All too soon, another year is coming to an end. But you know what sets this year apart from the rest? Quite simply, it’s the sheer volume of content that the State dished out. Yes indeed, after that resurrection in 2022, we went real hard this year and published 22 stories!
Of course, some of them are multi-season series and are still ongoing, but we can still look at what they’ve provided so far.
Anyways, this is the first part of the reviews, so we’re looking at eleven of them. This time, there’s no ranking, because that would be a headache, if we’re being honest. We’re just looking at each story and what it brought. So, let’s get into it, in no particular order…
14 DAYS
My oh my, Richie Acquah! You are such a fortunate man. Honestly. You could have easily caved in and become one of the most hated husbands in Dabarville (someone else took that title, but we’ll definitely be talking about that later on) but thank God you stuck to them scruples.
One undeniable thing throughout this story is the bond between Richie and Ellie. They really love each other, and Richie never fails to remind us how precious his cute wife is to him. And that’s why it’s so grating to see him get hypnotized by Marilyn. It became all too evident that the girl was crossing boundaries that she had no business crossing, yet our man just kept falling for the cutie’s charm. I mean, bruv, the girl was indirectly telling you she’s ready to snatch you from your wife at the beach. Then she asks you to cuddle her while she sleeps! Bro! Those red flags are the size of an entire nation! You don’t give her that space! Let her know her place!
Oh well, he eventually did. After nearly getting down and dirty with her. That was one close shave for him! I bet y’all were super relieved he snapped out of it.
I think the episode after that was the highlight of the story. That error brought out the firmness and decisive side that should’ve been there from the onset. Like he said, “If her tears will put a smile on Ellie’s face, then so be it.” At the end of the day, he held on to that bond with his favourite human being in the world, and he clearly benefited from that.
So yeah, Richie did the husbandhood proud. Someone else didn’t, at all, and we’ll get to that in a bit…
AWKWARD WEEKEND
Imagine anticipating a good time with the parents of your partner whom you’ll be meeting for the first time, only to experience absolute hell at their hands. Well, Jay Arthur was the unfortunate soul in this situation, and you just feel for him, don’t you?
I mean, Mr. and Mrs. Brown clearly preferred Vincent, fair enough. But inviting him to spend the weekend at the same time their daughter said she’s bringing her boyfriend is just foul. And boy, they made up their opinion about him, dipped it in cement and let it dry! I can only imagine how insulting it’ll feel to be told you’re into fraud when you’re working for a top company. Yeah, they really did him dirty, and it wasn’t fair to him at all.
That said, was the decision of Jay and Robin to engage in loud coitus justifiable? I honestly don’t think so. It was a pretty crazy way to spit back at them.
And considering how that awkward weekend turned to awful and bloody at the end, would you tell Jay to break up with Robin or just advise him to believe that things can turn around? I guess it might be debatable to some, but, personally, there’s nothing sweeter than your prospective in-laws loving you, and nothing worse than them hating you. It’s crystal clear Jay would never be accepted. He’s better off moving on…
SCORNED
So, about that matter of some husbands doing the worst…
Once upon a time, I thought that Thomas Dawson of ‘Options N Upshots’ was the most despicable husband on the State.
Then this year, B.Z. Fanti came in and said ‘Hold my beer’.
Goodness gracious me, Ferdinand Danso is that husband you pray your sister/daughter/female loved one never encounters! His treatment of Princess is just repulsive. And that girl called Patricia Nimpong… sorry, I mean Miss Kirania, she’s just another awful person. That’s definitely one couple making their way onto Dabar’s Hall of Shame.
I dunno about you, but it’s not even about the cheating alone, it’s about the treatment of Princess. I mean, cheating on your wife with a bad bitch is bad enough. Abusing her and letting your bad bitch send her mocking text messages, unacceptable. But letting her send a voice note of you intensely screwing her? Then after she freaks out (which is understandable. Who wouldn’t flip out?) you throw her out of the house? Yeah, that was the moment we all collectively hated Ferdinand at once.
And I know we were baying for blood once that happened and he brought his lil plaything in. Surely these monsters couldn’t get away with it.
Well, I don’t think we expected Princess to have an underground gangsta as an ex, but we were super pleased. Not just because he’d deal with them, but bruh, it was obvious Andy loved the woman. He lowkey dropped one of the most romantic speeches on the State when they reunited.
Anyway, Mrs. Danso got back at them in a really ruthless style. We all know what Kofi and Darlow did to Kirania, no need to speak about it. And as for that parting gift she gave Ferdinand? Don’t think about it too much if you’re a man; you’ll squirm in serious discomfort.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Ferdinand and Kirania found that out the hardest of hard ways. As for Princess, well, let’s just say she’s enjoying her life of giving Andy kingly treatment and lots and lots of babies in Curacao. I wonder how many they’ll have…
CLEMENTINE
Kay unleashed on us one of the State’s most psychopathic characters, and boy, was this thrilling!
From the beginning, we’re made to understand that this babe is not normal. I mean, the circumstances leading up to her birth are not normal, and the family she lived in was anything but normal, so once you get past the prologue, you know something crazy will unravel.
I’m still wondering how Akwesi didn’t find anything eerie about Clementine’s words to him before they went on to make love for the first time, because that was some creepy, creepy statement right there. Unfortunately, he learned just how deep it was after she saw him chatting with Suzie.
Yeah. Her boyfriend talking with his female colleague at work was enough to send her into a rage and push her to rearrange his entire house. That is an absolutely frightening and chilling level of psychopath right there. Not forgetting the fact that she somehow found Suzie’s number and threatened her and drove the poor girl away from the office.
Unfortunately, Akwesi was in way too deep to escape the clutches of this witch. That ‘f**k you’ message he sent her was basically a death warrant, and it only went downhill from there, with one of the most uncomfortable finales you’ll ever see on the State (all those teases and lashes… ugh, that boy experienced hell), ending in an unfortunate end.
If you’re like me, you probably walked away from this, thinking, ‘Lord, may I never ever encounter a girl like this, in Jesus name!’
A QUEST FOR BLISS
This short tale, basically, is an account of what can happen when your erection determines your direction. And more often than not, that direction can bring you sorrow.
Paa Grant’s little trip to the Garden City was for nothing more than a weekend of action with some chick he met on a dating app, and boy, did he experience two major twists! From the zenith of getting hot and busy with two fine girls to the nadir of having everything taken away from him. Yeah, he didn’t expect any of those, and neither did we.
That statement from the policeman at the end? Pure facts. But yeah, it was pretty obvious Paa Grant couldn’t be bothered to pick the hint.
But then again, after having your money, belongings and clothes stolen from you, and discovering you were sold an entire lie, I don’t think reprimands were gonna go down well with him, but anyways…
FRENEMY OF MY BESTIE
The concept of relationship attempts. An interesting one. What Kay brought us in this one, though? My oh my.
The relationship between Boris and Lara seems like that typical type where they’re just tossing playful insults at each other. The issue is when Lara presumes that Boris might have a thing for her and wants to explore that. I mean, I can’t blame her; it’s very obvious Clarence was not to be taken seriously (the dude was only about clapping those cheeks and disappearing afterwards). But… did she have to go that far?
Yeah, it goes downhill once she charms him and turns him into a sex/cash slave. And as for Cecilia… some friend she is. It just wasn’t enough for her to lead Lara to find whoever made that spell, she had to push her to leach the poor dude dry. Jeeez! Thank goodness for Sarah! She saved Boris.
That said, I can’t help but feel sorry for Lara at the end. Of course, what she did was despicable and all, but she realized how wrong she was, and with that ending, you just feel that it all could have been avoided if she just confessed and apologized. Maybe… just maybe… Boris would have not gone ahead with that revenge plan.
But nah, she didn’t. So, it is what it is….
WE RIOT
We went back in time to the days when Ghana was known as Gold Coast for this one! Based on the 1948 riots, this takes a look at what led to those events, and it’s quite a reminder that things were not sweet under colonial rule at all. The men who fought for Britain in the Second World War were totally ignored with respect to their entitlements, the colonial government was ignoring the needs of the people… it wasn’t pleasant.
The march to the Castle, Superintendent Imray ordering them to stop, him shooting the three soldiers – Corporal Attipoe, Sergeant Adjetey and Private Odartey Lamptey… all those things we learned were present in there. And I’m extremely salty that Imray was never made to account for killing those men.
As for the other characters… Justice and Kofi were basically representing the frustrated youth of the country, and their anger manifested in how they partook in the riots, leaching every store they could get in. Unfortunately, that ended badly for Justice. The Avudega men did all they could to try and save their farm, but yeah, the Agricultural Department did them dirty. That must have really sucked.
And Sergeant Nii Amarteifio and his wife… let’s just say that if I do a list of Dabar’s most unenviable couples and they’re not in there, I don’t know what I’m about. Jeeez! They were toxic! Naa Anyema’s ‘leave it to God’ stance was really annoying, though. She’s definitely the type of woman who will get cheated down to her last pesewa and refuse to do anything about it, because ‘God will fight for her’. Such rubbish.
With that extremely nasty exchange of theirs at the end (sorry, I mean roasting, coz Naa Anyema barely got a word in), I can only wonder how the atmosphere in their house must have been like afterwards…
SONS OF ELLIS
If you’re thinking this relates to a certain priest in the Bible, you’re absolutely spot on. I mean, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Ellis… Eli…
Anyways, Makafui brought us not one, not two, but three eligible members for the Hall of Shame on this one. Hans and Finn Ellis were to be expected once you knew the inspiration behind the story, but ‘Reverend’ Christie Simmons was a discovery. And in the wrongest way possible. Three episodes in, and I was literally questioning if these people ran a church or a mafia clique. I ain’t even joking!
For Bishop Ellis… well, just like the Old Testament priest, he was far too lackadaisical in dealing with his boys. I mean, if they’re desecrating the work of God with unacceptable behaviour, you need to set them straight. For goodness’ sake, Finn literally didn’t even believe in God to begin with!
As for Marcus Sam, the young prophet seeing all that was happening… he had it tough, dealing with all those visions he received, pushback from the sons of Ellis, that attempt by Salma to seduce him, unexpectedly getting promoted to lead Upward Ministries, the resistance to warn the Ellis boys about their fate… boy, he had a lot placed on his shoulders.
Remember what Finn said? “God’s crosshairs, bro? I would be dead by now if God actually existed.” Well… God truly does exist, so it might have tarried, but he did get what was coming to him. Him, his brother, their side piece and their father. Their ends were all swift and sharp.
I just wonder how Marcus was going to handle the church afterwards, with all those losses and the fire…
A PLAYA & SOME SHATTAS
Mr. Damien McCarthy thought he was slick, huh? Boy thought he could just waltz into town, sweet-talk the girl into dropping her panties for him, and run away and act like she never existed. Well, many guys have gotten away with that, but not him.
His obnoxiousness makes itself manifest as the story slowly progresses, and by the time he plainly admits to lying to her and not caring about her feelings, we already don’t want him to get away with it.
So we were pleased to see that Lily had someone to turn to. Nico Blaze’s plan was pretty tactical, though, choosing not to beat Damien senseless straightaway. At the end, though, you can see he was sending the boy a message: he runs the streets, and there’s no hiding from him and his boys.
My favourite scene in there? When Vivica ripped him apart. Good for her, coz all Damien had in mind was to sleep with her and use her for consignment bragging rights with his friends. Pathetic.
As for that ending, the beatdown was brutal! And I think Damien and Lily getting married is the craziest punishment the former could ever get. You’re getting married to a woman you don’t like, aside from her big breasts and ass, and you dare not do anything nasty to her lest her cousins catch you and discipline you. And she despises you because of the secret video you took and makes it clear if you so much as deny her of her wants, her cousin will hear about it. Bruh, Damien’s set up for a miserable married life, that’s for sure.
But, as Amofa said: “Chale. Too bad for you, Damien. Too bad.”
DELIRANT REGES
The story of the ten plagues God visited upon the land of Egypt when Pharoah refused to release the Israelites. It’s something we’re all familiar with (well, I assume so). This story took a very unique perspective, as we looked at it through the eyes of one of the Pharoah’s advisors and his wife. Tabia sees the stubbornness of Pharoah for what it really is: foolish stubbornness. Her husband Tes-Amen, though? Nope, he’s in full agreement with his boss.
Following them and their states of minds and opinions on Pharoah’s behaviour throughout is something of a unique experience. We see them experience the tragedy of losing their firstborn, which reminds us just how painful a blow that was to the whole of Egypt. We see them agree that the Israelites leaving is the best… for a short time. Then their opinions go opposite again when Pharoah says they should recapture them.
That last conversation before Tes-Amen left is pretty heartbreaking. You know for sure that that’s the last time Tabia is seeing her husband. And you can’t help but shake your head in the penultimate episode where Tes-Amen realizes way too late how stupid it was to be fighting God the way his master had been.
And the end? Definitely one of the saddest finales we’ve had. We already figured what was gonna happen, but Tabia’s lamentations don’t make it any less heartbreaking. At the end of the day, this is a woman who’s lost almost everything. And she’s obviously not the only one; so many Egyptians were probably like her as well.
At the end of the day, Pharoah’s foolish pride destroyed not only him, but his people. Sad.
MTD: WEDDING BELLS
Oh, what a joy it was to meet the Dolphynes again this year! I still go back to that series, coz honestly, it’s just legendary as far as the State of Dabar is concerned. It’s what ‘The Sopranos’ is to HBO, if that’s a good enough comparison.
Anyways, this was one story with nothing but good vibes throughout. From the moment it popped up, we all knew who those wedding bells were ringing for: Daniel and Larissa’s first baby and her darling Edem, of course!
The joy throughout the entire spin-off series is tangible throughout, as our dear Dolphyne couple and the rest of the kids all prepare vigorously and gleefully for the major event. The most memorable moment for me, outside of the ceremonies, was when Diamond got those gifts from her siblings, and that special blessing from Daniel and Larissa. Listen, there’s nothing more intimate and heart-warming than that scene. It’s a great reminder of how closely knit this family is, and why we adore them so much.
Of course, the traditional wedding, white wedding and reception episodes are absolutely epic. We celebrated it all with them. And it was awesome to see what’s happening with the rest of the familiar faces we know. Oscar’s still with Adelaide, although she’s pursuing her Masters degree in Australia, Akinyi defeated cancer and is back to full health, Chief Tay is now officially a family friend…
And Toby. Yeah, I bet we were all delighted to see he’s got a loving girlfriend now. It’s the least he deserves after that crazy Delphine saga.
He just needs to keep himself in check, the way he gets distracted by her backside…
Stay tuned for part 2!!