Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘The Boroughs,’ an idyllic retirement community turns out to be a hub of secrets and mysteries. Sam, who is grieving the sudden death of his beloved wife, Lilly, is brought to the Boroughs, which is supposed to be the place where he spends the rest of his life. Despite his initial inhibitions, he decides to give the place a chance and actually starts to make friends. But the appearance of a strange creature leads him and his new friends down a rabbit hole that makes them reconsider everything they thought they knew about the place. It is also more harrowing for Sam because he is visited by his wife’s ghost several times. He strongly feels her presence in the Boroughs and thinks she is trying to tell him something. He turns out to be partially right about this. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Lilly’s Ghost is the Mother’s Way to Reach Out to Sam
In the second half of ‘The Boroughs,’ it is revealed that there is a mysterious creature called the Mother, whose blood is being harvested by Blaine and Annaliese to create a youth potion that keeps them from getting old and dying. It is after Wally becomes a part of their team that he finds out that the creature was found by the couple in the 1940s. They chanced upon a mysterious egg that gave birth to the creature they now refer to as Mother. They have no idea where the egg came from and how Mother possesses the powers that turn her blood into a fountain of youth.
All they know is that as long as they keep consuming it, they will live forever. They have been doing it for 75 years, but in this process, they have forgotten that while the Mother might perceive time differently, she does not exist outside it. She, too, gets old and has to eventually die. Of course, Blaine and Annaliese cannot let that happen because if the Mother dies, so will they. So, they keep her captive and feed her the human cerebrospinal fluid she needs to survive through her children, who collect it by feeding from the Boroughs’ residents.
This form of existence has become hell for the Mother, and all she wants is to be freed from it. So, she calls out for help. Much like almost everything about her, her call for help looks rather different from a normal one. Because the perception of time is different for her, her call can only be understood by the people who also perceive time non-linearly. Unfortunately, the humans who can do that are those suffering from incurable neurological disorders like dementia. So, even if they hear her calls, they are in no state to understand it, let alone help her. Fortunately for the Mother, Sam comes to the Boroughs.
While he is still completely in control of his brain, his mind is fractured due to the loss of his wife. He loved her so much that he hasn’t been able to move on from the night that he lost her. So, even though time is passing and he is physically moving on, one part of his heart and mind is still stuck on the last day he had with Lilly. The divide between these two realities is also stronger because of the traumatic experience of watching the love of his life die in his arms and not being able to do anything about it. This is why, when the Mother calls out for help, Sam is able to hear her, though it takes him some time to realize what he is hearing and what he can do about it.
The Puzzle Piece and the Glitching Lilly are the Language Sam Can Understand
Because the Mother is not human, she doesn’t communicate with conventional language. Most, if not all, of her speaking happens through her mind. So, when the time comes to call for help, she does so with her mind. She sends a transmission, hoping that someone will match the frequency and pick up her call. Several people, including Sam, pick up the transmission, but none of their minds are the same. Their perception of the world is unique, and so, when the Mother’s message is translated for them, it unravels in a language they speak and understand. For example, because the Mother cannot show her real form to them, she adopts the form of the person they love the most, which is why she appears as Lilly to Sam.
This means it’s not his wife’s ghost but the creature held captive in the lab at the Boroughs. In the same vein, the puzzle piece is another representation of the Mother using something significant from Sam’s mind to catch his attention. The last time he was with Lilly, they were solving a puzzle, which they never got to complete because she passed away. It is one of the things that haunts him, and that’s why it appears to him. Another important detail about Sam’s visions is the glitch. This can be explained as the flickering transmission from the Mother’s end.
Being drained of her life force while being held prisoner for more than seven decades is bound to break down a living being. The Mother is getting weaker by the day, and her powers are also weakening. Due to this, she is not able to conjure a stronger version of Lilly, and hence, the glitches in Sam’s visions. Sam finds out about this when he is thrown into the Manor, where he meets a woman who also receives messages from Mother, but cannot do anything about it because she is already too lost inside her mind. Sam is still far away from that fate and eventually becomes the one who saves the Mother by letting her die in peace.
Read More: Is The Boroughs a Real Retirement Community?
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