No one has probably ever wondered what could come from the combination of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix killer of the Zodiac and Foucault’s panopticon theory. Here we tried our luck and the answer leaves no doubt: The observer (Traffic warden). Let’s analyze why this series, which has a little of all this and will arrive on October 13 at the red “N”, is shaping up to be one of the most disturbing of the year.
repeated formula
Netflix and Ryan Murphy have one heart. This combination is the simplest.
The showrunner who just broke up with his Jeffrey Dahmer series will now premiere a 7-episode production inspired by the real-life case of The Watcher. The protagonists: Naomi Watts e bobby cannavale.
To talk about the Zodiac killer and Foucault’s panopticon, have patience. There are countless elements that make this story undeniably disturbing and these are more important now.
the house of your dreams
The first letter they received the Broaddus from The Watcher said the following: “Now is my time. Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I’m going to check“.
In 2014, Derek Broaddus, Maria and their children aged 5, 8 and 10 They moved into their dream home Avenue 657, Westfield, New Jersey. They had sold the old one and got the new one for a little over a million dollars. It was 364 square meters, 6 rooms and an immense garden of pure illusions.
Pure illusions that would vanish in a few days like the Marvel superheroes at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos’ shot, in this case, would be The Watcher.
Mystery 1: Who is the Observer?
We had omitted the beginning of the first letter. He began: “657 Boulevard has been my family object for decades, and as her 110th birthday approaches, I’ve been tasked with watching and waiting for her second arrival. My grandfather looked at the house in the 1920s and my father looked at it in the 1960s“.
From his early days in Westfield, The Broadduses were besieged by mysterious envelopes that arrived in their mailbox from a person who called himself The Watcher.
The letters were all computerized, came from Newark and had no fingerprints. In all of them, the “Guardian” let them know that he or she was, in fact, watching them.
“I see they flooded 657 Boulevard with contractors so they can destroy the house as it should. Tsk, tsk, tsk … bad move. You don’t want to make 657 Boulevard miserable. “
The observer
There were two other leitmotifs in the particular prose of the stalker or stalker: he constantly thanked him for bringing “young blood” into the house and remembered that one day what was hidden within the walls of 657 Boulevard would come to light.
The Watcher wrote relatively poetically but, contradictorily, had many spelling errors.
Of course, after reading the first few letters, the surprise and fear of the Broadduses were skyrocketing.
Derek and Maria were silent at first. They kept it a secret to find out for themselves which of their neighbors was sending them the bullying messages.
“Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I asked for? Better for me. Was your old house too small for the growing family? Or was he bringing your kids out of greed? Once I know their names, I’ll call them and draw them. “
The observer
He, Derek, became obsessed with it: he installed security cameras, hired experts, used sound detectors, German shepherds, and even asked a priest to bless the building. She also called a home inspector to take a look at the walls, but to her astonishment the inspector told her that the only problem they had was the lack of insulation in the house.
From 2014 to mid-2016, the Broaddus tried to relocate on several occasions, but were always challenged by the infamous home it had become.
The neighborhood was, and they didn’t know it, like Foucault’s panopticon.
The surrounding houses, the trees, and even the neighbors themselves represented that “construction (of cells and spaces) where each detainee is perfectly individualized and constantly visible, while, from the cell, the detainee cannot observe whoever observes him if someone is watching. “
The philosopher underlines his theory in “Monitoring and Punishment”: “In this way, the individual who is part of the panoptic structure knows that he is in a state of permanent vigilance and that he guarantees his passivity and control of his movements”.
“All the windows and doors on 657 Boulevard allow me to observe and follow you as you move around the house. Who am I? I’m The Watcher and I’ve had control of 657 Boulevard for most of these two decades. “
The observer
Mystery 2: Why does he do it?
To find the answer to this question, the Broaddus called the Woodsthe previous owners of 657 Boulevard.
The other couple told them that at 23 they had not been bothered by him or the “Watcher”, but that once, before moving, perhaps for this reason, they received a letter from him. It was weird, they didn’t analyze it too much and as soon as he arrived they threw it in the trash.
“The Woods family gave it to you (the house). It was their time to move on and they kindly sold it when I asked. I pass (to her) several times a day. 657 Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession “.
The observer
The case, as we said, had reached the ears of the media and, obviously, of the inhabitants of the neighborhood. The house was a Halloween attraction.
The paranoia, total: one day Derek was walking with a couple on the block, he froze when the woman told him: “It will be nice to have young blood in the neighborhood.”
They could all be The Watcher. They too were suspicious.
One Halloween, for example, their neighbors debated whether the Broaddus had come up with everything to get a financial slice.
In turn, since the story of the letters and the stalker was well known, other unofficial “Guardians” may have sent him letters simply to annoy them.
However, history has proved it none was L’Osservatore. Just like the Zodiac killer, but without killing anyone, the man or woman behind “Vigilante” could never be identified.
Mystery 3: Where is it?
In June 2016, the police confirmed that they had opened an investigation into the case. The DNA samples in the letters “Watcher” sent to the Broaddus showed that it was very likely that the Watcher was a woman.
Maria, Derek and their children, who will have other names in the Murphy series, moved in 2019 from 657 Boulevard, most likely after recalling one of the last letters The Watcher sent them. This contained the most scrambled and sinister message of all:
“Violent winds and bitter cold. To the vile and mischievous Derek and his beautiful wife Maria. “
The observer
Source: “The Watcher”, an article published in November 2018 by New York Magazine that inspired the Netflix series. Even The Cut.
Source: Clarin
