Dipaly Banerjee
Created by Julie Durk, ‘The Watchful Eye’ is a mystery thriller series that follows the story of Elena Santos (Mariel Molino), who is hired to work as a live-in nanny at the posh Greybourne building in Manhattan. A lady is thought to have died after falling to her death from one of the upper stories located far above, causing the tragedy to strike the neighborhood. She deals with an arrogant rich family rooted in narcissism and superiority over their wealth. She is unexpectedly interrogated about her lack of qualifications at her first interview, despite the fact that she is vastly overqualified to care for a child.
Elena has secrets of her own, overridden by ulterior motives; however, her secrets are deeply overshadowed by the secrets she uncovers within the walls of the rich family. The series gives off Agatha Christie vibes throughout, keeping the audience at the edge of their seat with the twists and turns seen in each episode. The mystery-thriller series touches upon several seemingly realistic and familiar subjects, including two-faced people and how people should be careful whom they trust. Moreover, it is common knowledge that big family money always hides secrets, so it is valid for you to ask — is ‘The Watchful Eye’ based on true events? Well, in that case, we have got you covered!
The Watchful Eye is an Original Work
‘The Watchful Eye’ is a work of fiction. Instead, the enthralling storyline can be credited to the creative mind and brilliant writing of Julie Durk. Given her years of experience and exceptional directorial and pen skills, Durk developed a thrilling screenplay for the mystery thriller. The main reason you might try to connect the series to reality is that it highlights several true-to-life themes and elements involving mysteries and secrets hidden by rich families. This includes deceit and horrifying schemes, which seem familiar to many.
The series truly takes the viewers across a paradigm of deceit where no one is what they seem, and everyone has ulterior motives. Much like characters in ‘Get Out,’ ‘Knives Out,’ or ‘Death On The Nile,’ everyone is under the “watchful eye.” As the narrative deepens, elements within the sinister ecosystem of The Greybourne come to the surface, leaving Elena and the audience awe-struck. What heightens the overall essence of the series is the theme of supernatural undertones spoken in hush tones, indicating the existence of something “out of this world” causing the mysterious deaths. The case of whodunit with eccentric suspects makes the story a true and compelling one.
Since the beginning of the series, we instantly know that Elena is up to no good and that she has motives for fraud. Seemingly, she attempts to strike up friendships with other residents to make a compelling case for herself and her plans to become successful in the long run. However, she soon realizes what she has fallen into and how the dark secrets unraveling around her make it difficult not only for her mission but for her own life. This aspect is also rooted in a reality where young college graduates take up jobs as nannies for rich families in the country only to get entangled in their personal matters.
The mysterious death of the lady of the house is the biggest plot twist, which not only highlights the status of psychological aspect dealt with by women in the upper class, which mostly remains unseen due to their status, but also instances of the same not unheard of if we were to infer that her death was caused solely by suicide. Furthermore, no matter how horrifying and sinister the themes in the series are, such instances have happened and continue to occur in real life, which is another reason why you might wonder if the mystery thriller is based on true events. Considering all the things mentioned above, it would be fair to say that although ‘The Watchful Eye’ imitates true-to-life elements, its story has nothing to do with reality.
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