A Review Of The Watcher - A Resolved Cliff-hanger?

Courtesy: Netflix

The watcher is an American mystery thriller based on a true crime story. Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the television miniseries is about a married couple moving into their dream home, in Westfield, New Jersey. The couple is then harassed by a stalker who likes to call himself “the watcher”, he keeps an eye on their life throughout and sends a series of violent and threatening letters. 

Introduction

Series Name - The Watcher

Directors name - Ryan Murphy 

Genre - Mystery Thriller

language - English

Based on

The Watcher is based on the true story published in the 2018 New York Magazine article “The Haunting of a Dream House,” by Reeves Wiedeman. The article details how Maria and Derek Broaddus purchased their dream home in June 2014, not far from where Maria grew up.

Synopsis

The story is about the Brannock family moving into 657 Boulevard, Westfield. Father Dean Brannock, mother Nora Brannock, daughter Ellie Brannock and son Carter Brannock. Nora’s old college friend Karen is the realtor. Dean and Nora have always wanted to live in the suburbs and are absolutely smitten by the mansion size house. It has everything they could have asked for, a pool, separate rooms for their kids and a huge beautiful garden.

The Brannock family previously lived in New York City in an apartment. However, they had recently been feeling very unsafe in the city and had decided to raise their kids in a safer place. Westfield, having had the reputation for being the “safest town” around caught their attention. As fate would have it, the family did not have enough money to purchase the property, therefore,  Dean has to take out almost all of the family's savings to afford the home. 

Within a few days of moving into the house, members are faced with frightening incidents. One night, Ellie hears some suspicious music being played over the intercom in one of the rooms, the family received a letter from the “watcher” threatening to kidnap the kids. The couple rushes down to the police station only to find that the detective in charge of Westfield, Chamberlian, believes that the whole thing is nothing but a harmless prank. He says that “Westfield may be the safest town in America” and  “I've been on the force for many years now and in all my time, there've been zero instances of violent crime”.

The family further meets with all the more threatening letters, even after installing cameras and safety locks throughout the property. No matter what they do, or who they seek help from, “the watcher” never goes away.

The Psychological engagement in the Story

The Brannocks constantly keep accusing their neighbours of being the watcher and writing letters to them, as a result, they grow increasingly disliked in the neighbourhood. Their apprehensions stem from the suspicious behaviour of their neighbours, a married couple called Mitch and Mo as well as the siblings called pearl and jasper Winslow. All their attempt is directed towards the unleashing of the mask of the watcher.

Dean becomes increasingly impatient and angry. His hatred towards his neighbours and the inability to protect his family make him go crazy and lose his sleep. Dean is well aware that the family cannot move out of the house because all their money has gone into it, however, he concedes this fact from everyone. He is furious, sad, and scared, finding himself helpless. This affects their marriage as well Dean's performance at his workplace.

The family’s dream turns into their worst nightmare in no time. In my opinion, the story could have been a little slow with each episode being a lot less in duration. it seems to be rushing over the plot. For instance, the first episode itself lets the audience know about the existence of the watcher and the haunting begins, right from there. The consequent episodes seem to be stretched put versions of the same.

Endnote

The viewer is expected to engage in a lot of self QnA and try and decipher who the watcher can be leading to a false answer every time! 

The story with 7 episodes in total, definitely qualifies as a “binge-watch”, the ending of every episode makes you want to know more.

Eventually,  I would like to rate the series a 3 out of five. 

The series is available on Netflix and IMDb.com

Watch the trailer here! 

Written by: Vishakha Baisoya