The Watchful Eye – Season 1 Episode 4 “The Nanny Vanishes” Recap & Review

The Nanny Vanishes 

Episode 4 of The Watchful Eye starts with Elena receiving a phone call from her younger brother Teo, who is currently enrolled in a boarding school. Teo informs her that their mother, Ronnie, reached out to him requesting that he write a letter to the parole board in support of her early release from prison. Teo is eager to comply with their mother’s request, as he despises the boarding school he’s attending.

Despite his eagerness, Elena urges him not to write the letter, promising that she has a plan in the works that will benefit them both. Elena has put significant effort into securing Teo’s enrollment at the boarding school and encourages him to remain there a while longer.

Their conversation ends abruptly when Teo becomes frustrated and hangs up. Later, Elena visits Ronnie in prison and requests that she refrain from contacting Teo. It is during this visit that Elena reveals how her father’s garage was destroyed by the Greybourne Corporation, who resorted to violence when they failed to persuade local business owners to vacate the area.

Due to overcrowding, Ronnie is about to be released from prison, despite being sentenced to eight years. However, Elena promises to ensure that Ronnie serves her full sentence and does not get out early. It remains unclear whether Teo will do the same.

Before parting ways, Ronnie advises Elena to take a good look at the police officers around her, hinting that she may need their help in the future. It appears that Ronnie is aware of Elena’s plans, but the reasons for Ronnie’s imprisonment related to Elena’s father are still unknown.

Following her visit with Ronnie, Elena meets Morgan at the park, where Morgan discloses that after the Greybourne Corporation made her sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) about Jasper and anything related to the family, they provided her with an apartment at The Hilderbrand.

However, the more intriguing part is that Morgan tells Elena about Allie, who began seeing non-existent people and tried to talk about it, but instead of listening to her, the Greybournes decided to eliminate her. They kept track of her whereabouts and used their lawyer, Victor Marcato, to get rid of her, the same lawyer who made Morgan sign the NDA.

Before Morgan disclosing any further information, she became aware that they are under observation, prompting her to caution Elena against future communication. Morgan stops short due to surveillance, warns Elena not to reach out, and departs. Elena subsequently speaks with Scott, who finds it funny that Morgan thinks someone is spying on her. Elena also thinks she is being followed but Scott asks her to get her head straight.

On her return to the Greybourne, Elena encounters Bennet on her way to the elevator, accompanied by Tory, who berates Bennet for borrowing and damaging her bag. Irritated by Tory’s outburst, Bennet exits the elevator, leaving Elena as a mere bystander to the altercation. Trying to calm Tory down, Elena follows her, and Roman offers to repair the damaged bag.

After Tory departs, Elena confides in Roman about everything that Morgan shared with her and reveals Allie’s letter, which suggests that the ruby may be in Winthrop’s apartment. With the intention of keeping Roman’s involvement hidden from Scott, Elena arranges to search the apartment with Jasper and Rex, Winthrop II’s grandchildren (known as the Chans), whom Ginny looks after. The search is set to take place during a playdate. Elena and Roman proceed to the basement to discuss their plan.

Elena successfully arranges a playdate and arrives at the Chans’ apartment accompanied by Ginny. During their conversation, Ginny reveals that Alistair Greybourne’s spouse was a Winthrop, resulting in the two families being linked through intermarriage.

Elena, seeking to locate the ruby, requests directions to the bathroom from Ginny and begins to search the bedroom. However, her exploration is cut short when Ginny sees her and warns her not to disturb anything, as it displeases Mrs Winthrop-Chan.

Elena attributes her inquisitiveness to curiosity and promises Ginny that she will not venture into forbidden areas again. It is at this point that Elena discovers that Mrs Winthrop-Chan did not grow up in the current apartment but in the Wards’ apartment.

Elena relays the new information to Roman, convinced that the ruby has been in plain sight all along. She now only needs to search for it. After dropping Jasper off at his fencing class, Elena returns to the apartment to find Matthew packing Allie’s clothes for a charity benefit auction the following day.

Recognizing an opportunity to search for the ruby, Elena offers to assist Matthew, suggesting that he take Jasper out for some fun while she packs up the items. Matthew agrees wholeheartedly and departs.

Later, while packing, Elena contacts Ginny to lend a hand. Ginny is starting to get suspicious of Elena as she is evasive about herself. Elena asks her to give her more time to get ready to open up. As they work, they come across an envelope containing divorce papers filed by Matthew. Mathew was the petitioner but he didn’t sign the papers even after Allie did.

While trying on a dress that Ginny insisted makes her look good, Elena is interrupted by Tory, who instructs her to remove it before departing. Soon after, Ginny departs as well, having finished the majority of the packing. When Matthew and Jasper return, Matthew invites Elena to join them for dinner, an offer she accepts. She gets a call from Scott who was hoping to see her but she tells him she is busy.

As the food is being prepared, Matthew extends an invitation for Elena and Jasper to attend the unveiling of a community centre he designed on Monday.  Jasper interrupts them to ask why his mom’s closet is empty and Elena explains it gently to him. Their conversation is so engrossing that they forget about the food, which ends up burnt. However, the smoke detectors fail to sound, likely due to dead batteries.

While Matthew goes to get new batteries, Elena takes it upon herself to inspect the smoke detectors. Standing on a chair in the kitchen, she removes the cover of the device only to discover a hidden camera inside.

Curiosity piqued, she searches the closet and finds yet another camera concealed within the smoke detector. This discovery suggests that someone may have recorded her perusing the divorce papers. With this realization, Elena quickly replaces the cover and returns to the kitchen just as Matthew arrives.

She informs him that she must leave for the evening. In response, Matthew suggests that she take the morning off on Monday and bring Jasper straight to the groundbreaking after his art class.

In the lobby, Elena confides in Roman about her discovery of the hidden cameras and takes him to the basement dining room where she shares her suspicions about Tory’s motive for installing the cameras to spy on Allie.  She also shows Roman the divorce papers and they both ponder the reason behind Matthew’s decision to file for divorce. Perhaps it was a preemptive move to clear himself of suspicion regarding his wife’s death and the money involved.

Elena later finds a note inside the envelope, which she had overlooked earlier, with the name Victor Marcato written on it. To gain more information, she intends to call Morgan but the number is out of service. In an effort to locate Morgan, Elena and Roman proceed to The Hilderbrand where Morgan allegedly has an apartment.

However, the entire building appears to have been abandoned on the same day, and a Condemned Notice indicates that The Greybourne Corporation is the building’s proprietor.

Elena goes to Scott’s house and tells him that Morgan is gone. She also tells Scott about the surveillance cameras in Matthew’s house. She asks him to file a missing person report but Scott tries to rationalize the situation. Elena believes that Morgan’s disappearance might have something to do with Allie’s death.

Scott asks her not to get involved if it involves Allie’s death. He promises to set up an alert in the police system to see if anything about Morgan pops up.  It is not much but it is all he can do. He asks Elena to drop the Morgan matter but Elena is worried she might be in danger. Scott asks about her dinner with Matthew and Elena gets angry and leaves.

She texts the other nannies to meet and she tells them about the cameras. The nannies think that it is just nanny cameras and aren’t worried about it. Elena tells them that it is much bigger than that. James joins them and he also doesn’t think it is serious. Elena gets an idea from one of the nannies.

She picks Tory’s repaired bag from Roman and drops it herself. Tory is grateful and apologizes for snapping at Elena the other day. Elena says they are cool and leaves. She put a tracking device on the handbag.

Later, Elena gets a call from Teo asking her why she actively campaigned for their mom to stay in prison. Teo thinks he is the man of the house now but Elena tells him that she is taking care of him. She tells him that she is doing everything for her love for him and hopes he can understand. Teo tells her that he will never understand and hangs up on him.

Elena drops Jasper off at the groundbreaking ceremony.  She learns that Matthew’s firm is becoming an official Greybourne subsidiary. After the ceremony, Elena takes Jasper home and she sees Scott talking to Matthew. Jasper identifies Scott as his mom’s friend and asks why his dad could be talking to him.

The Episode Review

I think Tory has always been jealous of Allie and it won’t be surprising if she had something to do with Allie’s death.

Matthew is a bit suspicious, he is fully integrating himself with the Greybourne family and it is unclear why. Is he doing it for money or is he trying to find answers about Allie’s death? He is still a viable suspect in driving Allie to her death. Something about him feels off.

There is also the issue of Morgan and the Greybourne’s family lawyer. Why is she so scared of the man and why does his name randomly pop up every time? Did Morgan go into hiding or is she in danger?

As for Scott, that man is shady through and through. Elena should watch her back with this one. He is using her to get the ruby and for sex. I doubt he cares about her well-being. Is it possible that he was having an affair with Allie? How does he know Allie and Matthew? What could they be possibly talking about?