Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Jungle’ On Prime Video, A Classic “Just One More Job” Story Set In A Near Future London

We’ve seen plenty of shows that tell their stories with a hip hop soundtrack. But we don’t think we’ve ever seen one where pertinent dialogue is given in the form of rhymes. A new British series on Prime Video has its characters rap through a lot of its dialogue, but somehow the lyrics make sense in the context of the story.

JUNGLE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we see a ’70s-era digital clock quickly running backward, a man talks to someone else on the phone, and tells him about Pemba Island, off Tanzania.

The Gist: Gogo (Ezra Elliott) is looking to get out of the drug game, and the man he’s talking to is wondering why he is still running with the reckless Slim (RA). Gogo ensures him that all he needs is one last big score and he’s out; he says this as he looks at his pregnant girlfriend Jessica (Nadia A’Rubea) sleeping next to him.

Gogo leaves the sleeping Jess and gets in the car with Slim; he sees Slim’s Glock and wants to know why it’s necessary. They but into an office and Slim holds a gun on the guy there, Aimer (Matt Young), while Gogo looks for the “gold dust” they were there to steal. In the frenzy, Gogo drops his phone, just as Jess calls him. Aimer, who obviously knows Jess, Gogo or both, sees the screen and calls Gogo by his name. Slim proceeds to shoot Aimer in the neck, leaving Gogo to watch Aimer bleed out and die.

While Gogo thinks this wasn’t necessary, Slim doesn’t care if Aimer lived or died. Gogo really thinks it’s his last job now, though Slim essentially, “You’re done when I tell you you’re done.” He tries to fence an expensive watch that he grabbed from Aimer with his contact Mia (IAMDBB), who sends a pic out to her contacts. One of those contacts happens to be a buddy of Slim’s rival 6IX (M24), Aimer’s younger brother, who’s looking to get his revenge on whoever killed him.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Jungle, even though it takes place in a near-future version of London, still reminds us of 50 Cent’s family of shows on Starz, like the BMF and the Power sequels and prequels.

Our Take: Creators Chas Appeti and Junior Okoli have certainly set a strong visual and musical style with Jungle. It’s set in a London that is familiar but still futuristic, with lots of holograms and otherworldly-lit advertising signs. A lot of the dialogue is rapped in a way that the rhymes make perfect sense in the context of the story.

The first episode may feel a bit light on plot, but given all of the other stylistic layers Appeti and Okoli have added to the story, that’s not such a bad thing. In reality, the situation Gogo finds himself in is the classic “just one more job” plot, where a person looks to get out of whatever criminal endeavor he or she is in by making one last big score, only for things to go horribly wrong.

It feels the six episodes will have Gogo’s need to get out all the more urgent as both 6IX and the feds go after him and Slim for Aimer’s death, as well as other interconnected stories to make things a bit more layered than what we see in the first episode. But starting out with Gogo’s straightforward dilemma helps make the other elements of the series stand out.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: As Gogo looks at the glowing watch he’s about to unload, the narrator says, “And so, as a result of our own hands, we end up willing ourselves to our own doom, little by little, piece by piece. And in the end, when everything has been said and done, and things are well and truly all fucked up, we only have ourselves to blame.”

Sleeper Star: Nadia A’Rubea has a monologue where Jessica tells Gogo that he’s never going to get out of this life, no matter what he says. It was one of the more affecting sequences in the first episode.

Most Pilot-y Line: “You’re the one who brought your phone on the move like some nerd,” Slim tells Gogo. We agree, but what if Jess went into labor? Is Slim that hartless?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Jungle has an arresting visual style, and its rap and drill soundtrack layers in more interesting elements. We’ll see how well those layers play together as the stories get more complicated.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.