The Boroughs Outshines Stranger Things With Its Unforgettable Setting

Netflix's new sci-fi thriller The Boroughs, executive-produced by the Duffer Brothers and currently number two on Flix Patrol, centers on Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) as he moves into a retirement community, makes new friends and uncovers unsettling truths. After watching the eight-episode first season, one clear advantage over Stranger Things is the series' setting: it feels deliberately strange and specific rather than familiar.

Where Hawkins, Indiana often reads as a generic small town, The Boroughs is rooted in a tightly drawn retirement enclave with colorful houses, manicured landscaping and a deceptively charming facility called The Manor. The show leans into that contrast, hiding odd and menacing elements behind a warm façade.

Episode 7, "Time To Go," amplifies the mood with a 75th-anniversary celebration—karaoke, punch and a town square—that pairs with wide shots of the New Mexico landscape and desert drives to make the location feel both cozy and uncanny.

United States, New Mexico

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