Review: The Boroughs is a clever, well-crafted creation

The The Duffer Brothers completed their blockbuster series Strange Things earlier this year and left Netflix to sign with Paramount. But several of their creative projects remain with Netflix: animation Stranger Things: Stories of ’85which dropped in April to mixed reviews; they are newly liberated GovernmentsA very happy man has been found in a retirement community in the New Mexico desert. I am happy to say that Governments It’s a house design, with smart, smart, well-integrated writing, and central mystery.

(Some spoilers below but nothing major to reveal.)

Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) is a widowed retired engineer who (mostly) reluctantly moves into The Boroughs. It was his late wife’s decision to move there, and the company refused to let him out of the contract he co-signed when Lilly (Jane Kaczmarek) was still alive. So she complains about the whole plan, pushing her long-suffering daughter Claire (Jena Malone) and anyone else who crosses her path.

Sam’s mood softens when he meets his neighbor Jack (Bill Pullman), whose constant good humor and generosity have made him popular in the community (especially with the ladies). Jack introduces Sam to his inner circle: Art and Judy (Clarke Peters and Alfre Woodard); retired doctor Wally (Denis O’Hare), who has terminal prostate cancer; and retired music director Renee (Geena Davis). Sam decides to stay, despite being attacked by one of his former housemates, Edward (Ed Begley, Jr.), who suffers from dementia and insists that there are “owls in the walls,” calling Sam “one of them.”