The Woman in the House Across the Street… – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

R.I.P. Casserole Dish

Episode 1 of The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window begins with Anna making a casserole… and immediately dropping it on the floor when she experiences strange visions. With frozen peas on her hands, Anna reflects on her overactive imagination, complete with a quirky British accent… which she immediately ditches.

Anna drops off her daughter Elizabeth at school, but does so in a dressing gown. However, we soon come to find out that Elizabeth is actually dead. It’s been 3 years since her husband left and Carol, one of the mum’s from school, decides to set Anna up on a date with a guy called Mark.

While she mulls this over, Anna heads home and starts preparing for her big night… by drinking copious amounts of red wine. While she gets ready, the camera pans over to show several beautiful paintings on the wall. It turns out Anna is a talented painter but since Elizabeth’s death, she’s been unable to pick up a paintbrush again.

Anna’s life soon changes though when new neighbours moving in across the street. A handsome single dad called Neil and his daughter Emma are now her new neighbours. As she introduces herself, Anna quickly learns that Neil’s partner died up at the lake house, where she drowned. Interestingly, Anna’s book that she’s reading is called “The Woman Across The Lake.”

Anna’s attempts to bring over a casserole go completely awry when it starts raining. Anna collapses in the road, as we learn she actually has Ombrophobia, which is a fear of the rain. Neil helps her back into her house, and encourages Anna to start painting again.

The pair continue to get along well, with Anna even heading over for dinner after making another casserole dish. There’s no breakages yet, although after dinner when they touch hands, the dish does smash.

All is looking up for Anna… but is it too good to be true?

The Episode Review

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is a decent satire, with some genuine laugh out loud moments. The casserole dishes being smashed is a wonderful little on-running joke and we are 100% onboard with that.

The show has a really nice ebb and flow to it so far, and although the jokes are predominantly the reason many people are going to tune in. The whimsical and poetic narration is absolutely spot-on for how it feels to watch these thrillers too and the creators have done an excellent job capturing the authenticity of that.

However, there’s also the plot itself which is definitely bubbling up nicely to a compelling mystery whodunit. Is there more to this nice-guy next door neighbour act with Neil? We’ll have to wait and see!