shades fills you in

The Watcher is a Netflix show based on the real-life stalking of a family in American suburbia. It’s another true crime special from Ryan Murphy -- Sydney Morning Herald

NY Magazine wrote a story on the real-life stalking case back in 2018. Read the complete story here

There’s some controversy, reports The Cut: It appears the victims, the Broaddus family, aren’t into the show. They’re not watching it and they still live with the trauma of what happened

Mashable explains further: The Broaddus family sold the rights to their story to Netflix so they could have some control over the show’s story, but it doesn’t look like they ever wanted it to happen in the first place

Also, says The Independent, it’s unclear what’s really true. A majority of the really crazy plot points are complete fiction

A resident in the hometown of The Watcher writes in a DBK-News Op: “The show doesn’t paint an accurate picture of Westfield, NJ. It’s clear facts have been edited for the screen”

And creator Ryan Murphy used a different, completely unrelated true crime case to build one of the show’s characters, reports Mashable

The show ends without a resolution -- no one knows who the Watcher really is. That’s how the case ended in real life, but ScreenRant finds it deeply unsatisfying: If you’re going to change facts about the case, why keep the anti-climactic ending

There’s at least one defender though: A first-post Op liked it -- it’s fast-paced and doesn’t give much away. It’s compelling because the watcher could’ve been *anyone*!

But GQ Magazine says the show’s unresolved ending makes you wonder if true crime content is really worth creating at all

Collider concludes: This isn’t “True Crime” at all. The show toggles between fact and fiction in an attempt to add to the story, but it doesn’t really work