Country Queen Review: Netflix's Country Queen, a gritty tale of a woman battling two lives, makes for an appealing watch

An event planner from Nairobi returns to her village after a long hiatus of ten years, where she has to not only confront her traumatic past but also protect her family and village.

A poster of Country Queen

Country Queen

Story: An event planner from Nairobi returns to her village after ten years, where she has to not only confront her traumatic past but also take on a bunch of villagers, who have turned against her family. Adding to her woes is a mining mafia that is hell bent on destroying her village

Review: Akisa Musyoka (Melissa Kiplagat), an ambitious, affable and independent woman, runs her own successful event management firm in Nairobi, Kenya. She leads a comfortable life and has an affair with the charming gangster-cum-businessman Max Sibala (Blessing Lungaho), who is married to the headstrong and ruthless mining mogul Vivienne Sibala (Nini Wacera). All seems to be going well until she receives a call from her village and is informed that her father Mwalimu (Raymond Ofula) is unwell. 

Though gripped by the fear of facing her traumatic past back in the village, Akisa sets off home to visit her family in Tsilanga. However, soon after her arrival, her father, with whom Akisa has had a strained relationship, passes away, thus making the villagers believe that her arrival has put a curse on the village. We learn that Akisa had become a mother when she was very young and Mwalimu had taken away the child from her to protect his daughter's future. He later declares that the child was dead. This forces Akisa to leave the village, looking for a new life in Nairobi. Her mother Esther (Mumbi Kaigwa) is soon declared a witch after Akisa's father's coffin goes missing before the burial. 

At Tsilanga, Akisa bumps into her ex-boyfriend Kyalo (Melvin Elusa) and his girlfriend Anna (Shelia Munyiva), who is the village medical officer. She also discovers that a mining company that exploits its workers to the maximum, has discovered gold in the village, and are in the process of taking over lands of villages to convert them into mines. Mwalimu had been hell bent against the idea and had continously referred to the mines as a curse to the village. Soon, Akisa has the added responsibility of protecting her mother, who doesn't want to move out of the village, despite being forced to by her own relatives, who want to take away her land. 

Country Queen, Kenya's first homegrown series, is shot in English, Swahili and other regional languages, gives us a glimpse of the urban-rural disparity in Kenya, how rich mining barons leave no stone unturned when it comes to exerting their financial muscle, be it threatening the governor, gunning down their nemesis or exploiting the poor to get their work done, even if it means destroying the lives and future of poor children. We also get a peek of how the lives of villagers in Kenya is closely-knit, people's rebellion against an evil force, corruption which is rampant among those in business, government and even the media in Kenya and how villagers, who yearn to have better lives, quietly succumb to the pressure of the corporate sector. 

There is an interesting character, who is addressed as Professor (Oliver Litondo), in the series. Though the villagers believe that the old man had become senile, he clearly understands all that is happening around him. Akisa lives in two worlds - she is a high-flying entrepreneur in Kenya and a hurt mother who still cannot come up with the terms of losing her child back in her village. The star cast has come up with a nuanced performance. 

The downside of Country Queen is that the six episodes seem overtstretched as if the makers are trying to infuse too many elements and are trying to tell as much as possible within the plot. This can at times, get overbearing as the story does not require so much detailing. 

Verdict: A gritty tale of love, conflict, betrayal and corruption. An appealing watch!

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