The Boroughs

Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes viewed: 8 of 8

Mere months after Stranger Things bowed out with its fifth and final season, the Duffer Brothers return to Netflix as executive producers of a new show that flips their signature hit upside down — replacing the kids with pensioners to face off against an otherworldly threat. If Stranger Things was a love letter to the ’80s, The Boroughs, created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, is about people in their eighties — or at least, around that age — centring an older generation for a horror-fuelled sci-fi story of their own.

Where Stranger Things introduced an ensemble of pre-teen unknowns to an unsuspecting public, The Boroughs comes with a healthy pedigree of experience and background. This show is stacked with talent, perhaps more than any other title streaming this year. Alfred Molina, as Sam, is on fantastic, crabby form in the lead, teasing out the loneliness and heartbreak that lurks just beneath the surface. “I was an engineer, but now I’m a prisoner,” he drily tells a transition manager upon arriving at retirement community The Boroughs, described by one character as “a special town just for grown-ups”. To his relief, it’s not long before Sam strikes up new friendships — relationships that you’ll root for from the get-go.

Geena Davis, Clarke Peters, Alfre Woodard, Bill Pullman and Denis O’Hare all play a vital role in the story too, each bringing their own unique quirks — and a surprising amount of horniness — to the table. The unique selling point of The Boroughs is this older perspective, reminding us just how rare it is to see the singular outlook of those in their autumn years foregrounded in big-budget genre fare. It’s just as rare to see this many big players aged 60 and above shine as part of an ensemble on screen too, even if the writing on the show itself doesn’t always match their calibre.

For at times, the show’s genre thrills falter somewhat. Early reveals that come too soon and pacing issues in the middle undercut the impact of what could have been a gripping mystery. For better and for worse, this isn’t just “Stranger Things, but for older people”; despite being understandably foregrounded in the press and marketing, the Duffers are strictly on executive-producer duties only. The budget doesn’t quite match Stranger Things in its heyday, either, with various effects and prosthetics that often underwhelm, even if that initial monster design comes out creepy in all the right ways. Still, if all of Netflix’s money was spent on the cast, it was money well spent, because even with its flaws and that pesky monster rattling around, The Boroughs is a place you’ll be more than happy to retire to.