# Who is Watching...The Watcher? \[Open spoilers after post 24\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, netflix\ **Created:** [October 14, 2022, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238 "2022-10-14T11:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/1 "2022-10-14T11:26:52Z")
…by that I mean “The Watcher”, a 7 episode series on Netflix. Mrs. solost and I watched the first episode last night. So only spoiler-blurred spoilers for those who have watched further, please. Some interesting names-- Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Coolidge, an appearance by Mia Farrow as a creepy neighbor. The premise is pretty basic-- a family moves into their dream house, but right away start getting anonymous letters that are strange and threatening, from someone calling themselves “The Watcher”. The interesting thing is, at the beginning it said “Based on a true story”. Whenever I see that, I always wonder how closely based it actually is. So I did a little googling, trying to be careful to not spoil the story for myself, and found this article which is the supposed ‘true story’. I only read the first couple paragraphs, so not enough to spoil the outcome (assuming the show even sticks to the actual events), but I read enough to find out that the first two mega-creepy notes the family got in the mail in episode 1 were _ **word for word** _ the letters the actual family got. So, no idea what happens next (in the show or the true story), but I’m hooked. > **[The Haunting of a Dream House](https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html)** > > A New Jersey family bought their ideal home. But according to the creepy letters they started to get, they weren’t the only ones interested in it. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/2 "2022-10-14T11:50:52Z")
I saw the Netflix suggesting the show, but a creepy show that is “based on a true story” raises a red flag for me. I’m afraid that it will mean either (a) they’ll use the ending from the true story which turns out to be an anticlimax or (b) they’ll make up a completely fabricated ending, both of which are a turn-off for me. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/3 "2022-10-16T03:55:43Z")
Wife and I watched Ep1 tonight. We both found it engaging and just creepy enough. Mia farrow was made for this role, and Margo Martindale was great as usual. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/4 "2022-10-16T04:08:00Z")
Finished episode 5. It leaves the facts behind pretty quickly. It’s a mystery show, hopefully one that resolves at the end, unlike the reality. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/5 "2022-10-18T11:18:18Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Finished episode 5. It leaves the facts behind pretty quickly. It’s a mystery show, hopefully one that resolves at the end, unlike the reality Yeah, we’re only done with episode 3 so far (Mrs. solost is not a big binge watcher) and already it’s getting kind of silly. Like the P.I. who tells the homeowner what she found out about the previous family who lived in the house like she’s telling a scary Halloween story, complete with full flashback and details she probably couldn’t have known, like how the husband / father of that family broke down crying in front of his boss when he got fired. At least, since you say the show does diverge a lot from the actual story, it sounds like I’m free to go ahead and finish the article I linked to in the OP without spoiling much for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/6 "2022-10-20T05:28:18Z")
We finished it. Fun ride but no real payoff. More of a study in obsession than a real mystery. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/7 "2022-10-20T16:19:28Z")
Speaking of obsession. > **[People Won't Stop Visiting Netflix's "The Watcher" House And Neighbors Are...](https://www.outkick.com/people-wont-stop-visiting-netflixs-the-watcher-house-and-neighbors-are-pissed/)** > > The hottest new series on Netflix right now is "The Watcher," a drama based on the real-life story surrounding a mysterious New Jersey house. The trailer ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/8 "2022-10-23T16:36:40Z")
I started watching the other day. Five episodes in, and while a lot of it seems contrived or just doesn’t make sense, it’s still fun to watch in a “sit back, turn your brain off, and just see where it goes” kind of way. As a side note, Jennifer Coolidge looks like the poster child for plastic surgery gone wrong. Yikes! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/9 "2022-10-23T18:36:31Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > it’s still fun to watch in a “sit back, turn your brain off, and just see where it goes” kind of way. It does have that kind of appeal. And despite leaving all sorts of loose ends unresolved you probably won’t care. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/10 "2022-10-23T19:33:35Z")
I was with you right to “Jennifer Coolidge”. Watching her in anything is like having a cheese grater massage me. Besides that, the title matches that of a _Twilight Zone_ knockoff on UPN in the mid-nineties, hosted by that noted raconteur and aficionado of the macabre, Sir Mix-A-Lot. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/11 "2022-10-24T12:35:13Z")
I finished over the weekend and overall enjoyed it, plot holes an janky character motivation notwithstanding. Jenifer Coolidge is a rare bird. I can’t tell if she’s brilliant or there’s . . .something wrong with her. You just knew her character was implicit but at times she seemed sympathetic, in that weird JC way Did Bobby Canavale look unwell to anyone? Perhaps it was deliberate but I don’t recall him being so thin. Or delightfully unhinged. (obviously deliberate). I do have a question about the ending: We see Dean watching the house and realize he probably will be eternally obsessed with the house and the identity of The Watcher. But after we hear him lie about his whereabouts to Nora, he drives off and she pulls up. Are we meant to think she is there to watch the house also, i.e. she’s just as obsessed, or is she just following Dean? ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/12 "2022-10-24T12:55:06Z")
I feel like the motivation of the show is to make the viewer feel like they’re taking crazy pills. Inspired by the mentioned above plot holes and janky motivation. Ex: The daughter gets on her Ipad and solemnly pronounces on (Instagram? Tik Tok?) that…well gathering from Bobby’s secretarys response and Stiflers moms response, she must have \*\*\*\*ing killed herself??? Right? Oh…no…this 16 year old just accused her parents of racism. And Bobbys secretary is watching that instead of working. or Bobbys boss accepting that a video of Bobby in his bedroom with a girl he’s never seen to touch is top notch evidence. “Doesn’t look doctored to me”…looks like some shit from Paranormal Activity to me, and Im about to sue everyone in this \*\*\*\*ing town. Crazy pills!! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/13 "2022-10-24T13:55:58Z")
@WOOKINPANUBv.2 My take was the former. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/14 "2022-10-24T14:27:14Z")
Couple of other notes, “Not very neighborly!!!” is going to be stuck in my catchphrase notebook for a while. I thought Sissy Spacek was Dianne Wiest. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/15 "2022-10-24T14:28:34Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > I thought Sissy Spacek was Dianne Wiest. I thought Mia Farrow was Sissy Spacek! ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/16 "2022-10-24T14:36:39Z")
Where the hell am i getting Sissy Spacek from?? Mandela Effect is strong with this show! Edit: Anyway, that forced no-teeth smile, and squinty eyes is very Dianne Wiest. So thats why I thought it was her. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/17 "2022-10-24T14:42:40Z")
I honestly did think it was Sissy Spacek until I saw Mia Farrow in the credits. It also took me about 15-20 minutes to remember Naomi Watts’ name. I recognized her immediately, just drew a blank on the name. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/18 "2022-10-24T19:44:07Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Jenifer Coolidge is a rare bird. I can’t tell if she’s brilliant or there’s . . .something wrong with her. I know, I don’t really get the Jennifer Coolidge adulation. Her line delivery always sounds monotone and tentative, like she’s a little confused. She plays a lot of oddball characters. Is it because she’s a good actress who knows how to play oddballs, or does she just come by it naturally without acting? > [@Pavelb1](#): > > “Doesn’t look doctored to me” Yeah, when the boss guy said that Mrs. solost said “are you kidding? It looks doctored as hell”. > [@Shoeless](#): > > > [@Pavelb1](#): > > > > I thought Sissy Spacek was Dianne Wiest. > > I thought Mia Farrow was Sissy Spacek! I thought Dianne Wiest was Mia Farrow! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/19 "2022-10-24T19:56:44Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Shoeless](#): > > > > > [@Pavelb1](#): > > > > > > I thought Sissy Spacek was Dianne Wiest. > > > > I thought Mia Farrow was Sissy Spacek! > > I thought Dianne Wiest was Mia Farrow! ![](https://media.tenor.com/XlC8OjBdAaMAAAAM/woody-allen-facepalm.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238/20 "2022-10-24T20:12:05Z")
Now lets work in Barbara Hershey and we have Hannah and her Sisters …I actually looked up Barbara and she doesn’t look anything like the other three. I mean, the others don’t particularly look alike, but they do look kinda like the Watcher character if you havent seen Dianne, or Mia or Sissy in a while and you’re aging them up in your head. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-watching-the-watcher-open-spoilers-after-post-24/973238.md?page=2)