Written By Adanna Onyekara

A head full of ideas! right? Mr. Gomez (Akin Lewis) actually had ten blind dates, for Bisola (Mercy Johnson), ten dates but she ended the search at what? "Seven and a Half Dates" A Biodun Stephen Film opening with area shots of Lagos Nigeria in her glory with a voice-over of one of the richest male voices you can imagine. Executively produced by Samuel (BigSam) Olatunji, produced by Toyin Abraham, written by Joy Isi Bewaji and directed by Biodun Stephen, some of my takeaways were:-

1) Sola Sobawale can aaaact, like the typical Nigerian mother she can guilt-trip her daughter into doing and getting away with anything, tear her daughter apart and rebuild her again, then defend her like the proud lioness that she is.

2) Wise people have so many quotes on this second lesson - There is no shame in ending an abusive relationship, A broken relationship is better than a broken marriage, but the quote I choose to go with is - Marriage is not by force. If it's not working while you both are dating how do you think it works when you both are married? If he's already beating you blue black now while you're dating, my sister it is not by fooooorce, find the strength to walk away I promise you, your own person will come, forget the world including mummy and daddy for now, they're not the ones taking the beating.

3) Be parents to your children but please also be their friends, they need to be able to talk to you and with you. Husbands, Fathers, treat your wives like the queens they are and your daughters like the princesses they are, so that way, they learn how a man is to treat a woman regardless of what life throws at them

4) Ladies, if some people tell you about stories of their dates, dates they've actually been on, you will thank God for your life, so yes date as many as you can handle, if you like have Seven and a Half Dates too, but eventually, marry your friend. Just enjoy being alive in this moment while you're going on all those dates.

5) The way Bisola (Mercy Johnson) was happy for Mabel (Bhaira Mcwizu) was just divine, the competitions that siblings have to cope with in some homes, is a game of chess all on its own, placing your players right even before you get out into the world, it's great that wasn't all in her head, by:-

1) Being happy (genuinely happy) when she found out Mabel was engaged

2) Asking her mom what it's got to do with her even if her younger sister was getting married before her. Ladies should learn from her, saying it doesn't mean anything.

3) Noticing the pain her sister was going through when everybody was ignoring it thanks to the patriarchal system our society is built on

4) Being a true big sister when Mabel needed one

5) This is not me being a feminist but the fact that Bisola or should I say the writer, didn't allow her determination turn into desperation, defending the saying that NO! A woman is defined by her marital status, no matter what she could have achieved, she's still a failure.
Like I said earlier, Divine.

Great lessons from this masterpiece!!!

@adannaonyekara