Emily: Welcome to the blog friends, and welcome to another blog post in which Susan and Emily talk thrillers. We love it here. Susan and I both read (and LIKED) The Woman in the Window, and yes, we do know it’s problematic. So we were excited about discussing the Netflix film The Woman in the Window, which was bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. And so now we’re coming around full circle to chat about The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, which is a Netflix series spoofing domestic thrillers. But let’s be real. It’s mostly a spoof of The Woman in the Window, which is fair, because that’s a story that’s pretty easy to make fun of. Oh, and this series stars my queen, Kristen Bell. 

So how was this series? Was it funny? Was it thrilling? Did Kristen Bell crush it, as always? That’s what we’re here to chat about.

Anyway, spoilers to follow.

Let’s chat. Susan, going into this series, what were you hoping for? What were you expecting?

Susan: I was hoping for pretty much exactly what I got, so I’m happy. I love Kristen Bell and had high expectations for how funny this would be, and I wasn’t disappointed there. Based on the (excellently edited) trailer, I was expecting that there would also be an element of mystery, which there was, but it wasn’t like edge-of-your-seat mysterious. I don’t think that’s a bad thing though — part of what this makes fun of is the predictability of these kinds of stories and the red herrings that are thrown in left and right to keep the reader/viewer confused. And I thought it did an excellent job of that. What about you? Expectations? Were they met?

Emily: I think it’s really hard to make a good parody, especially one that’s supposed to be sustained for a whole season, so I went into this with pretty low expectations. But I too love Kristen Bell, and so I had faith that this would at the very least be worth watching for her performance. As fast-paced as this was, I did feel like the series felt a little drawn out at places, and it made me wonder if this would have been better as a movie or even a short film vs. a full on series. I know series are just kind of what are being done at the moment, but what do you think? Was this the best format for this project? What would have changed about this had it been a movie or something shorter?

Susan: I was definitely surprised to see there were eight episodes. I was thinking there would maybe be four or so. Honestly it worked well for me because the episodes were pretty short, so I didn’t really feel like it was too drawn out despite it being longer than I expected. I’m not sure it would have worked as well for me if it had been a movie, especially since some parts of its plot so closely echoed The Woman in the Window. I think the episodic format let it stretch its legs a little more to go beyond just that thread. Would you have preferred a movie instead? 

Emily: I see what you’re saying about it being able to deviate more from The Woman in the Window by having a longer format. But maybe it could have been, say, two episodes shorter? Is that a fair compromise? 

Susan: Sure, I’ll take that as a compromise. I probably already gave this away, but I thought the series was pretty hilarious. Did you find it funny? Let’s talk about some of the more comedic moments.

Emily: Yes, it did have some very funny moments. I think Kristen Bell is great at comedy. This is a series that had to walk a fine line between being truly suspenseful and being funny, and Kristen Bell understood the assignment. She was the highlight for me. There were also a lot of funny things going on in the background. For instance, her daughter’s gravestone kept changing epitaphs. My favorite was “There’s No ‘I’ in Heaven” because it was the most nonsensical. Also the casseroles. There were so. Many. Casseroles. I love that she brought a casserole with her to the cemetery to visit her daughter. Like… why?

Susan: The epitaphs were cracking me up too. I actually laughed out loud when the cause of her daughter’s death was revealed. It was Take Your Daughter to Work Day, so her husband took their daughter to a prison to interview a serial killer. I loved how this actually had nothing to do with Anna’s rain phobia. 

Emily: Yeah the very loose connection to Anna’s fear of rain was that it was raining the day he took their daughter to work. But yeah, Anna’s husband brought their daughter to work and left her alone with a serial killer. Oops! 

Susan: I also got a good laugh every time we saw the repairman working on the mailbox, which it turns out he’d been doing for years now. Between that and his “detective” work determining if a raccoon broke a light that was actually broken by Anna, I thought that actor did a fantastic job turning a small role into a hilarious performance. 

Emily: He did, and it actually took me a while to be like, “Wait a minute. He is always working on that mailbox. AND IT STILL ISN’T FIXED!” Like, what do you need to do to a mailbox anyway? So we’ve talked about the humor. How did we feel about the mystery aspect of this show?

Susan: Like I said, I wasn’t on the edge of my seat trying to figure things out. Usually in a mystery I try to look for clues along the way, but I really wasn’t doing that while I watched this show. I was more just letting it wash over me (and kind of assuming some of the “twists” would echo those in The Woman in the Window, which they did). What did you think about it?

Emily: Yeah, I have to say, as a mystery, this was where the story felt a little slow. One of my biggest criticisms about this show is that it is basically just The Woman in the Window, almost beat-for-beat, only even more ridiculous. Which I guess just goes to show how fucking ridiculous The Woman in the Window is. But still. For my entertainment, I personally would have enjoyed a few more surprises and maybe a few more thriller nods thrown in. Like, come on, The Girl on the Train is dying to be made fun of. That book was dumb as hell. 

Susan: Let’s talk about that ending too. First of all, it was a wild scene. Second of all, Glenn freaking Close was in it. It’s something totally separate from the main plot, but it still parodies the thriller genre. Kristen Bell even says “The woman in 2C,” which definitely sounds like another book title. So do we think we’re being set up for a second season that follows this story? (I mean, Glenn Close!) Or was this just a fun scene to end on?

Emily: So I actually just read an article about this. It seems like the writers wrote this scene with no intention of it leading to a sequel, and now they’re unsure of what they would do with it if it did end up turning into a sequel. But they’re not ruling it out. This series seems to be getting a loooot of views, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they did do a sequel. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if the sequel picks up in an entirely different place with Kristen Bell just being like “LOL remember that time I was on an airplane and imagined Glenn Close?” 

Susan: Either way, I’ll be watching it. There are so many of these domestic thrillers that are ripe for parody. I only hope if they go with the Glenn Close story that the second season is called The Woman in the Seat Next to the Woman in Seat 2C. 

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is streaming on Netflix now!