The Party, a Nigerian series streaming on Netflix, opens with the mysterious death of Bobo at what should have been his birthday celebration. Three detectives—Habiba, Etim, and Moshood—arrive to investigate, but quickly find themselves entangled in a web of motives and secrets. Everyone around Bobo had a reason to want him dead: a betrayed wife, a wronged friend, and others whose skeletons he might have uncovered. Still, Bobo is not portrayed as a villain, just an ordinary man with complicated relationships.

Strangely, Bobo’s death doesn’t provoke the emotional response one might expect. Aside from his distraught mother, most characters treat the murder as a nuisance rather than a tragedy. They lie with ease, twist their stories with charm, and behave like seasoned actors rather than shaken witnesses. The investigators aren’t much better—Habiba is meant to be the sharpest of the trio, but the show glosses over proper investigative work in favour of moody stares and vague conclusions, often skipping the logic behind their findings altogether.

In the end, The Party feels like an anti-mystery. While it checks all the genre boxes—dead body, list of suspects, flawed investigators—it resists offering real answers. The final reveal is implausible, key evidence is dismissed, and motivations remain murky. But the film still succeeds on many levels: the performances are strong, the visuals striking, and the tone dripping with satire. Whether this subversion of the whodunit format is deliberate or accidental is, ironically, the greatest mystery of all.

Rating 6/10 – Mildly recommended

Quite an educational movie; I particularly loved the firmness of the victim’s wife. Strong woman

The cinematography and EDITING??????

Femi Branch, the friends, Shaffy Bello .

It was an engaging watch all in all.

They put all the cast to good use.