🎬The 6-episode limited series is a second part to the culturally rich Yoruba epic-fantasy, Anikulapo movie, that was released on Netflix in September 2022.
🍿It follows the story of now dead Saro, the poster boy for modern day Yoruba d-mon, and his sojourn back to earth. This after the gatekeeper of The Afterlife prevents his soul from resting.
It also allows us into Arolake’s journey to start afresh, away from a fate that awaits her in Oyo, where she had betrayed the king with her extramarital affair. It then takes us into the drama between The King, his head-strong Bashorun, the Ifa Priest and his warnings to the King to have the town appease the gods after Queen Arolake’s theft of the spectre from the mystical creature of death. It further throws in a glimpse of some ongoing troubles between another town, Ede and Oyo. And later takes us into Omowunmi, the King’s beautiful daughter’s betrothal life.
Whew! 😰 I believe that about sums it up.
🕴🏾The acting was impeccable, as expected. The songs making up the score were refreshing to listen to amidst all of the chaos going on. I also loved how it had flashbacks into the first movie, especially to give context into an ongoing scene.
I also thought some scenes were nostalgic. There were times I actually felt I was watching NTA channel 7 on a Sunday afternoon/evening as a little girl.
📝Let’s dive right into it, shall we? I was so excited when a second part was announced. I loved and enjoyed the first part, so much that when I excitedly put together my review the same night I watched it, I forgot to add my interpretation of the plot 😂.
🎞️Rise of the Spectre was underwhelming, unnecessarily long and with a storyline so scattered, that I am of the opinion it had no business having 6 1-hr long episodes.
The back and forth between the King, his Oyo Mesi (Chiefs) vs The Bashorun and Ifa Priest felt forced and alienated from the main movie plot.
The inconsistent switch between different time periods (1-2-3 years) was hard to follow and just did not blend well into the series.
Also, why didn’t we get to see an explanation/conclusion to the branch out story of what happened in the evil forest and the repercussions of giving out from the endless wealth. I mean, what was the essence of having that church-like stage play scene of 2 market women talking about the aftermath of receiving from Arolake’s wealth?
Is Kunle Afolayan trying to leave an open ended story teasing us into a part 3? It better not be.
▶️| ⏯️Anikulapo: Rise of the Spectre (which on a lighter, literal note, never rose) is currently streaming on Netflix and it’s a NO for me.