The Watcher

I must admit this series did frustrate me at times and also felt like a typical thriller with too many plot twists and turns.

However, what I did find unique embedded in this series is the subject of obsession with materialism and the lengths people will go to to secure and protect those obsessions.

I'm not sure if that was deliberate on the part of the producers to do a series that is part social commentary part thriller but it does work as a suspenseful series that kept this viewer locked in, despite sometimes being frustrated with the obviously dead end twists and turns.

Overall an addictive viewing experience.

Netflix is the champion of putting out movies & series that will suck the life out of you for absolutely no payoff whatsoever. I'm starting to wonder if they're doing it for the fun of it just to see how long we'll keep paying them to do it to us. The vast majority of their projects end with...no👏🏻actual👏🏻ending👏🏻. Not in a good "gosh this could be interpreted this way or that way". Just NO ENDING as if they just spitter out and have no more juice and say that's it! I don't know who I'm more annoyed with; Netflix for pulling this stunt or me for falling for it yet once again. Five stars for the cast who do a great job, despite the pointlessness of it all.

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.

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.

A family move into their dream mansion in New Jersey, and everything seems idyllic, until they start receiving letters from an unknown person, known only as The Watcher.

Based very loosely on some real life events, it's an intriguing mystery series set over seven episodes, it delivers lots of suspense, and plenty of entertainment. Some wonderfully zany characters to enjoy, the neighbours are particularly strange, and essentially it plays out like a whodunnit.

Initially it feels like a horror series, similar style to Bly Manor, but it quickly changes into a more conventional thriller. It may not be for everyone, but I thorough enjoyed it, I liked the vibe, and for the most part, the originality of it.

The final episode will be quite divisive, people will really like it, or really loathe it, it's a little on the vague side.

I thought Booby Cannavale and Naomi Watts were excellent in their respective roles, I did absolutely love Noma Dumezweni, who played Theodora, I thought she was a fascinating character, very well performed.

8/10.