The Watchful Eye

On the Acting:

Amy Acker pulls the beating heart from the characters she portrays and puts it on full display. Even characters that might seem unlikable on paper become people who are easy to empathize with and even love through her portrayal. Tory Ayres is no exception.

I seem to be in the minority with this one, but Mariel Molino does a great job of portraying Elena. The flattened affect seems to be consequence of Elena's upbringing and I found her believable, and easy to like and empathize with.

Kelly Bishop is as usual a delight to watch, I found Warren Christie's character compelling, and I think in general the actors portraying the older adults did well and were believable/ interesting to watch. The actors playing the kids also did well. Unfortunately the "young adult" group had acting that I can best describe as rough and I'll leave it at that.

On the Plot/Characters:

It's mostly typical freeform fare: there's a lot of YA drama and cheesy relationships which aren't my jam, but that's to be expected with my being in my mid-twenties and decidedly not the target audience here. Most of the side-plots involving the nanny group weren't all that interesting, and seemed shoehorned in at times.

That being said, there *were* some really interesting characters and plot threads to be found.

The Santos's family dynamics were really well done, and it's clear that the writers really thought about the kind of people who would come out of that kind of situation. And the parallels to the Ayres family are super neat to have. You have a parent who has done and continues to do awful things, and two children: one trying desperately to protect that parent and the other running as far as they can in the other direction.

The truth of Tory's character is slowly unfurled through the series and by the finale, you're on her side. Even if you didn't like her in the pilot, you don't want anything else bad to happen to her. How both Tory and Dick felt about their marital situation, and the beliefs they held with respect to themselves and each other made sense and informed what happened in the finale, making it as believable as it was horrifying and tragic.

The supernatural element of the ghost was not too overdone, and through how mad it drives Elena we understand Charlotte more as a character.

And overall the series' exploration of grief was well done, with the birthday episode being a real gem in that regard.

I would say that where this series shines is not in the investigation plot, but in the believable and compelling ways that character dynamics are fleshed out. The background we learn informs the characters' actions and emotions, and that is where it matters.

I agree with many of the reviewers here, the show had an interesting premise but it is confusing and poorly written. The main character is really annoying, especially her interactions with her employer, she tries to come off older than she is and the dialogue between the two is not very realistic. The other nannies are so much better as characters. Nothing much happens during the episodes and the plot is thin, I usually end up falling asleep before the show is finished. I wish there was more time spent on the back stories of the other characters and less time was spent on the lead. A lot of potential for more mystery or supernatural themes. The set is atmospheric..and the actress who plays Mrs. Ivey is a treasure.

The Watchful Eye has an intriguing plot. The show gives us great promise of a really good experience. Unfortunately, irrational deeds of characters destroy magic. Sometimes, the action is even funny. Usually we choose one or more characters to be our favorite. We sympathize and empathize. But I didn't find such a person. Everybody has repulsive negative sides here. Anyway, I want to know, what will be next. I really liked Netflix's series Archive 81. Unluckily, it was cancelled after the first season. This movie has a similar atmosphere and it's wonderful. Sure, not so deep. The mystical part of the series compensates for stupid and empty dialogues. I hope to see more mystics in the next episodes. Howbeit, if The Watchful Eye gets a second season, it will be strange.

9 eps in and still waiting. This is a show that requires something else on the side; hence the "needlework", knitting, drawing, or solitaire on the side. It doesn't require full eye attention. How it rates above 6 is beyond me. Glad I'm not paying a subscription to watch it! Hoped it might provide something more interesting than the big N's increasingly long dragged out tales. One thing for certain is there's a lot of junk shows being made these days. Kind of like coffee - I'd rather have one cup of good coffee than 3 cups of cheap coffee. Hopefully all involved are newbies and they come out of this with an awareness of how not to do things. Unless this has a good punch-line finish I can't give it more than 4 as the filming was decent, acting mediocre... maybe 3 as I had to back up to understand some of the mumbly dialogue which might have sounded better if I had a high end sound system - or worse. When all said and done, this could easily been done as a less than 2 hour movie of the made for TV genre. DISAPPOINTED.

Let's start with the TERRIBLE initial premise - a girl and her boyfriend want to steal a gem so they can "be rich and escape", which is bland at best and just plain boring at worst, they could have done SO much more with just the initial concept, but someone went for the lowest common denominator

Mix in some GREAT actors, and some who are monotone, bland and couldn't show emotion if you put a gun to their head (the main actress is a classic example for this) - the story also spins way out into different directions that would have made a MUCH better main premise, but alas, the side stories don't seem fleshed out enough (yet)

The main character, a nanny to a rich guy, seems to swing by on luck, supposed charm and her looks - anyone with two brain cells to rub together would see through her flimsy as paper explanations, but the other characters seem to swallow it hook, line & sinker, her boyfriend turns out to be a police detective with a good job, so why would he need to "run away"??? - she also (without explanation of how) gets a friend a job as the doorman... he literally shows up in one episode & they say she got him the job, no further detail

Add in some mistery in the basement where some secret information is held, no explanation of how they managed to find out about this "lost" info, but she manages to work it out, being the greatest detective in the world (think Sherlock, but female and no personality)

Some sex gets added as a teenage resident "falls in love" with the new doorman (wow, she goes to school with other rich guys, but thinks a poor latino guy is her "perfect match"), the other nannies pair off - a boy nanny and a girl one, and 2 of the female ones, where we see more kissing than ANY interaction of the straight couples - it's almost as though the director has a kink for seeing teen girls kissing :P

Overall, so far (7 episodes in) there's no explanation of how she gets 99% of her information, and her "deductive skills" appear to be only evident when she finds things, not when she's talking or explaining things to others - it's like they couldn't find a way to progress the "mistery" without her being able to pull information out of the air!!!

Overall, this is a concept that could have been exceoptional, but bad writing, bad casting, followed by bad acting just drag it down - I have it on as "background" while I'm trying to do other things - there are maybe a couple of points where it tries to grab your attention, but then it just loses it

Should you watch this? If you're doing nothing else, why not... Should you go out of your way to watch it, don't bother, unless you like bad acting & bad writing.