Characteristically, critics are meant to despise everything before they even watch it. Bad Hollywood myths and grumpy old men fortified the stereotype. Personally; not one for it. So I decided to give Demigods a chance. A few weeks before making my appraisal of it.
Demigods is a multi-arc series. That is, multiple storylines that have nothing to do with each other and yet the story players cross paths regularly. There’s the story of the Abel, a man wronged by his brother and wrongfully accused by his niece of molesting her. He serves six years in prison and is released based on his good behavior.
Then there’s the story of Juliana, a church based singer, who is being pressured into marrying her church’s pastor by both the pastor and her father. She fights against their wishes which are based on some sinister plot that is yet to be revealed or make sense. In fact, the hints being given haven’t been interesting. Juliana has a friend or a best friend (not quite sure on that friendship status), Mona, who is supposed to be the faithful sidekick who revolts against the role when it comes down to a man.
The man is Abel. After a thorough attack from street gangs, he stumbles into Juliana’s church while she is rehearsing her solo hymns and she takes him to hospital. An instant attraction develops between them to the dismay and displeasure of the pastor and her father. So far, Mona too expresses interest in Abel, declaring to Juliana that she can have the solos and the popularity but Mona would not back down from Abel.
Storyline number four involves Mona and her ex (as assumed) who is responsible (albeit vaguely) for the demise of her brother.
The other storyline involves Abel’s brother’s family. Early on we know that Abel’s brother, Fabian or something ridiculous of the soap opera sort is the one molesting his niece. This causes friction between Abel and Fabian after the former is released from prison which is also a source of contention between Fabian and his wife. Abel’s niece runs away from home unable to take the sexual abuse any longer and decides living on the street is a far better venture especially after being taken under the wing of a street family headed by one Obama. Her mother embarks on frantically searching for her but her efforts are thwarted by Fabian. There are a few close calls when she stumbles upon Obama and shows him her daughter’s picture. He denies having seen her, intimidating her mother into running off.
Demigods is well produced; that is evident off the bat but whoever is in charge of the script (and this being Kenya we know it’s just one person) is in dire need of a vacation. Just as Glee having a limited source of ideas using a finite few to write their scripts, so does Demigods fail. The storylines are drawn out and not interesting, the acting swings between sub-par and good depending on the actor. Half the cast is good; the other half could do with aggressive classes. Though a noble effort, drastic changes need to be carried out on the program to make it more interesting and speed up the pace of the stories to maintain the interest of the viewers.
