Stranger Things was a rare thing: a TV show that changed the way we consume culture. Although it was set in the warm glow of an imagined 1980s, the sci-fi series dragged its nostalgia into the present. Not only did it revitalise retro moments (Dungeons & Dragons, Eggo waffles, Metallica songs), it ripped a wormhole through the pop culture time-space continuum and created a new timeline where Kate Bush was topping the charts and mullets were finally cool. In their first proper release following the divisive conclusion of their Netflix megahit, The Duffer Brothers poke at the dark side of nostalgia.
Midway through the first episode of The Boroughs, the ornery, sarcastic Sam (an excellent Alfred Molina) walks around his new retirement complex and comes upon a courtyard. Featuring a ‘50s style diner, a fake bus stop and park benches surrounded by plastic trees, it’s a simulacrum of suburbia. “Apparently, all this stuff helps folks with dementia,” Paz, the security guard tells Sam. “Kind of trippy, right?”
Trippy yes, but what if the manipulation of someone’s reality was done not to help them, but to achieve darker, more nefarious ends instead? The opening scene of the show suggests exactly this, when we witness the previous renter of Sam’s flat Gracie (Dee Wallace, star of ET, made by The Duffer Brothers’ beloved Steven Spielberg) come to a grizzly end. But not before she received a strange phone call from her partner Edward (Ed Begley Jr.) who warns her that “the owl is the wall”. Suddenly you realise the tagline of The Boroughs (‘You’ll have the time of your life!’) has a double meaning.
After that shock beginning, you’ll be poring over every tiny detail to uncover the bigger mystery. No one is above suspicion, from Sam’s suspiciously peppy transition manager to Seraphim, the Alexa-like machine in his new bedroom. Classic songs such as Bruce Springsteen‘s ‘Thunder Road’) alongside old films and TV shows (including the Golden Girls) are peppered throughout the show like breadcrumbs to follow.
Unresolved traumas and a central, supernatural mystery make The Boroughs a recognisable successor to Stranger Things. Talk about the manipulation of reality has been explored on recent shows The Capture and Paradise, but feels entirely contemporary in our current post-truth age.
Beyond the dialogue, Molina brings a gravitas and depth to Sam, who is haunted by the death of his beloved wife. His fellow retirees bring with them the promise of complicated backstories, including his warm, jock neighbour Jack (Bill Pullman), nosy, ex-journalist Judy (Alfre Woodard) and enigmatic art teacher Renee (Geena Davis). This older gang conjures up the spirit of the kids from Hawkins and The Duffers DNA is all over the show.
Like Stranger Things, The Boroughs is hard to pigeon-hole. There are elements of family drama, shades of comedy and moments of schlocky horror, but it’s just as intriguing as the Netflix hit’s early years.
‘The Boroughs’ is available to stream on Netflix from May 21