Far from Home

Literally every single cliche you can think of was put into this that it's almost embarrassing. It's like an insult to the intelligence of the audience. Are we suppose to believe these are actually teenagers? The story is so rushed and there are so many plot holes. Drug dealing show to save family cliche, friend sleeping with friends boyfriend cliche, guy sneaks into a school out of his league cliche, school riot cliche that actually works despite the fact kids actually burned the school, kidnapping cliche, bitter ex girlfriend turned villain cliche which makes zero sense. How did she even get supply or people to work for her....so many secrets and lies cliches in this that its so bad. Protagonist knows a secret and keeps it from love interest cliche, the person the protagonist admires disappoints him cliche, the fact that the school actually knows the protagonist cheated and yet allows him to stay.....so much obvious nonsense..

Far from home managed to garner a lot of attention even before it was released on Netflix, so it's no shocker that the young adult series blitzed its way to the top of Netflix's viewership charts, but, is it worth all the hype?

Far from home tries to thrive on the novelty of being Netflix's first Nigerian young adult series, and in doing so, poorly borrows from all the tropes that the genre is known for. The first episode opens deftly, trying to display the background of the protagonist and how he manoeuvres his way into Wilmer Academy (a school for the one-percenters), but everything goes downhill from here. Far from home is unabashedly centred on its protagonist, and seeing the sprawling number of supporting characters, removes the individuality of the supporting characters and doesn't propel character development.

The themes approached by the series are half-baked at best. The plot is messy, convoluted and filled with plotholes, and most egregiously, it builds up to a climax that's rushed.

The redeeming quality Far from home has is in its cast, locations and cinematography. The cast is a good blend of upcoming actors and a-list actors; Far from home also handles its cast carefully, making sure that the renowned actors (which it has a lot of, throwing them into cameos and smaller roles) don't overshadow the newbies. The cast can also be praised for bringing the best out of the poorly fleshed story they had to work with.

In all, Far from home is binge-able and enjoyable but its innumerable flaws would leave a bad taste, especially given how much better it could have been.

The emergence of the first young adult series from Nigeria to debut on Netflix marks a significant milestone in the country's entertainment industry. However, despite this achievement, certain aspects of the show might raise concerns among viewers, particularly regarding the apparent overuse of adapted concepts from other sources.

One of the noticeable criticisms is the utilization of themes and elements that seem borrowed or reminiscent of existing concepts. For instance, the incorporation of cheerleading, certain hairstyles, and even the uniform aesthetics that resemble those seen in the South African series "Blood and Water" may trigger a sense of déjà vu among audiences. This replication of ideas might detract from the show's originality and leave viewers questioning the creativity and uniqueness of the series.

On a positive note, the series boasts a stunning cast and impressive cinematography, which contribute significantly to its appeal. The visual presentation, combined with the charismatic performances of the actors, adds a layer of allure to the show. Additionally, the plot, while not exceptional, manages to maintain an "okay" level of intrigue, providing enough substance to keep viewers engaged.

For a show meant to appeal to Nigerians, this show whitewashed the culture down to the mere pronunciation of the protagonist's name; Ishaya.

There are lots more things that make the show extremely unbearable to watch such as the lack of proper context of what exactly Wilmer is, the cringeworthy dialogues, as well as the forced accents and the mediocre acting from a vast majority of the cast excluding the portrayers of the Antagonists. Surely there are much more talented actors in Nigeria; the most populated country in Africa yet the ones that make it to the big screen always represent the Nigerian movie industry quite poorly.

The show has flaws that outweigh the good parts, however i honestly couldn't stop until i got the last episode. The show had so much potential and could do better with a lot more brains put into the writing. It's worth a watch nonetheless.

I think the casting really boosted the series. Great acting skills, they killed their roles and that made the film a great watch for me. Ishaya embodied his role, it was fantastic. The cinematography was great too. I think the storyline was rushed and not so realistic enough. Since it was going to be a series, they would have developed the storyline better, don't see the need to rush everything in one season. We could have had more realistic feel of what living in the slum area of Isale Eko is for a young adult. It was a nice and it's one of those films I'll see again a few more times when I'm bored.