The Watcher ending explained: Breaking down that twisty, spine-tingling finale

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Watcher.

If you know the real-life story of The Watcher, you know that the case of uncovering the identity of the stalker who sent anonymous, threatening letters to a wealthy New Jersey family remains unsolved. Ryan Murphy's Netflix series inspired by the shocking ordeal offers some form of unsettling closure — albeit as an entirely fictional concoction — to the terrifying story, but more so for the psyche of the characters involved versus definitive justice for the heinous acts committed against them.

The finale picks up with Nora (Naomi Watts) and Dean Brannock (Bobby Cannavale) starting over in New York City following the events at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, N.J. Free from threatening letters and with her pottery career (or, as Jennifer Coolidge's Karen likes to call it, "cooking pots") on an upswing, Nora couldn't be happier — until she has a breakdown, coming home one night to find Dean charting another theory about the identity of the Watcher on the wall of their office.

Soon after, they get a call from the daughter of their cancer-stricken private investigator, Theodora Birch (Noma Dumezweni), noting that their friend's health has taken a dire turn. They visit her in the hospital, and she notices that Nora seems out of sorts. A few days later, with things worsening for the couple at home, Theodora calls Dean back to her bedside, where she confesses to being the Watcher the whole time. She claims that she fell in love with the house the moment she saw it, put an offer in, and it was hers. However, she had to sell it to pay for her cancer treatments, and concocted the elaborate scheme to get it back — all involving actors she paid to pose as the man who told Dean about Mo's (Margo Martindale) blood cult and as the girl in pigtails who snuck into Dean's bedroom in the middle of the night.

At Theodora's funeral, her daughter tells the Brannocks that her mother simply made the story up to give the family peace, as she didn't want their relationship to unravel because she couldn't help them solve the mystery.

Eventually, Karen buys the former Brannock home, moves in, and promptly moves out amid a petrifying brush with the Watcher (more on that later). The series ends as we see Dean finally in therapy, and all seems to go well until he brings up 657 Boulevard, unprompted by his therapist. It's clear that, while the family moved on, the Watcher's grasp on the Brannocks hasn't — particularly Dean. The final scene shows him, seemingly still-obsessed with uncovering the truth, perched outside his old abode, feverishly watching as the new owner rifles through his mailbox. The once-watched patriarch has become a new Watcher of sorts, but it's unclear if Dean gazes upon the man to see if he, too, receives a letter from the Watcher, or if he's keeping tabs on mail he might've sent his successors to continue the cycle.

Shortly thereafter, Dean receives a call from an inquisitive Nora, who wants to know how a job interview in the city went. Her husband — who clearly didn't go — lies, telling her that he's on his way home, but backed up in Manhattan traffic. Dean pulls away, and Nora pulls her car into the vacant spot, indicating that she, too, can't let go of the Watcher — or, perhaps, she simply accepts that this is the only way to feel a spark of passion between them, tailing him as he follows the lead of his unyielding obsession.

The last sequence recalls the closing lines of The Cut article the series took inspiration from. "It's like cancer," real-life 657 Boulevard homeowner Derek Broaddus said of his fixation on the Watcher. "We think about it everyday."

Still, the final episode leaves a few questions unanswered. Like the real case, the identity of the Watcher remains a mystery in the world of the show, as does the identity of the girl in pigtails who snuck into the bedroom as Dean slept. And we never push deeper into the moment at the Westfield Preservation Society meeting where Roger Kaplan (Michael Nouri) appears to recognize John from somewhere, enough so that he knowingly asks him how his family is doing.

But, unlike the true story, The Watcher actually lets us see the body of the sinister being — at first, we see him, her, or them in fragments, cloaked in all black as we catch glimpses of the body in early episodes. As scheming real estate agent Karen settles into 657 Boulevard after the Brannocks move out, we get our best view of the assailant when the figure kills her adorable dog and rises behind her from a secret trap door hidden on the landing of the staircase, sending her screaming through the streets.

Studying the silhouette, it's impossible to determine who, among the cast, at least, could fit the outline of the Watcher, as the person appears to be wearing a thick hooded cloak that obscures the shape of their body.

The shadowy human's usage of the secret passageway points us to Pearl Winslow (Mia Farrow) and John Graff (Joe Mantello) as likely candidates, as it was previously suggested that they were using the subterranean passageways leading to 657 Boulevard. But, things in the world of The Watcher aren't that simple, and they definitely aren't always as they appear on the surface.

It's entirely possible that every scene not directly involving or featuring the Brannocks on camera — including Karen's encounter with the Watcher, Pearl opening the passageway door for John, and even the Westfield Preservation Society's episode 7 meeting — are the series' attempt at blending the family's reality with fiction. We could instead be viewing Dean's fantasies about what he thinks happened versus what actually transpired. That's not to say the entire series is an imagined succession of events known only to Dean, but it's plausible that we're seeing projections he desperately needs to see, to fill the burden of mystery with an answer in his own mind.

The same goes for the rest of the neighbors who spent the entire series keeping a watchful eye on the Brannock family. We catch bits and pieces of their backstories, expanded upon just enough to keep their presence both disturbing and familiar at the same time. It all adds to the unsettling atmosphere of uncertainty the show builds: All of these characters are far more sinister than we know, and that's what haunts us to the core through the final frame.

Such ambiguity is in line with the tone of the article that laid the foundation for the show, and one of the most prominent themes of the whole series: What's imagined is sometimes far more powerful than what's physically present — especially when such a threat sees us, but we can't see it.

Check out our daily must-see picks — plus news, celeb interviews, trivia, and more — on EW's What to Watch podcast.

Related content:

• That grisly Watcher episode 3 murder sequence is based on a real family massacre
• Real estate agent who sold The Watcher house reveals client backed out over horror story: 'It was crazy'
• See photos from inside the real Watcher house that inspired Naomi Watts' horrifying TV show
• You won't sleep after seeing disturbing Watcher trailer with Naomi Watts in a stalker's hell house
• Naomi Watts teases her return to horror in 'freaky' Ryan Murphy Watcher series