Shiko Msa
I’ve been using Showmax as my entertainment of choice at home and office for the last few months now. The first thing I did when I got onto Showmax was to find it a home, and for this I chose the Samsung Galaxy S2 tab – light and portable that I can move around with from room to room and to the office, and and with a big enough screen size. Most of all I can snuggle with it in bed late at night or on those cold weekends when I could not be bothered to leave the house.
The first show I watched as soon as I signed up for Showmax was ‘The Young Pope’ – a daring show of a tyrannical Pope Pius XIII, played so brilliantly by Jude Law. The idea of a hip hop pope was certainly different but ever so intriguing right from the word go. The first few episodes felt weird but as I got more and more hooked, the weirdness quickly gave way to the realization that this sinister series is actually just dangerously delicious and downright genius. It captures the full emotions of the man, from being tough as nails to breaking down into a soft mush. The show is so well written and executed to mess with your head. In parts I couldn’t tell whether the pope had a plan or whether he was making things up as he moved along with his papacy. Ridiculous as they are, shows based on the church are usually not exactly wildly inaccurate and that added to the intrigue. That’s all we’re saying about this show. We’re not about to post spoilers. Except that it has a really good playlist and one of the songs I really liked was Never be like you by Flume.
Watching the young pope pushed me to watch another show that I’d ignored long time ago, and which is also along the same lines – The Borgias. I was pleased to find this also on Showmax.
I’ve also found quite a few old gems which flew past me in their prime. I’m almost always the last to watch very hyped up shows and I’m almost afraid to admit that I’ve never come round to watching shows like the Godfather trilogy and surprise surprise, Downton Abbey. I have a few friends I know who would kill me for this but hey! It is like that :-D. I’m however happy to report that I’m currently binge watching and loving Downton Abbey and will be moving to The Godfather immediately after this.
Soon as I’m done with these oldies I intend to come back home and delve into Kenyan content which is the star of Showmax in our country. There is lots and lots of Kenyan and indeed African content and lovers of local TV are in for a treat. To start me off, I’ve already earmarked ‘This is it’, a romantic comedy starring Nick Mutuma and ‘State House’ a political drama starring Jimmy Gathu and Karen Lucas. Kenya aside, one of my favourite go to further afield is ‘Don’t mess with Kansiime’. I love her short snappy snippets and I find myself running there for a laugh or two in between episodes of a series or when I don’t have time to watch longer shows.
Something else firmly on my line up is Makers of a nation – a documentary by Hilary Ng’weno. It follows the stories of independence era politicians in Kenya and their roles in the making of the political landscape. Yes, I’m not averse to learning Kenyan history, plus anything narrated by Lorna Dias I’m in. There are lots of other documentaries even from the BBC and as a documentary lover, I have a lot of content to look forward to. I almost squealed in delight when I saw that Vice, my favourite bad ass under grounders are on Showmax too and I cant wait to catch up with them. How I wish I could watch everything at the same time!
When my little nieces and nephews are around, the house, including Showmax is all about them and luckily, there is more than enough kids content. I’ve since learnt some of their favourites like Mr. Bean animated which I’ll admit I also loved to bits, Diego, Alladin, Paw Patrol and good old sponge bob among others. These are just a few, otherwise there’s lots more for the kids.
Showmax has an option to download stuff to watch later but I’m somewhat a bit disappointed because I cannot download into the Samsung tab – in which case I’d be in heaven considering I can carry content to the village where I go just about every weekend. I did try to find out why from the Showmax support page and “downloads are not currently available on some newer gadgets”.
Something to note about downloads though for those who’s gadgets work, content will be on your device for 30 days since the date of download, but once you start watching any downloaded show, then you have 48 hours.
I’m still getting to know Showmax and so far I love it. I’ll be writing more as I move along and discover more shows.
