‘The Boroughs’ Is Boomer ‘Stranger Things’ For Better & For Worse [Review]

Aging is inevitable. It’s an unavoidable tenet of life that happens to everyone, no matter how much you stay hydrated, slather moisturizer on, or pollute your face with filler. That biological clock is perpetually ticking, whether we like it or not. Horror loves to tackle the everyday stressors that hide in plain sight, and in many ways, the simple act of growing old and no longer recognizing yourself is the oldest form of body horror.

It’s no surprise that there are plenty of age-based horror films like Cocoon, The Leech Woman, and Old that tap into this space, not to mention genre movies like VFW, which celebrate bad-ass boomer energy.

In this sense, Netflix’s The Boroughs isn’t doing anything that hasn’t been done before. It’s an eight-episode series that looks at a bunch of people who feel invisible to society, only for them to gain a remarkable purpose that won’t just change their lives, but the entire world. It’s full of futile rage against getting older that’s balanced by the reassuring freedom that comes from accepting that it’s a normal – and even empowering – experience. It’s a sci-fi horror adventure about how to find meaning, value, and community when you feel utterly alone and like you’re just marking time.

The Boroughs is guilty of coming across as “Geriatric Stranger Things” as it stumbles through often-clunky puzzle-box storytelling. There’s still a lot of heart on display in this inspirational story, even if it’s unlikely to capture a fraction of Stranger Things’ fandom and become Netflix’s next big hit.

‘The Boroughs’ Is Boomer ‘Stranger Things’ For Better & For Worse [Review]

The new series takes an idyllic retirement community – the titular Boroughs – and transforms it into a paranormal prison where its discarded residents are turned into defenseless cannon fodder. Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) is a retired engineer with a respect for the classics who becomes the newest resident. He’s immediately skeptical of this macabre community that’s proudly billed as “a town that’s just for grown-ups.”

Cooper is a curmudgeon with a capital C who can’t even let his guard down around his family. There’s an authenticity to the formulaic-but-comfortable lifestyle that’s laid out for Cooper and his fellow neighbors. He is an empathetic character, despite his rough edges. The bristling and loss of autonomy that he experiences highlights the similarities between trauma and getting older, with both subtly affecting one’s sense of self and physical body.

It’s fair for Cooper – or anyone – to resent having their agency taken away from them. Cooper grows especially resentful of this scenario and the Boroughs’ many modern creature comforts, such as the community’s personal Alexa-esque digital A.I. helper.

The Boroughs is a little glib when it comes to how it juxtaposes youth and modernity against the older generation in order to make its points. The same is true regarding how it approaches loneliness as a sickness and that a place like this can actually be an opportunity to live, rather than a place where people fade away and die. The Boroughs isn’t subtle about any of this, but it’s a mission statement that works more than it doesn’t, thanks to a cast that’s full of phenomenal performances.

The best thing that The Boroughs has going for it is a murderers’ row of top-tier performances. Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters, and Alfre Woodard help round out the cast alongside Molina. Everyone really commits and is clearly having fun in these roles. It’s a delight to just watch these characters bounce off of each other and slowly open up, even when it’s mundane moments where there are no active threats.

It’s a series that’s all about celebrating life, but there’s also a really melancholy nature to all this. This isn’t wholly unexpected in a series like this, as characters reflect on their fleeting mortality and how much of their lives they have left. Wally’s (O’Hare) storyline about dealing with a terminal illness as he tries to embrace an existence of “cocktails and chaos” is particularly poignant. Each episode functions as cathartic character studies outside of the grander paranormal developments.

The Stranger Things parallels in The Boroughs are front and center, right down to the Duffer Brothers being on board as executive producers. There are also shades of other mysterious community series like Wayward Pines, From, and even The Prisoner present here, with some Stepford Wives-esque conformity thrown in for good measure. Also, much like Stranger Things before it, The Boroughs suffers from the ongoing issue with Netflix programs where characters repeat the plot and what they’re about to do ad nauseam. It also doesn’t help that The Boroughs is airing at the same time as Apple TV+’s far superior Widow’s Bay, which nails this type of tone and genre so damn well.

The Boroughs is at its best once it gets out of its own way, but there are still awkward affectations and unnecessary vestiges of puzzle-box storytelling that don’t feel natural. It actually feels like a series from the early 2010s during the height of the Lost copycat craze. It’s easy to picture The Boroughs as a successful contemporary to Revolution and Alcatraz, whereas its mysteries struggle to pull their weight in a modern context.

There’s plenty in The Boroughs that falls short of expectations. However, it’s not just hollow and gratuitous mystery-driven storytelling. There are satisfying answers that connect to creative mythology that explore an original idea through a curious lens. It’s also clever to connect antiquated technology and relics of the past to Cooper and company’s solution to these supernatural threats.

It’s earliest episodes take a minute to find their rhythm and really get moving. It gradually overcomes a cumbersome start in order to become something really special and heartwarming once it does its own thing. I found myself caring less about the mystery and more about these characters. There’s inventive lore, but also some telegraphed twists. The tone is also initially all over the place as if it can’t make up its mind over whether it’s supposed to be a comedy, drama, or horror series.

The Boroughs takes a really long walk to make its points. Some people may jump ship along the way, but they’re still powerful thoughts, all the same. The season ultimately turns into a battle between compliance and rebellion that’s presented through a supernatural filter, but speaks to a universal concept. It works well enough for what it is.

There are creative monster designs, suspenseful stakes, and effective needle drops that speak to these characters. Outside of its heartfelt performances and brief flashes of inspiration, The Boroughs is unfortunately as forgettable as the very people who have been shipped off to its community.

All eight episodes of The Boroughs begin streaming on May 21, 2026.

The post ‘The Boroughs’ Is Boomer ‘Stranger Things’ For Better & For Worse [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

View Original Source Here

Articles You May Like