To Kill A Monkey

Strong Performances, Weak Storytelling: TKAM Missed Its Mark Despite a Promising Cast

This is one of those reviews that I will consider a rant as well. I am inviting you into my head as I watched this because the way I stumbled on this series, only for it to be everywhere days later, caught me completely off guard.

I had not heard a word about it. Missed the announcements, missed the rollout, only to randomly run into it, and next thing I know, it is all over my timeline. And after watching it, I see why.

It was written, directed, and produced by Kemi Adetiba (King of Boys). On paper, this had everything going for it. But as I sat through it, one thought kept returning:

Something is missing.

Let us talk about it.

The Cast

Before we dive deeper, let me introduce you to the key characters:

| Character    | Played By          |
|--------------|--------------------|
| Oboz         | Bucci Franklin     |
| Efe          | William Benson     |
| Nosa         | Stella Damasus     |
| Idia         | Lilian Afegbai     |
| Inspector Mo | Bimbo Akintola     |
| Teacher      | Chidi Mokeme       |
| Amanda       | Sunshine Rosman    |

I will be breaking this review into the Story and then the Execution.

The Story

Efe is a broke and desperate man trying to provide for his family. In a twist of “luck”, he reconnects with Oboz, an old friend whose life he had saved in the past. They team up to build a criminal empire, and soon enough, wealth follows, and then they start crumbling.

Let me first say this. It was refreshing to see Bendel representation on screen. That alone made me smile. It felt good to see our people and our voices pushed to the front of the screen for once.

Now, to the heart of the story. I have seen many conversations about betrayal. Here are my thoughts:

Oboz was a strategic man. His entire empire is built on two principles, Loyalty and Usefulness. If you are both, he will not have a problem with you. When Ozzy tried to paint Efe as a snake and Efe proved otherwise, Oboz forgave him quickly because he needed him. Efe was the brains of the operation and it was in Oboz’s best interest to keep Efe alive.

Oboz was not a good person, he was warned, many times, about how it would all end and he simply refused to listen.

Now to Efe. I will not call him good either. But I will say he had a clearer motive. He wanted to take care of his family and when Teacher appeared, he wanted to do the right thing. I do not believe Efe betrayed Oboz or anyone for that matter.

Nosa was a complete hypocrite. The kind of person who bends depending on who or what benefits them.

The Execution

This is where everything started to fall apart for me. It took me eight days to get through the series, and I had to rewatch some parts just to be sure I was not being unfair in my judgment.

Let me start with what worked.

The actors were the highlight. Bucci Franklin and William Benson delivered solid performances, Bucci as the calculated rascal, and William as the logical partner. Bimbo Akintola also stood out, playing an inspector grappling with grief and mental health struggles.

Unfortunately, the directing and storytelling were underwhelming, and I would even say disappointing.

Weak Character Development

I struggled to connect with any of the characters. The writers did not give us enough reason to root for anyone. I remember watching Anini as a child and hoping he would not get caught. Here, I did not care what happened to any of them.

Disjointed Narrative

That opening scene keeps haunting me. What was the purpose of it? It felt like it belonged in another show. Almost like they changed direction midway through production and forgot to cut that part. It simply did not fit.

The time skip was abrupt. There was no emotional buildup or chance to get invested in the characters. One minute we are watching the beginnings of a crime operation, and the next, we are expected to believe they now run a powerful empire. No clear explanation of what crime they were even committing or how each person fit in. We were left to fill in too many blanks.

Plot Holes

Here are just a few of the many gaps:

• Inspector Mo: Her backstory was unnecessary. The story was not hers, so we did not need her nightmares or trauma if it was not going to be tied in meaningfully. They wanted to show she was sharp, but never really did.

• Teacher: Presented as powerful, yet his family was taken out so easily. The car bomb scene was absurd. And beyond that, we never really understood his position in the criminal hierarchy or how exactly he came between Efe and Oboz.

• Amanda Sparkles: Completely irrelevant to the story. Her presence changed nothing and could have been removed without consequence.

• Efe and Ivie: Efe was barely present in his daughter’s life, so when Oboz used her in the betrayal, his emotional spiral felt unearned. It lacked consistency.

• The school bag scene: The head in the boy’s backpack — what was that? What did it mean? It felt like a shocking moment for shock’s sake, with no real purpose.

• The hangar text message: The message he sent the first time was inconsistent the second time we were shown, had to take a screenshot.

  

  • The messages are not the same, neither is the phone or the expected conditions in which the text messages were sent

  • The time is 1:57AM, and they are to meet at 8:30PM (or before 9PM) but they met immediately after that text was sent.

  • And there is a difference in spelling O vs O’

Technical Shortcomings

Let us talk about the camera work, I thought it was chaotic and not properly representative of the scenes. Oboz and Efe’s fight scenes looked like they were shot on a phone, with angles that failed to capture the gravity of the moment. There was no cinematic feel to it.

And then, there was too much telling and not enough showing. Dialogue did all the heavy lifting, trying to convince us that characters were intelligent or dangerous, without ever showing us through actions or decisions.

What Worked

If there is one thing I will give credit for, it is production design. The visuals of wealth, the costumes, the overall look and feel were above moderate, better than many films in the same genre.

Final Thoughts

To Kill a Monkey had a good performances and more than average production design, but the storytelling fell apart. The plot was weak, the directing was uneven, and the characters were easily forgettable.

There is a version of this show that could have been unforgettable but this was not it.

For me, it was a 5/10