These series that we end in spite of ourselves

After the first episode of the phenomenon miniseries The Watcher Netflix, we feel the trap closing in on us. There are still six one-hour episodes left to this horror story that could have been an email and it is 100% certain that we will swallow it whole, even if the quality is not top, top .

It’s like that. There’s no rational explanation to offer other than: we want to know how this is going to end. Too bad if it takes seven hours of an average series to find out who is terrorizing this poor family dressed in beige, taupe and cream colors of the New England Christian Fall influencer type.

that’s why The Watcher, offered in French and English, has been at the top of the Netflix charts for a week. The mystery which surrounds it has a stronger power of attraction than Mercury which retrogrades. Also, The Watcherwhich was made by Ryan Murphy (Ratched, Dahmer), stems from a true story that was the subject of a long report in the magazine New York in November 2018.

So it happened near someone’s home in the affluent suburb of Westfield, New Jersey. Cramped in their tiny Manhattan apartment, ceramist Nora (Naomi Watts), her lawyer husband Dean (Bobby Cannavale) and their two teenagers find the cozy nest of their dreams in an upscale dormitory neighborhood in Pleasantville.

Their gigantic, tastefully renovated century-old new home sits on a sprawling manicured lot. There is a country club around the corner where members play tennis in white knit sweaters (#wimbledonfashion). And the spouses tease each other about a Carrara marble counter (we’re replacing it!) and a Pierre Jeanneret chair (too expensive!), first-rate problems, we agree.

In short, their sore life is a story Instagram filtered well until the day they receive an anonymous letter. Uh-oh. Someone in the neighborhood spies on them and threatens them to leave. The letters multiply and have all been written on a typewriter, no doubt an old Underwood. Their author? The Watcher, who has watched over this special house for over 20 years. His goal: to turn the golden existence of this clan of intruders into a nightmare.

Waves at the start, the missives become more precise in a worrying way. The watchman knows the names of the children, the rooms they occupy in the house and he unearths well-buried secrets.

Our couple of yuppies loved ones who weren’t afraid of anything, not even of drinking red wine while wearing pale gray linen, becomes paranoid over a period of time.

But who is so mad at them, who writes these threatening letters and why, goodness heavens? The first episode, well put together, scrolls through almost all the potential suspects. There is the real estate broker (Jennifer Coolidge) who prowls in the evening and insists that the couple sell the house immediately. There’s the quirky neighbor couple, retirees Maureen and Mitch, who spend their days sniffling around the (haunted) house.

There’s the other weird neighbor (Mia Farrow) as well as her mute brother who seem to play in the Addams Family. And there is the local police detective who takes this frightening case very lightly.

The more we progress in The Watcher, the more the tracks multiply. Imagine a murder mystery in a gothic-chic residence at the Amityvillewith a touch ofOne way ticket.

Now, don’t try too hard to separate right from wrong in The Watcher. The ominous typed letters, the faceless watchman, the perfect family that ruins his life, it’s all true. The rest is fiction. In real life, no one would cover up, like Nora does, with a seedy motel bedspread, let’s see. This scene gave me more shivers of disgust than the murder, in the middle of the night, of the family ferret.

The supernatural aspect of the series – the music of Wagner playing in the intercom, the dumbwaiter of death, the suspicions of satanic rites – sometimes clashes with the “true crime” side of the work. And until the fourth episode, the series retains its tone and breathless pace. It spoils later, while the plot turns in circles, but, good.

At this point, there are only two hours left to put on, it is certain that we will swallow The Watcher full. We want to know how it ends, right?

Hint: not great.