"The Boroughs" Season One - Review

The Bouroughs is Stranger Things for older citizens, and it is one of the best series of the year.

 Written by Mariane Tremblay

I’m not going to lie, the only reason I pressed play on The Boroughs in the first place was that Geena Davis (Thelma & Louise, A League of Their Own, Beetlejuice) was in it. Seeing her return to the small screen—and in a main role—after what felt like an eternity was something I was genuinely looking forward to. But to my surprise, I was hooked to this show from the very beginning to the very end, binge-watching all eight episodes in two days. 

Created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews and executive produced by the Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things), The Boroughs follows Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina), a retired aeronautical engineer, who reluctantly moves into The Boroughs, a seemingly perfect retirement community in the middle of the desert, a couple of months following the death of his wife (Jane Kaczmarek). 

But that's not exactly how the show starts. We first meet Grace (Dee Wallace), alone at night — in what will become Sam’s house — as she is attacked by a strange creature, which sets the tone, within the first minutes, for the whole show and establishes what we can expect from it.

Reminiscent of Super 8 (2011), Pleasantville (1998), Stranger Things (2016-2025), or even Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) — it's probably just about the scene where Indie arrives in a fake town set up for nuclear tests — the show gives out this creepy middle-of-nowhere desert town vibe, town that feels stuck somewhere between the '50s and the '60s, which is only the first layer of what is unsetteling about The Bouroughs. 

The first episode is a very good introduction to the show, introducing all its characters, most importantly Sam's new neighbours, Judy Daniels (Alfre Woodard), a retired journalist, her husband Art Daniels (Clarke Peters), Wally Baker (Denis O'Hare), a retired doctor who is dying of cancer, Renee Joyce (Davis), a retired music manager, and Jack Willard (Bill Pullman), setting all their background stories, and ending on such a high, it's impossible not to want to watch the following episodes. 

The show grows creepier with each episode, and by the third episode, I was already struggling to sleep alone at night. But it's only once you watch it that you'll understand exactly why going to bed became a little more unsettling with each new episode. You can tell that something is going on in this seemingly perfect neighbourhood, and that some characters are more suspicious than others. But it skillfully builds tension throughout all eight episodes, never revealing too much, just enough to keep the viewers interested in the story and to keep them guessing and making up theories about what is really going on in the Boroughs.

While the larger mystery remains at the heart of the series, some of the most compelling moments come from the characters themselves, particularly Sam.

From the beginning of the series, it is clear that Sam is still grieving and struggling with the loss of his wife, as we see him experiencing hallucinations and repeatedly reenacting the circumstances of her death. While the season eventually gives him a sense of closure, the final episode introduces an unexpected twist that raises more questions than answers. It's not something the show explores in depth, but the ending strongly suggests that there may be more for Sam's story arc than what we've seen so far—a mystery that, according to one of the creators of the series, Jeffrey Adiss, would reportedly be explored in a second season, should the series be renewed.

But beyond its weird and intriguing story, what ultimately makes The Boroughs so compelling is its cast. In recent years, a handful of studios dared to put older actors at the centre of their projects, giving us movies like The Thursday Murder Club (2025), 80 for Brady (2023), Book Club (2018), Going in Style (2017), and Last Vegas (2013). More often than not, those projects have resulted in some of the most iconic ensembles put on screen, and I genuinely believe we need more of them.

The Boroughs is no exception. Its cast is made up of actors who have spent decades building remarkable careers and who continue to be beloved by audiences across generations. Their presence alone is enough to draw viewers in, but casting them in a new Netflix series also introduces them to younger audiences who may not be familiar with their work. In many ways, shows like The Boroughs serve as a gateway to discovering these actors' extensive filmographies, encouraging viewers to explore some of the greatest movies and television series ever made.

If you haven't started watching The Boroughs yet, you should think about pressing play on this Stranger Things for older citizens as soon as possible, because it is one of the best series of the year so far, and it's now streaming on Netflix.