The Boroughs Series Review
The Boroughs is a sci-fi drama television series created by fantasy screenwriters Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews and executive produced by The Duffer Brothers. The series premiered on Netflix on 21 May 2026.
Set in a seemingly picture-perfect retirement community, we follow a crew of unlikely heroes as they fight for the one thing they cant afford to lose, time.
The Good
I started watching this show on the recommendation that it would be something to do while waiting for the next episode of the mystery box show, From, whose Season 4 was on a two-week hiatus at the time of this review.
And I have to admit that it has a couple of things it does better than From. For one thing, you don’t wait too long to know what, why and how the threat came to be… and the key characters for most of the time share all the relevant information with each other… unlike the other show from the people who gave us Lost.
The Boroughs is a hilarious Scooby Doo adventure for senior citizens that could exist in the Stranger Things universe, which is unsurprising, seeing that it’s from the same Executive Producers.
The cast are seasoned veterans who anchor the series, infusing their lived experience of loss, regret, time slipping away, the fear of dying and bringing to life giving it heart beyond the humour, sci-fi chaos and monsters.
The Bad
While it has an inventive premise, it has a such familiar feel to Stranger Things that it could have even been titled as Stranger Things: The Elders.
The 8 episodes are a bit of a stretch, and it would have had a tighter and compelling story as a limited series with 6 or less episodes, cutting down on the middle ones with unnecessary subplots that slow down the plot.
Then, there’s the matter of the monsters. They never quite receive a clear or satisfying explanation. Instead, they exist as messy, time-bending, alien-like entities with no definitive purpose.… except perhaps, as always with monsters, it’s the ones that look like us that we should be most worried about.
The Ugly
While it’s a powerful sentiment, the series leans heavily on society’s dismissal of the elderly, which can feel repetitive. After a certain age, you ship away your elderly to a facility where they can be someone else’s concern, except for your periodic visits and obligations… the real monster, is the time we lose.
An interesting cultural contrast with Africa, where we live with our elderly and aging is not regarded as a contagious obligation that is outsourced but a shared responsibility. A reminder that perhaps the scariest thing isn’t growing old but growing old alone.
Final Thoughts
The Boroughs is a sci-fi thriller comedy series that swaps teens on bikes for retirees with golf carts, but keeping the suspense and supernatural flair of Stranger Things. It falters in some places but its heart is undeniable. If you still have elderly folk in your life, it might make you pay attention to them more while you still have them.
Have you watched The Boroughs? Does this sound like something you would watch?
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