REAL HOUSEWIVES OF LAGOS: CHAOS, DRAMA AND PRETTY FACES

Producers: Deola and Dare Art Alade

Date of Release: 29th September

Runtime: An Average of 50 minutes per episode.

Cast: Iyabo Ojo, Toyin Lawani Adebayo, Chioma Ikowu, Laura Ikeji Kanu, Mariam Timmer, Tonia Omotayo, and Faith Morey

Inside Nollywood Rating: 3

The season 1 of this reality show broke the first day streaming record on  Showmax, and became the only African Title to be on the top 10 most watched shows on the streaming platform across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, it then went ahead to win best costume designer prize in 2023 AMVCA. These titles are no surprise as the show served drama, spice and suspense.

Portraying the lives of Six affluent and influential ladies in the hearts of Lagos, it sells fashion, party, pretty faces and drama. After chaos, fights, parties and makeup, season 1 ends in Dubai on a high note and plenty of chaos, it is no surprise that Season 2 came back with lots more drama and even better chaos.

Season 2 begins with Mariam seeking some kind of closure with Tanniah over a meet up which subsequently becomes chaos and the rest becomes history.  The group’s next meeting welcomes the presence of two New members who were introduced into the friend circle, Tonia and Faith, each coming with their own drama and scary love for chaos. While recapping the events of the last season, going from iyabo’s fights with Laura to Tanniah almost physically assaulting Chioma. Tania was introduced to the group by Chioma and at first gave off the vibe  of a no nonsense person, but this vibe changed as the show progressed because she shows to be what she really is not. Faith on the other hand, began the show with dominance and class which we saw in her first outfit to mariam event. This to me made Iyabo feel some kind of way and intentionally stepped on her dress. With exaggerated efforts which screams drama and trouble to me.

The women each had their personalities In this second season. They eachbseeked in every episode a way to dominate others either through fashion, drama or trouble. Anyhow, drama must be served.

Tania at first gave off a calm and collected person vibe but as the show progressed, we realized  she was one who barely had a personal opinion and hid always behind Chioma or Iyabo. Iyabo on the other hand is known for her straightforwardness and craziness too, the Nollywood star is a prime instigator of drama and chaos, and as expected, delivered accordingly. Iyabo, being everly straightforward, is not one to hide her feelings or opinion towards someone and this was seen in her very obvious misgiving about Laura, and probably Faith too.

Laura on the other hand, tuned down on the violence and chaos this season. She acted a lot more mature than the last season and handled conflicts better than she did before.

Dr Rommel can take the crown for world best liar, because how do you lie so much in a show that will still make it back on the screen? Except for extra drama and lies, the ladies weren’t catching up on his lies because of his conviction. In Episode 12, where he said all those obscenities about faith was really scary, yo! I became scared of him, Because How do you come up with so much well written script and say it with so much conviction? It felt a lot like he took the Ladies for a fool to shamelessly say so much in a meeting where everyone, even Faith, was present. And later hearing Chioma in her confession stating that she believes him is really scary but, to her credit, he was quite convincing.

The show overall only served chaos and drama and very few entertaining episodes like in episode 4, in the weekend getaway, the argument between faith and Mariam, hearing the names the ladies were calling themselves and the response reactions were funny and I found it difficult to control my laughter. A similar thing happened in episode 12 when Faith called Tania Names and their reactions were gold, specifically, in the scene where Faith called Tania a puppet, that moment of comic relief is what we needed. 

RHOL2 Seems scripted to me, even though most of the characters have come to debunk this, it pretty much still feels this way because most of the scenes were unreal, and some overly dramatic because most of the ladies were faking to me. Throughout the show, one person I felt her vibe was Tanniah because she was real, probably the realest when we compare to her friends.

Mariam is one who can’t get her priorities straight and finds herself making mistakes in her business and everywhere. For boldness and strength which I find somewhat as she is never any of what she portrays to be. 

The show has a 5/10 rating. Though the cinematography and camera quality is great, the strong lack of storyline and lots of toxicity and plenty of backbiting is annoying and a big turn off because these ladies are influential.

By Miracle Marcus