The Watcher

I knew nothing about The Watcher and was looking to watch something while on the treadmill the other day. At first I was questioning some of the writing and thinking things were a bit hokey, but then I got hooked.

I watched the entire season in one day. I had to to know what was going on and what was going to happen next. I truly was enjoying what I was watching.

So the last episode came on and I was excited to see how the heck they were going to wrap this up and man did they really mess this up. The plot twists were getting to be too much and when it was all over I was like "Huh? What about this thing and that thing? Why did they bring these things up and not address them any further?

I am disappointed to have spent the day watching six interesting episodes only to have the seventh episode (the last one) be a complete turd.

I would save your time and watch something else.

After watching the excellent series Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, another creation from the succesful duo Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy, I was pretty excited to see what they would come up with now. Could it be another great show based on true events? That how it starts though, stating it's based on true events, but after reading about it after watching this show you can only conclude that 90% of it is all made up, and that's honestly a shame and a letdown. I binge watched it though, like I did with Dahmer, and it's only faire to say that it is very watchable. The mystery level is very high, the suspense is mildly high, the acting is very good and that from the whole cast, but the ending is diappointing and that's why this show scores so low compared to Dahmer. But you can watch this show if you like mysteries, and if you like good acting, because with actors like Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Mia Farrow, Margo Martindale, and Richard Kind, just to name a few, you get quality acting. The Watcher could have been a really good show, they missed an opportunity here, just because of a weak last episode. Since they were making up 90% of the story they should and could have imagined a better end to this short series of seven episodes.

When I first started watching, I was hooked. It was clear that this was going to be an interesting story and it caught and peaked my interest even more because I intentionally did not read up about the true story prior to watching.

It was good for the first few episodes but then it started to get sloppy. Every single person seemed like a potential suspect and certain pieces of information was just left unsolved. Too many plot holes. It began to feel like I was on a merry-go-round that was never going to lead anywhere. The show just became frantic with no clear direction, which ultimately spoiled it for me. I watched until the end to see if it became better, but it didn't. It was an ok watch but i wouldn't watch it again. A little disappointing.

Seems like Ryan Murphy realized after the last, oh, 5 or 6 out of the 10 seasons of "American Horror Story" that people were hip to the title and knew not to bother watching, so he started releasing seasonal "miniseries" without the AHS brand but essentially the same thing: well acted, well-produced, contrived, trashily written garbage, with "twists" you can see coming a mile off and absurd contrived characters whose overwrought behavior stretches the bounds of credulity. I was actually about 5 episodes into this, scratching my head about how something with such a talented cast could be such an unredeemable pile of soap-opera garbage in terms of plot, when I finally noticed Murphy's name in the credits.

Please, Ryan Murphy, go back to calling the new seasons "American Horror Story" so we know from the outset not to bother hoping for better.

I'm a huge fan of Ryan Murphy's productions but this was painfully pitiful. A collection of wonderful actors completely misused. Mia Farrow was the only bright spot in this ludicrous story. There were twists for the sake of twists, and inconsistencies for the sake of inconsistencies. Every character was a caricature and left me wondering why the actors chose to do this. However, if it were advertised as a parody then it wouldn't be so bad. Producers seem to be loosely basing their productions on true stories with hopes of connecting to an audience with the most basic primal need of curiosity. The Watcher was ridiculous and an embarrassment. True, I wasn't obligated to watch the entire series but I continued to hold out hope that the magnificent cast would save this show from itself. Didn't happen.