SPOILER ALERT: This review contains what some might consider spoilers. I don't give away the ending, but I do summarize basic plot elements.
I've wanted to write this review for a few weeks, but it's hard to work up enthusiasm for a review when I'm pretty sure most people will not be interested in the show's theme. The show is about old people. Really, who cares about old people? Cares enough, anyway, to watch an eight-episode series.
True, the show has a compelling story line, and features extraordinarily talented actors. It's got monsters, intrigue, mystery and romance. But to be honest, in the view of modern society, few things are more boring than old age.
Nonetheless, despite my reservations, I am writing the review. It is a review of an entertaining, well-written, well-made Netflix series, The Boroughs.
In the very first episode our attention is riveted as we see a creature descend from a bedroom ceiling and extend its spider-like legs toward a slumbering woman. She wakes, sees the monster, screams, and runs outside. Unfortunately she doesn't run fast enough. The monster grabs her back into the house, and she dies. As the door to her home slams closed behind her, the doorknob falls to the ground. That doorknob becomes a kind of mnemonic device later in the show. The doorknob reminds us of the monster, the woman's death, and the danger lurking in that place.
What is that place? It is The Boroughs, an old age community--a community for seniors. The Boroughs is a classic cookie cutter community that is designed to offer amenities craved by the average middle class retiree. It is a place that the series' protagonist, Sam (played memorably by Alfred Molina), dreads as his daughter drives him to take up residence there.We meet Sam in the first episode, after we have seen the monster murder. So we know, what Sam and his daughter do not know. As his car approaches the community we scream to Sam... stay away. We are frustrated with the patronizing daughter who is doing the best thing she can imagine for her father by bringing him to this monster town.
Sam is in mourning. His wife has recently died. She's the one who chose this community. Now that she is dead Sam doesn't want any part of it. He is a highly intelligent, retired engineer. As fate would have it, he is assigned to live in the home that was previously occupied by the monster-murdered woman.
As Sam enters the home, he picks up the broken doorknob. The Borough's 'Transition Manager' apologizes for this oversight. The knob will be repaired, she assures Sam. This manager is a creepy woman, plastic, a little like the bumble gum-colored tram cruising the streets of The Boroughs.
We're left with the suspicion that the Transition Manager knows. Does she?
At this point one of the show's themes emerges. Nothing is what it seems to be. The perfectly constructed community, with everything the residents could desire at their fingertips, is a Potemkin town. It is a cover for a sinister plot, a plot that involves the monster we met in the first episode.
This monster is one of many. The creatures troll through the community at night and drink spinal fluid from the brains of sleeping residents. The only reason The Boroughs exists is to provide food for these monsters. And the only reason the monsters drink spinal fluid is so they can feed their monster 'mother'.
If you started reading this review and thought, Cocoon, erase that thought. This is not Cocoon. This is horror, horror delivered with a light touch and a good dose of humor.
Compare the trailer for The Boroughs with the Cocoon trailer, below:
The writers of the show are sophisticated and skilled. In the first episode they lay the groundwork for everything that will follow. We, the viewers, know the monsters exist and somehow prey upon the residents. By the end of the first episode Sam knows this also. He witnesses one of the monsters feeding off his neighbor, Jack.
In the course of this first episode Sam refers to The Boroughs as a 'tomb' and he describes himself as a 'prisoner'. Eventually, we and he realize both of these statements are true. It is a tomb. Residents are killed. And the owners of The Boroughs actually do at some point imprison Sam.
I did say this is not Cocoon. In Cocoon elderly people are losing function. Their experience with growing old is deterioration. They are saved from the grim side of this natural process by extraterrestrial intervention. In The Boroughs, the characters we meet are quite vibrant. They are all retired professionals. If they are to be saved from the sinister plot of the community's owners it will not be by external intervention, but by their own wit.
There are, however, diminished residents at The Boroughs. These deteriorating individuals are collected into a communal residence called the Manor. There seem to be a lot of residents in The Manor. Why is that?
We learn that when the monsters feed on spinal fluid, they slowly drain the brains of the victims. In time, those brains are so drained that the residents experience a withering dementia. At that point the residents are sent to the Manor. There the monsters can freely drain brain fluid from often sedated residents.
Here is a clip, with characteristic humorous touches, where three of my favorite characters are discovering the sinister scheme of The Boroughs:
Of course Sam tries to tell his daughter that monsters are killing people in the community, and of course she doesn't believe him. She believes he is suffering from dementia and has him committed to the Manor.
As the plot unfolds we learn that the true monsters in The Boroughs are its owners. They must keep 'Mother' alive so they can drink her blood (I told you this wasn't Cocoon). In her blood they have found the fountain of youth. They have found the cure for disease. They designed the Boroughs so 'Mother' would have an unlimited supply of brain fluid and they would have an unlimited supply of her blood.
So, it turns out that the real monsters in the community are human. They have imprisoned 'Mother' and they have imprisoned the monsters who feed 'Mother. These monsters are her children.
In Episode 8 of the show Sam says that the owner thinks he can get away with what he is doing because "He thinks nobody cares about old people". Sam is out to prove the owner wrong.
A word about the actors. It's hard to pick out a best performance. These are all stellar performances. Some names you might recognize: Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodward, Gena Davis, Bill Pullman, Mary Mcdonnell. Some you may not: Denis O'Hare, Clark Peters, Seth Numrich. These actors, veterans of a long careers, deliver the goods in this series.
One bit of delightful trivia that made me smile: Gena Davis is in a scene where a Thunderbird goes over a cliff. The producers apparently could not waste the bit of referential classic film history where Gena Davis goes over a cliff in Thelma and Louis.
Here's the over-the-cliff scene from The Boroughs. The aggressive gentleman is an unsavory member of the community's security force:
Here's the clip from Thelma and Louis.
The Boroughs is a horror show with humor. It's clever and gentle. Even if you "don't care about old people" you might find this show worth your attention.
I watched it on Netflix. Eight episodes. It was not renewed for an other season.
****I made the GIF from one of @quantumg's pictures in the LMAC gallery. This is a very creepy spider. I multiplied the creature to increase the number of legs, then ran the 'monster' through a GIMP filter.
