"The Woman in the House...: Season 1" - STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

There's so much content out there these days that it can be hard to find anything worth watching. I know that sounds backwards, but there are simply so many options that the true gems are hidden among the ranks of the mediocre, or even the outright bad. Besides, modern shows are designed with carefully planted cliffhangers so that once you get started, it's hard to walk away. Then you look up, and six hours have passed, and you realise that you didn't really enjoy any of it. It was distracting, and it got its hooks in you, but you kinda wish that you had those six hours back.

This isn't a full review. Think of it as early impressions. I am scouting ahead and reporting back to you, but I'm not that far ahead. If the show is promising, I might circle back and give it a full review later. Or I might just cross one title off of that never-ending list of content.

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window: Season 1

Something is off in The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, but I'm guessing you figured it out from the title. Over the last decade, we've seen a real boom in the domestic suspense/thriller genre. These stories show the seedy underbelly of suburban life. Everyone is having an affair, everyone is a moment away from being murdered, and it's all just a little bit much.

We know that those suburbs have nothing in common with the suburbs of the real world, right?

And yet, these stories remain popular. We've seen Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, The Woman in the Window, and so on.

So when you see a title like The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, the product seems predictable. This over-the-top title suggests that we're in the land of spoof or parody, right?

Well, sorta.

In the opening sequence of the show, our lead character (Anna, played by Kristen Bell) prepares a chicken casserole while haunting music in the background drones Rain, rain, go away. The sequence is, like the title, a little bit much. The juxtaposition of the dreary soundtrack with the mundane events being displayed pushes us into the realm of the intentionally absurd. It's funny. It culminates with Anna pulling her chicken casserole out of the oven... with her bare hands. There's a sequence of jarring images that flash by too quickly to be interpreted, and Anna drops the casserole on the floor.

In case this wasn't all over-the-top enough, this is only the first time a casserole dish will be destroyed across the episode.

Early in the first episode Anna narrates in a British accent:

My husband used to tell me that I have an overactive imagination. That I drink too much. That I can't let go of the past. That I make plans and cancel them, that I never wear a jacket then complain that I'm cold. That sometimes I speak with a British accent, even though I'm not British.

In her natural voice, she continues:

He's right about all of it. That's why he left me.

Again, all of this reads like a spoof. We have our main character speaking in a fake accent and admitting to it? This is self-aware comedy, right?

Let me repeat myself: well, sorta.

It's fair to say that the show is aware of the genre and its conventions. We have the beautiful narrator, the handsome across-the-street-narrator, and so on. However, much of the show isn't exactly laugh-out-loud funny, and it doesn't feel like it's meant to be. Anna's obvious depression isn't played for laughs. She's a woman who has endured tragedy, and she is obviously struggling. Many of those sequences feel heartfelt.

Then, with almost no warning, the show will veer into the absurd. Anna tells her daughter about the date she's about to go on. She's trying to put her life back together. She's putting in effort. So she asks her daughter for a kiss before she leaves, and her daughter responds...

I can't. Because I'm dead.

And she fades from the scene.

This isn't the first time Kristen Bell has played a role in a show that blends the serious and absurd. The Good Place, a personal favorite of mine, did that relentlessly across its four season run. But The Good Place also moved fast, while this show (sorry, I can't keep typing out that title) takes its time. By the end of the first episode, it's hard to say exactly where the show is going. Like many other entries in the domestic thriller genre, secrets unfold over time here. We know that Anna has trauma, and we know that she believes something mysterious is going on, but we also know that she sees things.

If Anna wasn't played by one of the most charismatic comedic performers in the world, I don't know that it would work. However, she is. Kristen Bell is good at playing this type of character, and she's right at home with the tension between absurdity and seriousness.

The Verdict:

Stream it!

This is one of the oddest beginnings to a show that I can remember, but I'm curious to see where it goes. As it unfolds with notes of Rear Window, the mystery has my attention. A number of really odd choices have grabbed my attention, so I will be proceeding just to see what's going on with this odd little show. That said, I'm also really glad that this show only has 8 half hour episodes. The opening is strong enough to pique my interest, but I'm glad this isn't a 10 hour commitment.

"The Woman in the House..." is available via Netflix.