Roush Review: Duffer Brothers’ ‘The Boroughs’ Is a Terrifying But Funny Supernatural Romp

Flipping the premise of executive producers the Duffer Brothers’ breakthrough series Stranger Things, where resourceful kids triumphed against monsters from the Upside Down, this series (from Emmy-winning creator/showrunners Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews) pits characters who could easily be their grandparents against a sinister otherworldly force. Setting the mayhem in an otherwise placid retirement community abutting the New Mexico desert (though Roswell oddly is never mentioned) is a stroke of creative genius. The elderly are an especially vulnerable demographic, often robbed of their agency and independence by well-meaning family, patronized as delusional or worse if they confess to seeing things that couldn’t possibly be true. Or could they?

The Boroughs, about to celebrate its 75^th anniversary, bills itself as a place where “You’ll have the time of your life,” though its latest resident, a grumpily retired and recently widowed aerospace engineer named Sam (Alfred Molina), sees his new home as a tomb, a trap. If he only knew. Though he soon will.

Reminiscent at times of the poignant first season of the Ted Danson comedy A Man on the Inside, which was also set in a retirement home, The Boroughs invites us into a world of endearing golden agers who are already well versed in facing their own mortality. Even so, they’re not about to give up whatever precious time they have left without a fight. As curmudgeonly Sam warms up to his neighbors, played by a wonderful ensemble of starry character actors including Bill Pullman as a friendly chatterbox and Ed Begley Jr. as a troubled memory-care patient housed in “The Manor,” we and they become increasingly aware of the menacing creepy-crawly threat that lurks in and beneath their cloistered cul-de-sac. Before long, they’ve embarked on a classic adventure involving secret tunnels, caves, and a decades-long conspiracy.

“The gray rebellion rises, such as it is,” declares Renee (Geena Davis), a kickass cougar who previously worked as a manager for musicians and takes a shine to the considerably younger Paz (Carlos Miranda), an out-of-work drummer who takes a job at the Boroughs as one of the compound’s few sympathetic security guards. Their refreshingly non-cloying team includes esteemed scene stealers Alfre Woodard as a former journalist described as a “chatty Nancy Drew,” The Wire‘s Clarke Peters as her philosophical stoner husband, who makes his own critical discoveries on a spirit quest, and American Horror Story alum Denis O’Hare as a doctor too well acquainted with death, which he considers “the real monster. Everything else is shadows.”

To be sure, there are plenty of shadows in this ghoulishly entertaining and life-affirming thriller, which keeps most of the graphic ickiness off camera. Never as intense as Stranger Things, but also never as surprising, The Boroughs charms while plucking the heartstrings as its characters, especially Sam, contend with grief, loss, and regret while displaying admirable resilience and a timeless respect for Bruce Springsteen. (His “Thunder Road” is a significant factor in the show’s soundtrack.)

At its best, this escapist winner reinforces the notion that some things, and people, just get better with age.

The Boroughs, Series Premiere (eight episodes), Thursday, May 21, Netflix

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