Julien Neaves, Caribbean Head Writer
Barbadian webseries Badness by Life Over Death Productions is like junk food—I know it’s not good nor is it good for me, but I can’t stop watching it.
Episode 2 continues following the events of the pilot where an inner-city gangster named Shella shoots another gangster named Demon in his leg after the latter “opposed him” (accosted him) for chatting up his girlfriend. This inflames tensions in the area and some battle lines are drawn after the incident. You will notice I have named the characters this time around and that’s because we learn their names in this episode courtesy of some gaudy text graphics. There are other characters like female gangster “Not Nice,” Demon ally “Crime Boss” and “Mega-Man” (Shella’s ally and whose sobriquet is a personal favourite) but the only important thing to note is which side of the conflict they are on.
Like the pilot, Episode 2 has the characters speaking in their thick Bajan accents and I felt like I was doing primary school English again and trying to pick out the key terms. But it’s not that deep a story and the context is pretty clear. Most of the episode introduces new players on both sides, including Shella’s cop relative CID John Brown, and is just okay. But the ending features a tense and violent interaction between Mega-Man, his enforcer Short-Boss (these names) and Demon’s father Frank-Wytte (what is with all the hyphens?). It is very well done and entertaining. And if you can’t be Oscar-worthy cinema, at least you can be fun. Episode 2 is a clear improvement on the first and has me hooked for more of the 12-episode webseries. Darn junk food!
Badness Episode 2 Score: 6 out of 10
You can watch Badness Episode 2 by clicking here. And you can check out more Caribbean gangsta content below:
Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an award-winning author. I say things like “13 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.