Netflix's The Watcher Ending Left Fans Feeling Ripped Off
Viewers of The Watcher want their seven hours of binge-watching back, despite what they call "decent acting, production, and the idea behind the show."
The Watcher, a show based on true events, premiered on Netflix last week. The plot of the show follows the story of Dean and Nora Brannock who found themselves in a horrifying situation upon buying their dream house. After the start of renovation works on the house, the family began receiving threatening letters written by an anonymous stalker calling himself "The Watcher". These terrifying letters soon became a regular thing, turning the life of the family into a nightmare. The show follows the attempts of the family to identify their stalker.
Sounds interesting? Many viewers thought so and got down to binge-watching as soon as the show premiered. Unfortunately, after watching all seven episodes, the majority of viewers agreed that what started off as a strong, easy and intriguing watch went to a disappointing ending.
Halfway through the show, the scenes became boring and dialogues long and unnecessary, a lot of plot lines went nowhere. Many commenters say they only got to the end of the show to learn who The Watcher was. Unfortunately, the answer to this mystery is exactly what the show doesn't give. The ending was left open for interpretation and seemed so unresolved that viewers felt cheated when the credits rolled.
To be fair, the real-life story had an unsatisfying ending, too, as some commenters pointed out. The Brannocks never found out who their maniac stalker was and are still trying to identify him. Thus, it does make sense for the show based on a real-life story to have an open ending. However, viewers pointed out that the plot of the show was nowhere near the real story, and they were hoping for at least some kind of resolution.
Almost every reviewer wrote they felt like the show hasn't ended, just stopped at one point. The audience would prefer if the creators of the show, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, stuck with one of the lines of inquiries from real life – which the true story is loaded with – and made it the explanation. In that case, an intriguing, creepy, and atmospheric show could have a chance to get high praise from the viewers.
Have you seen The Watcher? What did you think of its ending?