Story: A grieving widower moves into a quiet retirement township in New Mexico, where strange incidents begin disturbing the residents. As fear spreads through the community, a dark mystery slowly uncovers the secrets and regrets hidden in their lives.

Review: 'The Boroughs’ starts like a show that’s easy to predict. The elements of a quiet retirement community, a widowed man carrying grief, and then the beginning of strange incidents that nobody can explain, all sound a bit familiar. But then the series slowly finds its own mood and footing and, from that point on, becomes a thrilling ride. Set across eight episodes, the series deals with a retirement township deep in the New Mexico desert, where the roads stay empty after sunset, and there is emptiness as far as you can see. The show takes its own sweet time to build up the characters and the milieu, and after it's done, the plot never slows down after that. The show introduces the primary elder characters who are fully aware that they are in the twilight of their lives and death is lurking close by. And then enters a strange creature, and with it comes the mystery that changes the entire trajectory of the plot.

The story begins when Samuel Cooper (Alfred Molina), a former engineer, arrives at The Borough, grieving the death of his wife, and immediately makes it clear that he does not intend to stay long. He is reserved and avoids conversation, but when he meets his fellow neighbours, he slowly begins to open up. Jack (Bill Pullman) is the cheerful neighbour, while Judy (Alfre Woodard) is a former journalist and is married to Art (Clarke Peters), and they have an open marriage. But when Art comes to know about her affair with Jack, he is distraught. Wally (Denis O’Hare), a former doctor, jokes constantly about his cancer, and Renee (Geena Davis), a former manager of a music band, wants to live life to the fullest and therefore begins an affair with a young security guard at the township. Things change when Jack dies under mysterious circumstances, and Sam meets Edward, who is now suffering dementia and once occupied the room where Sam lives now, and tells him cryptically, “The owl is in the wall.”

Executive produced by the Duffer Brothers, the duo who attained stratospheric success with ‘Stranger Things,’ this series clearly has influences. The series easily qualifies as ‘Stranger Things’ 2.0 with elders but with distinct features and novelty. The series handles the emotional exhaustion of growing older quite well. The fear of becoming invisible sits quietly beneath many scenes without the writing needing to underline it. Some episodes, especially the middle episodes, will test your patience, but the characters keep pulling the story back into something grounded. Underneath the science fiction angle, the story is really about people realising they still have unresolved parts of their lives left sitting inside them.

This is a series that packs a galaxy of brilliant actors, and all of them are in fine form. Alfred Molina gives Sam the kind of sadness that can easily be felt by viewers. He rarely overplays scenes, and that restraint helps the character feel believable. Geena Davis brings humour to the character of Renee and knows exactly when to pull tension out of a scene with a single line delivery. Alfre Woodard gives Judy a calm intelligence that anchors the group of the elderly residents. Denis O'Hare is effective because he lets Wally’s fear slip through the humour without making it obvious. Bill Pullman and Clarke Peters add warmth that makes the friendships feel lived in. The performances are probably the reason the slower parts of the series work.

‘The Boroughs’ leaves behind a stronger impression than other science fiction shows that rely on spectacle. The mystery matters, but the people matter more. The series understands that fear becomes more complicated with age because it is tied to memory, regret, and the feeling that time is no longer endless. The writing does not turn that idea into melodrama. It trusts the audience enough to notice things on their own. The show is not perfect. Still, there is a sincerity to the storytelling that makes you relate to the characters and become invested in their lives. It is the feeling of watching people who thought life had already become small suddenly realise there are still parts of themselves they have not fully dealt with yet. It’s a thrilling show that tries to do something different.