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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
17
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
May 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
“The Boroughs” may feel like “Stranger Things” meets “Coccoon,” but that oversimplification is a disservice to what viewers get here. Even in moments that are shaggier than the 1960s carpets in their homes, the experience of this cast matters in carrying multiple genres at once.
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The GuardianMay 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
It is, obviously, a fine cast and any fears (deriving from the presence of the Duffer brothers, famed for Stranger Things, as producers) that some of the best actors in the business are about to be wasted on hokum are soon laid aside by an intelligent, witty script and a plot that nods to all the most entertaining monster tropes without being slavishly devoted to them.
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TV InsiderMay 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Never as intense as Stranger Things, but also never as surprising, The Boroughs charms while plucking the heartstrings as its characters, especially Sam, contend with grief, loss, and regret while displaying admirable resilience and a timeless respect for Bruce Springsteen.
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May 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
The ordinariness of “The Boroughs” doesn’t mean that there aren’t some time-tested horror-movie ideas kicking around in it — it’s a fairly amusing gloss on the notion that the people warehoused in retirement communities are literally having the life sucked out of them. And while the main characters fall into types like the aging stud and the aging hippie, most of the performers find a little extra personality around the edges.
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May 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Viewers can guess the identity of the main villain almost immediately, and as the season wears on, the later revelations aren't as exciting as they probably should be. It's just as well that the show's casting choices are so strong, making this an easy series to keep streaming to the end.
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Radio TimesMay 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
The show's sprawling, starry cast is also a blessing and a curse. It has to spend a huge amount of time introducing (and making us invested in) a large ensemble of characters, resulting in the first couple of episodes feeling rather slow. But once warmed up, they’re a treat.
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May 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Sadly, The Boroughs also shares with Stranger Things a tendency to stop developing characters and relationships after efficient introductions. (The exception is Wally, a gay man whose memories of the AIDS crisis complicate his every choice.) Instead, both shows keep adding portentous but vague themes until so many ideas have been articulated that only the most anodyne takeaways survive.
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May 21, 2026
May 21, 2026
Season 1 Review:
To be sure, the series even at its clunkiest is never less than perfectly watchable; any show that sees Woodard shooting at monsters or O’Hare preparing to thwack one with a meat cleaver can’t help but be at least a little amusing. But it’s a letdown for a story with bright early gleams of potential.
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