Based on a real-life story, The Watcher appears to satisfy cravings for true crime dramas, but left viewers disappointed and confused. Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts play Dean and Nora Brannock, a couple who have just bought their dream home in Westfield, NJ. Unfortunately for them, they are greeted with creepy neighbors, and ominous letters from a stalker dubbed The Watcher. The real-life Brannock’s (The Broaddus’) bought 657 Boulevard in June 2014, and soon after received anonymous letters describing details only someone within the house, or watching very closely, would know. The Watcher also referenced the couple’s children and asked them to fill the house with “young blood”. The case was never solved, but letters did not continue to be sent to the house after the Broaddus’ sold it in 2019.
The ending left many viewers feeling unsatisfied
The acting within the series is definitely the high point. The cast sets high expectations (Jennifer Coolidge, Naomi Watts and Mia Farrow), but the series was ultimately sabotaged by a plot full of unexplored leads, unnecessary sub plots, dragging what could have been a two-hour feature, into a 7-part series. There are so many routes the writers of the series, Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Pose) and Ian Brennan (Ratched, Scream Queens), could have taken, but the last episode is a severe disappointment. As the actual case is unsolved, I assume the writers wanted to stay true to this, but the ending left many viewers feeling unsatisfied.
The eccentric characters make the ‘true crime’ aspect of this story disappear. The whole fear factor of ‘this could happen to anyone’ loses its power when all your neighbours are suspects, and everyone has an apparent motive. There are so many unanswered questions – the secret tunnels, the blood cult – that the series’ only positive is that some of the characters – Karen (Coolidge) and Theodora (Noma Dumezweni) - are genuinely entertaining to watch.
Mia Farrow told Radio Times that hopefully the real victims of The Watcher “don’t see the series”. The Broaddus' gave the rights to Netflix in order to have some say in what was produced after a film was released in 2016 based on their story and which they had no control over. They only had two requests for the series: their real names were not to be used, and the family in the show should not resemble their own. They also said that they would not be opposed to the idea of the fictional house being burned to the ground, which I do not blame them for.