The bizarre and often absurd reasons modern relationships fail are sharply dissected in a recent viral short film series produced on Edem Victor social media channel. This chaotic portrayal of contemporary dating, driven by hyper-specific, seemingly trivial personal pet peeves, or "irks," demonstrates how a minor annoyance can become a catastrophic dealbreaker, even in long-term commitments.
The series immediately sets a tone of high emotional volatility with a three-year relationship collapsing because the man, Kunle, declared his partner Bella's laughter to be the problem. Kunle told Bella, "I'm done. It's that simple," explaining that the way she laughs is "irritating". He confessed that he "thought I could handle it," but three years into the relationship, he could no longer tolerate her laughing "like a mad woman" or "clacking like a witch from the west" during social outings. Bella desperately pleaded that her laugh is simply "who I am" and promised to "try harder" and "change it".
Kunle, however, was resolute, telling her to come back only "when you're done changing your laughter" before walking out.
The raw, hostile environment created by these sudden splits is immediately apparent. A subsequent scene captured a stranger trying to initiate a relationship with Bella using the outdated pick-up line: "is your daddy a thief... because he stole all the stars in the sky and he put them in your eyes". Bella, still reeling from the breakup, reacted with extreme hostility, asking the stranger, "are you mad," "are you stupid," and calling him a "useless buffoon".
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Edem Victor's series then highlights a contrasting scenario where a relationship dissolves due to the man’s perceived excessive devotion. James’s partner immediately questioned his presence, asking if he was "mad" and "jobless," and complained that he was "doing too much". When James protested that he was only "doing too much because I care about you," she countered, "too much of everything is bad". She detailed an incident to illustrate his intrusive level of "caring": when she was working and unreachable, he initiated an obsessive contact chain—messaging her friend who dates her uncle, who then messaged him his size chick's number (her sister's best friend), who gave him her sister's number, who finally sent him her colleague's number. James then messaged the colleague, who confirmed she was fine. James genuinely believed this chain of obsessive contact was a normal display of being a "caring person," prompting his partner to call his caring "the stupidest [reason for a breakup] I've ever heard in this life".
Later, the woman from the second argument expressed relief to a friend that she was trying to "ease back into the market" after her ex, whom she was only "managing," did her "dirty" with something "so petty". She revealed the ex-had recently called, apologizing for ruining "something so beautiful with something so petty," but she had immediately blocked him, stating her wish to go through her new date "without laughing".
This new date introduces a delicious irony, facilitated by Edem Victor's scripting. The woman stated that she does "not like nonchalant men" and prefers her men to be "obsessed with me". She described the precise "obsessed" scenario that her previous partner enacted—calling "some people, a few people, maybe everyone" if she couldn't be reached late at work—and asked if that would be too much. She enthusiastically replied that it was "not even enough," requiring him to "call the fire department" to truly demonstrate that he misses her. However, the man then revealed his own irks: "I don't like women that eat a bar". When she asked for clarification, he pointed out the weirdness of her laughter after his joke (a poor one about the years 2019, 2020, and 2021), asking, "have you heard your [laughter]". The conversation thus circles back to the initial absurdity of the breakup over a laugh, suggesting that these "petty" reasons for relationship failure, highlighted throughout the dramatic sketches presented by Edem Victor, are universally destructive.
