January 20th, 2023 saw the release of the first season of the Nigerian crime TV series Shanty Town. The Netflix show was created by Xavier Ighorodje and Chichi Nworah, directed by Dimeji Ajibola, and produced by Ini Edo and Chichi Nworah. With six episodes, the first season featured several Nollywood stars, including Chidi Mokeme, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), Ini Edo, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Nancy Isime, and Sola Sobowale.

The show was greeted with applause and social media fad mostly by people who were impressed with its free display of nudity (yeah, obviously, these individuals subscribed for Netflix, but I termed the nudity “free” because they most likely didn’t pay the subscription fee with the specific nude scenes in mind). Also, regular Nollywood movie lovers were over-excited to see the latest Nollywood show on Netflix (as of then). However, when I sat down to watch the series with an objective mind, I realized there was nothing really spectacular about it. In fact, it was relatively poor. I’ll extensively cite my reasons in the next section.

5 Reasons Shanty Town Is Not as Good as You Think

Here are some shortcomings in the first season of Shanty Town:

1. Shallow Plot

Shanty Town’s core story tries to portray a thrilling and eye-catching connection between the local crime in a slum and the criminal activities of its elite sponsors. The plot heavily depends on violence and features several criminal elements, such as illegal prostitution, drug trafficking, the use of hard drugs, homicides, trafficking of human parts, corrupt politicians, and so on. Naturally, you’d expect a show with these footing and themes to have a rich plot. Still, that’s not the case with Shanty Town. The plot is relatively basic and the show relies more on its visual presentation of violence, crime, and nudity/eroticism.

The chief antagonist of the first season, Chief DaCosta Fernández (Richard Mofe-Damijo), is depicted as a very powerful and aristocratic criminal who intends to occupy the political seat of the Governor of Lagos. This theme of big-time criminals showing interest in politics is quite common in crime shows, just like Russell “Stringer” Bell in The Wire and James “Ghost” St. Patrick in Power. However, the show doesn’t tell us much about Chief Fernández’s rise on the crime ladder and enough of his backstory. Personally, I’d have loved to know why a Nigerian from the Western Part of the country (Yorubaland) would bear both a Portuguese (or Brazilian) first name and last name.

Similarly, the kingpin of Shanty Town (the crime slum), Aboderin “Scar” (Chidi Mokeme), had no proper backstory. The show didn’t give the viewers a chance to know him deeply. We knew almost nothing about how the prostitutes came to Shanty Town, except for Shalewa (Nancy Isime), who her father brought to the Shanty Town. Still, we don’t know much about the transaction or the incident that led to it. What about the show’s portrayal of drug trafficking? Apart from the drug production and packaging scene in the first episode, we weren’t given much to talk over on the drug trade. How did they distribute the illegal substance to other parts of Lagos? Who were their connections and channels? How did they manage to pull off such a major crime?

2. Generally Poor Acting

Although the first season of Shanty Town featured many prominent movie stars, the general acting in the show left a lot to be desired. This brings the proficiency of the show’s director into question. Most of the actors in the series couldn’t excellently portray the emotional aspect of their characters, properly illustrate the stories of their characters to the viewers, and take their characters off the shores of television. Not even RMD, Ini Edo, Nancy Isime, and Sola Sobowale could nail their roles. I wouldn’t want to go into detail about Shafy Bello’s nerve-racking acting. What childish badassery was that? (shakes my head).

On the contrary, Chidi Mokeme deserves credit for trying his best to sync with his character (even though I could argue that he could’ve done more). I was also awed by the fact that he spoke three different languages (Nigerian Pidgin English, Igbo, and Yoruba) fluently in the show. Nse Ikpe-Etim wasn’t bad either, but her performance wasn’t the best.

3. Inem’s Perplexing Role in the Story

Inem/Amanda (Ini Edo) was undoubtedly the most confusing character in Shanty Town. I mean, what exactly was her story? Was she an undercover police officer or an ex-convicted drug peddler and prostitute? For how long has she been an undercover police officer? Was she ever a criminal, if not, why would she fit too perfectly into the Shanty Town criminal establishment? What is the revenge-for-her-sister saga all about? Why does she seem to hold so much power in the police force and prostitution ring? These are questions with either unclear or flawed answers. At one point or the other in the show, the viewers must have gotten lost trying to figure out who she really was or is. This proves that the Inem/Amanda character and story were poorly written.

4. The Governor’s Presence in Crime Scenes

Why would the sitting Governor of Lagos State, Dame Dabota (Shafy Bello), directly meet with the kingpin of a crime slum? Didn’t she have people that could help her do her dirty jobs and criminal dealings? That’s not even the worst part. The same Governor was present at a kidnap and multiple homicides spot and was seen leaving the crime scene by police officers. Yet, the cops let her leave without batting an eyelid or thinking something was wrong like it was normal for a sitting Governor to be in such a place.

5. Redundant and Out-of-Place Action Scenes

It seems the director forgot that Shanty Town was a crime series and not an action movie in the last episode of the show’s first season. That would explain the unnecessary and prolonged action scenes in that particular episode, which were reminiscent of Den of Thieves, Commando 2: The Black Money Trail, and some Jackie Chan classics at the same time (of course, not in the quality, but in the idea). Regardless of the efforts, the action scenes were out-of-place. Furthermore, what in the name of motion pictures was the director thinking when he made Chief Fernández magically block (or catch) a bullet and redirect it to the shooter with his hand? That’s incredible in a bad way.

Bottom Line

Note that I’m not using this medium to condemn the show or the efforts of the crew and cast. However, I chose to point out the drawbacks of the first season, hoping similar mistakes won’t be made in the subsequent seasons (if any).