TV REVIEW: New African Superhero Series "Jongo" on BET Africa Dies a Slow Death Right From the Beginning

When I first heard of "Jongo", like anyone else would, I found the idea of an African super hero story very intriguing! So I had to see it. However, right from the beginning, I never quite approved of the plot. It sounded very armature and typically low-budget. Put a dead slave, a magical crystal and an African superhero in one storyline, and the whole thing screams 'voodoo' and 'stereotypical'. However, it was shot in Johannesburg and not in Lagos, so I thought maybe it had a chance.

Jongo Season 1 tells the origin story of a young man, Eli King, who acquires an array of supernatural abilities after an alien crystal is found in a cave at the Cradle of Humankind. The stone is left to him by his father, an enslaved miner who is murdered shortly after escaping from the cave. As Eli tries to deal with the death of his father and sets out to find the men responsible, he must also grapple with the powers of the crystal and how it will indelibly alter the course of his life. What Eli doesn't know is that the men he is hunting have crystals of their own and need Eli's stone to fulfil an ancient and devastating prophecy which will threaten the lives of millions. Caught up in the middle of everything is Maya, the love of Eli's life.

In the first episode, "Jongo" starts off very slow. And when I say slow, I mean in the literal sense. Scenes are drawn out and go on for ages, unnecessarily. Then there is the slow-motion effects that are inserted every now and then, I assume for dramatic purposes, which drags the plot to an even slower pace. The acting is disastrous! The cast ensemble seems to consist of mostly first time actors, and for them to be tasked with acting in a sci-fi production might have been the biggest mistake by the producers. It's hard enough to act in an ordinary production, let alone a production that still has to leave room for edited effects. They seem like a bunch of armatures desperately trying to have their 15 minutes of fame.

From eyes that light up to supernatural jumps and slow motions, it was CGI galore in the first episode of "Jongo". Of course, as expected, sci-fi and superhero productions tend to consist of more edited effects than the average. However, the trick is to make it all seem as natural as possible. As though it truly happened in real time and was not inserted separately. While watching "Jongo", you cannot help but continuously ask yourself what the editor was thinking. It is as if they packed every effect they know of in the one production, leaving it to suffocate out on screen. Most shows start out slowly and eventually build up with time, but "Jongo" dies a slow death right from the beginning. 

Watch "Jongo" on BET Africa every Mondays at 21:05 CAT