Smokescreen of secrets

The Watcher relies heavily on meandering arcs that don’t always lead to mind-boggling epiphanies

How would you react if a string of enigmatic letters arrived at your doorstep with an alarming regularity and threatened your wellbeing as well as that of your family? Driven by the instinct of self-preservation, ordinary people would swiftly register a complaint with the police or, if the situation escalates, find a safer neighbourhood to settle down in.

The Brannock family in Netflix’s seven-part limited series The Watcher aren’t ordinary people. Like most hard-working and ambitious yuppies, they are enticed by the trappings of the American dream and can go to any extremes to attain it. The family wants to escape the grim realities of urban life in New York and immerse themselves in the carefree quietude of a suburban idyll. When they find a stately home on 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey, their dream no longer seems like a distant possibility. The suburban abode, though a tad exorbitant, bears the promise of a comfortable life for the Brannocks and they leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the property falls into their hands. Their blind devotion for the house and the dream-like existence it represents culminates in bizarre circumstances that have drastic implications for their wellbeing.

Their decades-old suburban home attracts unwarranted attention from an assortment of people. At first, the family has to endure the hostilities of their intrusive neighbours who frequently berate them about their radical plans for refurbishment. While the Brannocks resist these aggressive interferences with territorial ease, circumstances take an unpredictable turn when they start receiving ominous letters from someone called ‘The Watcher’. The writer of these missives not only harbours a keen interest in their house, but is also privy to details about the lives of its inhabitants.

When they receive the first letter, Dean Brannock (Bob Cannavale) and his wife Nora (Naomi Watts) have the good sense to inform the police. After a series of unfortunate events, the family even briefly moves into a motel to ensure their children’s safety. However, Dean and Nora tend to waver over the decision to vacate the premises and find another neighbourhood to live in. Their reasons are justifiable and ordinarily wouldn’t be called into question. After all, their dream house isn’t haunted; it merely carries the weight of its own mysterious past. The couple’s initial reluctance to wake up from a dream that has transformed into a nightmare is undoubtedly the catalyst for The Watcher. Dean and Nora’s willingness to protect a home they have fashioned from the devious clutches of miscreants adds a fresh dimension to the series. As viewers dive deep into the intricacies of The Watcher, many of them might be tempted to think of the times when they have admired the exteriors of homes that didn’t belong to them. Discerning audiences might be tempted to ask a few questions that pertain to these fleeting moments. For instance, does appreciating the facades of these homes give the onlooker a special stake in them that surpasses the rights of the original owner? Does he or she become a stakeholder in the house simply by admiring its beauty?

The answer to these questions is unmistakably a resounding ‘no’. Nevertheless, it is these curiosities that remain the driving force behind The Watcher. A quick Google search is all it takes for us to realise that wealth and income disparities are higher in the US than in almost any developed country. The seven-episode Netflix series ought to be perceived as a biting critique on the ever-widening experiential gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. In a capitalistic society that is intrinsically unequal, there’s always a burgeoning pressure to uphold one’s position in the upper tier of society. The Brannocks are the unwitting victims of this obsessive trend and their detractors, too, are prisoners of a system that breeds inequality.

Be that as it may, The Watcher isn’t tailored towards providing audiences with serious social commentary. Instead, the limited series carries the verve and intensity of a compelling saga fuelled by unexpected occurrences.

The seven-part series bears a distinctly genre-busting quality as it moves in quick succession from a quintessential whodunit to a mystery thriller that verges on horror. This is largely because The Watcher is loosely based on a real, unsolved case where a family received letters from someone who was ‘watching’ their house. Since the real-life ‘Watcher’ has yet to be found, the Netflix series cannot faithfully provide closure to the case. As a result, The Watcher uses a whole spectrum of conspiracy theories and possibilities as a crutch to steer the plot towards unpredictable directions.

What emerges is a gripping show that relies heavily on meandering arcs that don’t always lead to mind-boggling epiphanies. If the creators had made a conscientious effort to provide a more definitive denouement that moves beyond the realm of hearsay, The Watcher might have packed a hefty punch. In its existing form, the series struggles to achieve its true potential. The house that the Brannocks fall in and out of love with also struggles to come alive. Instead, the imposing home that is at the heart of the story is treated like a mere locale rather than a character in its own right. The endless possibilities about what ails the cursed residence may keep some viewers entertained until the final episode, but their frustration will resurface when loose ends aren’t duly addressed.

Despite these concerns, compassionate viewers might view the shortcomings of The Watcher as its fundamental strength. It is difficult to deny the fact that an unsolved mystery is far more intriguing than a story whose dimensions aren’t shrouded in a smokescreen of secrets.

It is refreshing to see Bob Cannavale and Naomi Watts as a frazzled pair that is haunted by the spectre of their own home. Noma Dumezweni delivers a stellar performance as the complex, cancer-riddled sleuth Theodora while the inimitable Jennifer Coolidge does justice to the role of a sly, calculating realtor.

After the first season, viewers might be tempted to browse the internet for articles that explain the ending of The Watcher. Audiences are advised against succumbing to these temptations as this will only lead them towards a dead-end. In the long run, it would be best to revel in the ambiguities of the limited series, even if there is no way of discovering the truth about a house weighed down by its own secrets. -Ends