“Vigilante” on Netflix: Why is the new series from the creators of “Dahmer” sweeping views? | REVIEW

Two hits in less than 30 days is no small thing. After the success of “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan climb the Netflix most watched list again with “Vigilant”, a seven-episode mini-series that – like the story of the ‘Milwaukee Monster’ – is based on a true story.

In 2018, the journalist Reeves Wiedeman published a report in New York Magazine entitled “The Watcher”, based on the story of the Broaddus, an American family who, after moving to a beautiful house in Westfield, New Jersey, begin to receive a series of letters with unknown sender, unleashing in them an obsession to know who was behind it.

The story of the Broaddus was not unrelated to the interest of streaming platforms, however, it was only four years later that Netflix premiered the series under the baton of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Next, we will try to break down the good and the bad of this proposal, which has quickly become one of the public’s favorites on the aforementioned platform.

“Vigilant” introduces us to a family made up of Dean Brannock (Bobby Cannavale), his wife Nora (Naomi Watts) and their children, the teenager Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and the younger Carter (Luke David Blumm). Everyone is initially amazed to see a huge, beautiful house outside of New York City. Although the family maintains a good rate of income, the cost of the property is certainly high. None of this, however, seems enough to dampen the dream of living in a ‘perfect’ home.

Although complicated by the loans that he must request to pay off his new house, Dean -the most excited about living in this new home- manages to convince the indicated officials. So, the move begins. Nothing could ruin the beginning of a new life for a family that is obviously unaware of the darkness of their destiny.

If this new series by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan has something, it’s that it doesn’t take long to stalk the viewer. As soon as the Brannocks are settled in their new home, mysterious letters begin to arrive. In the letters, an unknown person claims to be following each of the movements of “the new owners” of the property, located on Boulevard 657. What at first seems to be a joke, will soon take on other aspects.

But seeing a family panic because their mailbox is full of anonymous letters is just the beginning of a series full of varied elements. Like satellites, various characters revolve around the aforementioned building. Odd neighbors, unscrupulous real estate brokers, sexually desirous young men, self-centered detectives, fetishists for old residences, investigators addicted to mystery and, of course, the former owners of the house, complete a universe that is anything but boring.

It doesn’t take many chapters to realize that in “Watchman” you first fight to save the house and then to save your life. In this purpose, the role of Bobby Cannavale as Dean and Naomi Watts as Nora is essential. Perhaps the first has been designed with more chiaroscuro. He is a father worried about taking care of his family, but who gets sidetracked in that purpose and ends up being obsessively overprotective of his daughter, whom he loudly rebukes for using lipstick and eyeliner “if she’s only 17 years old.” . On the other hand, the wife is a plastic artist who goes through several emotional moments. From a trusting viewer at the beginning of the series to almost a trainee detective at the end. In the midst of all this, Nora came to think that her husband was capable of writing her letters himself, something that undoubtedly torments her.

Although in “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, Murphy and Brennan had no qualms about digging into the most disgusting aspects of the human condition (the protagonist beat, raped, killed and then ate the remains of his victims), the correct thing would be say that “Vigilante” does not reach these depths perhaps because it does not need it. From its place as a psychological thriller, this proposal focuses on seeing how the protagonists collapse one by one, frustrated because they are unable to know the truth behind the letters.

And here precisely we find the greatest strength of the Netflix series: seeing Dean haggard, loser because he can’t find the person responsible for his nightmares, and dislocated because his own daughter has virtually scratched him, accusing him of racism, is certainly convincing. Along the same lines, seeing how Nora stumbles in her feelings towards her husband, prey to fear and frustration because the house of her dreams has ended up sinking them, and anxious because her sexual life went to waste a long time ago, generates empathy easily.

Beyond the strengths of the proposal, always linked to the protagonists, “Vigilante” also presents a series of situations that make it perhaps a very niche product, capable of basically hooking those who do not question supernatural or of unknown origin. Thus, the discovery of underground tunnels in the 21st century, the death and resurrection of secondary characters, the false self-incrimination of someone on the verge of death (“just so that Dean and Nora know a culprit”), and the unveiling of surprising romances almost in the epilogue of the plot, arguments could be unsustainable and even absurd.

Continuing with the factors that left us with a feeling of dissatisfaction, it is urgent to mention the type of development that the complex family bond between Dean and his daughter Ellie had. Although we are facing a thriller, the differences between an overprotective father (capable of smashing his daughter’s iPhone against the table) and a rebellious teenager (capable of exposing him to dismissal by inventing a false complaint on TikTok) are little or poorly used by him. script. The same feeling is repeated if we analyze the role of the talented Noma Dumezweni as Theodora Birch, a character who, more than a professional private detective, ends up looking like a storyteller who needs to tell her own personal tragedy to the Brannocks.

“Vigilante” has positive aspects. The performances described above, as well as Mia Farrow’s as Pearl Winslow (absolutely convincing as a dark, obsessive, nosy old lady). Point in favor also from the technical point of view: sound and lights. The first, never so scratchy despite the fact that we are facing a modern thriller and, the second, sober considering that the central parts of the plot take place at night or at dawn. But despite all this, the series will hardly reach any awards in the awards season. The reason? Regardless of the success in sight, we are facing a weak story, if not inconsequential.

WATCHMAN/ NETFLIX

Director: Ryan Murphy.

Cast: Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Coolidge.

Synopsis: Disturbing letters, strange neighbors, sinister threats. A family moves into the house of their dreams, but soon discovers that the fantasy is actually a nightmare.

Duration: 7 episodes.