Review: The Boroughs is a smart, pitch-perfect creature feature
Review: The Boroughs is a smart, pitch-perfect creature feature
剧评：《The Boroughs》：一部精明且恰到好处的怪兽剧
The Duffer brothers wrapped up their blockbuster series Stranger Things earlier this year and also departed Netflix for a lucrative new production deal with Paramount. But a couple of their production projects remain with Netflix: the animated series Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, which dropped in April to mixed reviews; and the newly released The Boroughs, a supernatural thriller set in a retirement community in the New Mexico desert. I’m happy to report that The Boroughs is a creative home run, with a smart, witty script, terrific ensemble cast, and engrossing central mystery. (Some spoilers below but no major reveals.)
达弗兄弟（The Duffer brothers）今年早些时候完结了他们的重磅剧集《怪奇物语》（Stranger Things），并离开 Netflix 与派拉蒙（Paramount）签署了一份利润丰厚的新制作协议。但他们仍有几个制作项目留在 Netflix：四月份上线但评价褒贬不一的动画剧集《怪奇物语：1985 年的故事》（Stranger Things: Tales from ’85）；以及刚刚发布的新剧《The Boroughs》，这是一部以新墨西哥州沙漠中一个退休社区为背景的超自然惊悚剧。我很高兴地告诉大家，《The Boroughs》是一次极具创意的成功之作，它拥有精明风趣的剧本、出色的群像演员阵容以及引人入胜的核心悬念。（下文包含部分剧透，但无重大情节泄露。）
Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) is a recently widowed, retired aeronautical engineer who (very) reluctantly moves into The Boroughs retirement community. It was his late wife’s choice to move there, and the company refuses to let him out of the contract he co-signed when Lilly (Jane Kaczmarek) was still alive. So he’s grumpy about the whole arrangement, snapping at his long-suffering daughter, Claire (Jena Malone) and pretty much anyone else who crosses his path.
Sam Cooper（Alfred Molina 饰）是一位刚丧偶的退休航空工程师，他（非常）不情愿地搬进了 The Boroughs 退休社区。搬到这里是他已故妻子的选择，而社区公司拒绝解除他在 Lilly（Jane Kaczmarek 饰）生前共同签署的合同。因此，他对整个安排感到不满，总是对长期忍受他的女儿 Claire（Jena Malone 饰）以及任何挡他路的人发脾气。
Sam’s attitude softens when he meets his neighbor Jack (Bill Pullman), whose relentless good humor and generosity has made him a favorite 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 manager Renee (Geena Davis). Sam decides to stay, despite the fact that he was attacked by one of the former occupants of his house, Edward (Ed Begley, Jr.), who suffers from advanced dementia and keeps insisting there is an “owl in the walls,” accusing Sam of being “one of them.”
当 Sam 遇到邻居 Jack（Bill Pullman 饰）时，他的态度有所缓和。Jack 始终如一的幽默感和慷慨让他成为了社区里的红人（尤其是深受女士们欢迎）。Jack 将 Sam 介绍给了他的核心圈子：Art 和 Judy（Clarke Peters 和 Alfre Woodard 饰）；患有晚期前列腺癌的退休医生 Wally（Denis O’Hare 饰）；以及退休音乐经纪人 Renee（Geena Davis 饰）。Sam 决定留下来，尽管他曾遭到该房前住户 Edward（Ed Begley, Jr. 饰）的袭击。Edward 患有严重的痴呆症，一直坚称“墙里有猫头鹰”，并指责 Sam 是“他们中的一员”。
Edward’s mind might be crumbling, but he’s not wrong about something sinister lurking beneath the idyllic facade of The Boroughs. The pilot episode’s cold open showed Edward’s (now-deceased) wife, Grace (Dee Wallace), being attacked by a mysterious, spindly creature in the middle of the night. Someone (or something) has been stealing all things quartz in the community. Art witnesses a flock of crows suddenly dash themselves into the ground in the surrounding desert for no apparent reason.
Edward 的精神可能正在崩溃，但他关于 The Boroughs 田园诗般外表下潜伏着邪恶事物的直觉并没有错。试播集开场展示了 Edward 已故的妻子 Grace（Dee Wallace 饰）在深夜遭到一种神秘、细长生物的袭击。有人（或某种东西）一直在社区里偷窃所有石英制品。Art 目睹了一群乌鸦在周围的沙漠中毫无理由地突然撞向地面。
And then the creature comes for Jack. Sam discovers the thing crouched over his new friend’s lifeless body, seemingly feeding off him. It’s a bold move to kill off a major star’s character at the end of the first episode, but it certainly establishes the stakes. Because Jack was so beloved, his loss becomes the linchpin for the surviving neighbors to work together to solve the mystery of how and why he died.
随后，那个生物盯上了 Jack。Sam 发现那个东西蹲在他新朋友毫无生气的尸体上，似乎正在以他为食。在第一集结尾就杀掉一位大牌明星饰演的角色是一个大胆的举动，但这无疑确立了剧集的紧张基调。因为 Jack 深受爱戴，他的离世成为了幸存邻居们团结一致、共同揭开他死亡真相的关键。
It’s nice to see Netflix embracing senior-themed series of late, starting with the two seasons (thus far) of A Man on the Inside, an excellent comedy drama that also features a grieving widower (Ted Danson) figuring out how to rebuild his post-retirement life. There’s a vast amount of world-class 60-plus acting talent out there, and The Boroughs’ stellar cast proves it. These are meaty roles with broad emotional ranges.
很高兴看到 Netflix 最近开始拥抱以老年人为主题的剧集，从目前已播出两季的《内行人》（A Man on the Inside）开始，这是一部出色的喜剧剧情片，同样讲述了一位悲伤的鳏夫（Ted Danson 饰）如何重建退休后的生活。演艺界有大量 60 岁以上的世界级表演人才，《The Boroughs》的明星阵容就证明了这一点。这些角色内容丰富，情感跨度极大。
The retirement community setting lends itself naturally to delving into themes of grief, aging, and fear of death, with the monster serving as a central metaphor—although the characters find themselves grappling with who the real monsters might be. The series also holds a mirror up to how our society undervalues seniors. When Sam et al. uncover the truth about The Boroughs, they can’t just broadcast it to the authorities or the media, because nobody would believe them. People would just assume they were going senile or suffering from dementia, and they’d find themselves prisoners in The Manor—the community’s pastel-hued memory ward—courtesy of the machinations of CEO Blaine Shaw (Seth Numrich) and his wife Anneliese (Alice Kremelberg).
退休社区的背景自然而然地引出了对悲伤、衰老和死亡恐惧等主题的探讨，而怪物则成为了一个核心隐喻——尽管角色们也在纠结谁才是真正的怪物。该剧还像一面镜子，折射出我们社会如何低估老年人的价值。当 Sam 等人揭开 The Boroughs 的真相时，他们无法直接向当局或媒体曝光，因为没人会相信他们。人们只会认为他们老糊涂了或患有痴呆症，而他们最终会因为 CEO Blaine Shaw（Seth Numrich 饰）及其妻子 Anneliese（Alice Kremelberg 饰）的阴谋，被关进社区那粉色调的记忆护理病房“The Manor”中，成为囚徒。
Speaking of The Manor, viewers of a certain age might find it jarring to see the elderly residents of the memory ward enthusiastically belting out Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” on karaoke night. But it tracks: Born to Run was released in 1975, i.e, 51 years ago, and Springsteen himself turns 77 this year. The song is threaded throughout the season: Sam and his late wife were dancing to it when she collapsed from a sudden stroke, so it holds special emotional significance.
说到 The Manor，特定年龄段的观众可能会觉得看到记忆护理病房的老人们在卡拉 OK 之夜热情高唱 Bruce Springsteen 的《Thunder Road》有些违和。但其实这很合理：《Born to Run》发行于 1975 年，也就是 51 年前，而 Springsteen 本人今年已经 77 岁了。这首歌贯穿了整季：Sam 和他已故的妻子在跳这首歌时，妻子因突发中风倒下，因此它具有特殊的感伤意义。