‘The Boroughs’ review: Stranger Things for retirees

The pitch for The Boroughs, one can imagine, might have gone like this: “What if Stranger Things was about older people?” It’s an obvious comparison to make, given that Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer’s credits as The Boroughs’ producers have been plastered all over its marketing. While The Boroughs doesn’t distinguish itself too much beyond being “Stranger Things for Retirees”, it’s still a supernaturally fun time.

Sam (Alfred Molina) is not having a good time. He’s grieving the loss of his wife Lily (Jane Kaczmarek). He isn’t super keen to move into the retirement community Lily found just before her passing. But their daughter Claire (Jena Malone) thinks The Boroughs, with its freshly manicured lawns and thriving social calendar, could be the thing to cheer Sam up in his retirement years.

Sam’s not so sure. Everyone else in the community seems to have drunk the Kool-Aid. There’s ladies’ man Jack (Bill Pullman), a chatterbox who’s incredibly eager to welcome Sam to the neighborhood. There’s cheeky, droll Wally (Denis O’Hare), a former doctor who’s best pals with neighbor Renee (Geena Davis). And there’s Judy (Alfre Woodard) and Art (Clarke Peters), whose later-in-life individualities are drawing them apart from their marriage.

There’s something weird about this neighborhood.

Everyone is aggressively determined to assure Sam that living in The Boroughs might be the best thing that’s ever happened to him. “I promise you’ll have the time of your life,” the Boroughs’ young, polished owners (Seth Numrich, Alice Kremelberg) tell residents.

Stranger Things re-popularized the “strange things are happening in the neighborhood” sci-fi trope largely present in Spielberg’s 1980s catalog of work. The Boroughs borrows extensively from Spielberg, relying on mystery and awe to build its sci-fi premise.

An unexpected discovery by Sam leads him to realize he was right to suspect there’s something weird going on. After the first few strange things (weird noises, ominous crows, an alien-looking hand creeping out of the oven), Sam realizes that chatty, nosy neighbors were just the beginning of The Boroughs’ oddness.

A metaphor for letting go of the past.

It’s hard to describe the secret at the heart of The Boroughs without giving too much away. But at the heart of the show, and its secrets, is the desire to cling to the past, and how that can hold you back from really living. The residents love classic films of bygone eras, like Double Indemnity and Dog Day Afternoon. Sam’s haunted by visions of Lily. Renee tries to revitalize her sunset years by pursuing a younger, hot security guard, Paz (Carlos Miranda).

The perfection, and subsequent unease, of the neighborhood is brought to life by production designer Ruth Ammon. The cheerful yet oppressive retro design of an eerie memory care facility, “the Manor,” is particularly striking. Composer John Paesano’s score is wonderfully reminiscent of the wonder-tinged, but haunting, music in sci-fi classics like Signs. The cast itself is particularly well-assembled, with O’Hare’s Wally standing out as a melancholy yet droll scene-stealer.

The writing doesn’t round out its secondary characters as well as its main cast. Malone’s Claire is particularly underutilized for most of the series. Seth Numrich’s Blaine, the CEO of The Boroughs, is especially underwritten. Numrich is a capable actor, but he isn’t given the material to be as equally friendly and unnerving as Blaine’s arc suggests.

A fun, retro-feeling sci-fi tale.

Though The Boroughs shares obvious DNA with Stranger Things, it ultimately feels more like a tribute to Steven Spielberg’s 1980s films, like E.T. Where Stranger Things relied on horror, Spielberg and The Boroughs rely more on wonder with the occasional scare. A scene where Wally and Sam are investigating a sea of floating blue lights feels more awestriking than eerie.

In the streaming era, there’s a lot of pressure on high-concept projects to stand out from paragons of the genre. The Boroughs doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to sci-fi, or even retiree sci-fi (Cocoon, anyone?). But don’t count it out for a good time. There’s a reason the genre is so full of stories about misfits teaming up to protect their homes from alien threats.

Call it retro, throwback, or nostalgic, but The Boroughs is the kind of story that feels like it will, for the most part, end with heroes conquering villains. These heroes move a little slower than others, yet are determined to save their community from the terrors, real and supernatural, that lurk in the shadows. You may not become obsessed with your stay in The Boroughs, but you’ll still have a fun time. And sometimes, that’s enough.

The Boroughs is available now on Netflix. 

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Images courtesy of Netflix.