America
I think this is the kind of thing Kunle Afolayan was trying to portray when he said he made his movie for literature students, or professors of arts and drama, but the problem, is that the movie ought to be taken to the university campuses, and secondary schools, for theatre arts and art students to learn from, why Netflix now?
Maybe the remaining episodes should be taken there going forward as per “the audience”.
As long as it is on Netflix, people like us who are unintelligent might not enjoy it, because we are Olodo, and we don’t think deeply and critically.
I laughed out loud when someone called Egbon Kunle Afolayan “Oke-Ogun Shakespeare 🤦, that was brutal.
