Alrighty, chances are you've already heard about Netflix's latest buzzy Top 10 show "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window." Now try saying that title ten times fast. I recently stumbled across a meme that said it best, this show's title has major "trying to hit your essay word count" vibes 😂. It's also worth noting I almost ran out of character count to add a subtitle for this blog post.
If you're not familiar with this show, "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window," (which henceforth I shall just call "the show" to reduce word count), is a wildly entertaining parody of every single thriller that has "The Woman on the..." or "The Girl..." in its title (think "The Woman in the Window," "The Girl on the Train," "The Girl in Cabin 10" etc). The show is about Anna, a divorced woman whose life completely unravels after the death of her daughter. Unable to function, she spends her days at home, consuming copious amounts of alcohol and pills, which causes her to occasionally hallucinate. One day, after her umpteenth glass of wine, she looks out her window and witnesses a murder in the house across the street...or was it just her intoxicated imagination?
If you want to find out what happens for yourself, then stop here and go watch the show on Netflix. Thankfully, the show is only 8 episodes with each episode being ~30 minutes long, so it's easy to binge in just one sitting. However, if you've already seen the show, or if you're fine with spoilers, read on for 5 thoughts that raced through my mind after the wild finale. I'm going to insert the trailer here for those that don't want to accidentally catch sight of any spoilers below!
***** SPOILERS START HERE*****
1) About that name "Anna"...
Kristen Bell plays the role of Anna in this show, which is the same name as her character in Disney's "Frozen." Obviously two different very genres, but was the name share a wink to her fans? 🤔
2) The culprit was in the title all along!!
When I first saw the title, I thought "Girl in the Window" referred to the murder victim, who is female and whom we saw die in the window across the street. But given that the victim is a full-grown woman, it would have made more sense to say "Woman in the Window" or "Lady in the Window." But "Girl" would be the perfect descriptor for the actual murderer, who is 9-year-old Emma. From flashbacks, we know Emma was also in the same room as the victim while the victim was dying... maybe if Anna had stayed in her chair a 'lil longer, she, and us as the viewer, would have actually seen the girl at the crime scene in the window across the street from the house Anna lived in 🙃
I wonder if implicating the culprit in the title was intentional and meant to make fun of how most thrillers usually have a less than surprising culprit. After all, if you've read or seen enough thrillers, you know all the tropes and probably have a good sense of how the story will end. Yet we always still buy into all the marketing taglines of how one particular thriller will be "different" and serve up unexpected twists and turns, even when we know the chances of a truly original, shocking ending is small. Speaking of which, I know some people were really surprised by the ending for this show, and I was too for a split second, but if you've watched shows like "Mare of Easttown," then looking back, this ending isn't actually that dumbfounding.
3) Ok, but who moved that body?
I know this show requires some suspension of disbelief because it's a parody and thus has the license to defy logic and be outrageous at times, but how in the world could a 9-year-old girl have moved a grown woman's dead body to the middle of nowhere? She would have definitely needed a strong accomplice... and if she did, who could it have been?? Which leads me to the next thought-
4) What if this is all Anna's imagination, and we have no choice but to accept it as truth because she's our only narrator?!
The biggest plot twist would be if all the logical loopholes were intentional because Anna is actually crazy, but we have no way of knowing that because she is our only narrator and thus our only window into what happened. This would explain the ridiculous backstory to her daughter's death, Emma being able to kill the woman and move her body, Anna being able to survive multiple heavy blows in the final fight scene, Anna miraculously overcoming her fear of rain in a split second, and Douglas still wanting to get back together with her. But then again, this show is meant to be a parody, so maybe everything is real? Or is this some meta commentary on the trope of unreliable female narrators in a thriller? Or am I just reading too much into this??? 😵
5) Does the ending mean there might be a season 2?
It seems like Anna may have another mystery to solve. But how could a body possibly disappear on a flight just like that? And why is Anna still reading the same book she seemed to be reading earlier on in the show? Does it really take that long to finish that book? I'm really starting to think my thought #4 might have some merit... maybe we'll find out in a season 2?
And that wraps up the thoughts racing through my head after watching this show. Have you seen "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window?" If you have, let me know your thoughts below!