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Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s The Watcher dropped on Netflix on Thursday, October 13, 2022.
The series is based on the real-life experiences of the Broaddus family with what they believed was their dream home. However, the adaptation only took the story as the peg for the series, and added its own twists and turns that made it overbearing after a point.
Netflix bought the story rights to the adaptation, originally based on Reeves Wiedeman’s article titled The Watcher, published by New York Magazine in its segment The Cut.
Wiedeman spoke to the real Derek and Maria Broaddus, who bought the house for $1.4 million but never moved in there after the began receiving threatening letters from a stalker. The stalker referred to himself as 'The Watcher.'
The series has now employed certain changes and developments, as well as a criss-cross of characters and storylines, which backfired. The Watcher thus became a lengthy watch and ended in boredom, leaving this reviewer scrambling for an already-known conclusion.
The Watcher features Naomi Watts as Nora Brannock, Bobby Cannavale as Dean Brannock, Isabel Gravitt as Elli Brannock and Luke David Blum as Carter Brannock.
It also has Mia Farrow as Pearl Winslow, Noma Dumezweni as Theodora Birch, Joe Mantello as John Graff aka William Webster and Richard Kind as Mitch. Additionally, Terry Kinney plays the role of Jasper Winslow, while Margo Martindale plays Maureen/Mo, Henry Hunter Hall plays Dakota, and Jennifer Coolidge is seen as Karen Calhoun.
The Watcher strays from the original and ends up becoming a boring watch after a point
The Watcher sets its context right from the beginning, with eerie music in the backdrop of a posh locality in the country. The Brannocks have traveled to the open house of 657 Boulevard in New Jersey as they are looking to buy a house of their own.
While the original The Cut article hinted at the couple's non-elite roots, Dean and Nora’s modest backgrounds were hardly touched upon. However, it did mention the former's testosterone-filled statement about wanting separate rooms for his kids.
The realtor that the family got to know was Karen Calouhan, who was also Nora's friend. The Brannocks were fascinated by the house when they saw it and decided to immediately buy it.
Dean takes out an enormous loan. As he is from an insurance firm, it wasn't a big deal for him to draw up a plan that drained the couple of their entire savings, investment, and basically, their retirement money.
Originally an Italian settled in America, Dean considered himself the patriarch of the house, although Nora was financially independent. From financing to policing his daughter over her clothing, Dean was the walking blue-print of the male ego that messed up first, and apologized in the end.
So, when his son asked him if he could keep the family safe, Dean decided to bring down hell to do everything he could to protect his family. This also included making Noral only partially privy to information.
Nora, on the other hand, seemed content with both her life and her husband’s decisions. She took a stand and even took charge of things, every time she needed to.
Everything was fine until it was not. As is the case in horror and thriller content with children involved, kids are the first to experience anything uncanny.
Both Carter and Ellie were the first to see uncanny signs, but the story demanded that they be dismissed. It was not until Carter’s pet ferret was found dead, followed by a mysterious letter from the the Brannock family's stalker, that Dean and Nora started looking out for other signs.
The letter, in amalgamation with weird and creepy neighbors, one of whom trespassed through their property, made for the selling point of the series.
However, the essence of the original was lost as soon as the series took up a longer route home. Anyone who has read the original article by Wiedeman, knows that the Netflix series is heavily dramatized, where even the word “heavily” is an understatement.
While truths like the dismissal and non-compliance of the local police department were highlighted, it took a soap-opera-esque turn and added sub-storylines that were hardly required.
Netflix could have cut down boredom by at least 40 minutes had it not decided to include certain sub-plots in the series. The reason being, it is a true story.
While a fictional world allows for the creation of a universe, a true story adaptation sets crystal clear boundaries. The closer a film/series is to its original story, the better. Dramatization makes matters worse, simply because it does not change the reality, in this case, the conclusion.
This results in boredom, with the viewer scrambling for the end – not because the content is great, but because they want to know how things ended, as well as want the show/film to end (their misery).
The initial camera work in the series is commendable. When the couple's neighbor, Pearl said, “Windows are the eyes of a house,” the show performed it by taking the “window-point-of-view” every time a third perspective needed to be portrayed.
Elements of horror and thriller remained consistent, with the charm of the house acting as the centripetal force. Even the old-world elegance faltered half-way through The Watcher.
The neighbors outsmarted the owners of 657 Boulevard in The Watcher
Pearl and Maureen are undoubtedly the stars of the show. Mia Farrow as Pearl is convincing to the T. Her attire based in the Victorian era reflected her old school perspective as well. All Pearl had to do was look at Dean with her I-can-see-through-you glare to outsmart every other actor in the frame.
Margo Martindale’s Big Mo delivered a brilliant performance as the sinister yet misunderstood neighbor who is more logical than Dean.
Both Pearl and Big Mo's characters follow a linear graph throughout, although there is a pinch of movement in the case of the latter. However, great performers can seldom help under-written characters flourish, with Pearl and Big Mo as the best examples.
Watts, Cannavale, Coolidge, Dumezweni, and others were adequate. Cannavale’s Dean had the most to perform, but was often outshone by fellow actors.
All the episodes of The Watcher are currently streaming on Netflix.
