When No One Is Watching

Sydney moves back to her mother Yolanda’s Brooklyn address. She discovers that her neighborhood has drastically changed from gentrification. Most of her Black neighbors have been replaced by white people unfamiliar with the once-rich culture of the neighborhood, and her mother is no longer living at home. As Sydney observes the new neighborhood from her stoop, a BVT real estate agent named William Bilford comes over, trying to convince her to sell her Brownstone. Meanwhile, posts on an app called OurHood discuss the VerenTech deal.

Theo wakes up hungover with a family album that he found discarded in street trash. He looks out the window and observes Sydney sweeping her stoop; he recognizes her from the historic Brooklyn Brownhouse tour. Theo and his girlfriend Kim have been renovating their new house, but the project has only increased the tension in their relationship. Kim no longer consults Theo for renovation decisions, and she has become addicted to the app OurHood, a virtual neighborhood watch. The couple bought the house after Kim cheated on Theo with a man named David, whom Theo knows she still has feelings for.

Despite Kim’s show of anti-racism, Theo notices that she has become hyper-nervous in the neighborhood and often expresses wanting more people “like her and Theo” to move in. But Theo loves his new neighborhood. He had grown up moving from apartment to apartment with his mother, who was constantly in and out of abusive relationships. To Theo, the neighborhood provides respite from the past. At the local bodega, Kim cuts in front of Sydney. When Sydney calls her out, Kim threatens to call the police. Meanwhile, posts on OurHood invite neighbors to the block’s annual Labor Day party.

Sydney receives a call from a lawyer representing her mother. She then checks on her neighbor, Mr. Perkins, prior to the Labor Day party. Mr. Perkins’s late wife had been a librarian, and his house still holds historical documents. Sydney finds one from 1638 about killings of Native Americans on Block Island. She’s interrupted by Theo, who formally introduces himself, apologizes for Kim’s behavior in the bodega, and invites her out for coffee. Drea, a sister-like figure to Sydney, and other Black members of the neighborhood arrive. Drea warns Sydney about Theo, who may be good-looking but seems to fit the latter’s pattern of choosing the wrong men.

The neighbors discuss rumors of people disappearing off the streets. They then discuss Sydney’s goal to create her own neighborhood tour. Theo volunteers to help. Meanwhile, posts from OurHood debate gang activity in the neighborhood. One poster claims that black men in hoodies are casing the neighborhood, while another poster defends her son’s right to walk around his own neighborhood and points out that crime has been low.

Theo’s historical research is interrupted when Kim, who has been spending more time away from him, invites him to neighbors Terry and Josie’s house for a drink. Theo is disturbed when he discovers that Terry and Josie are hosting their own neighborhood committee meeting to learn about the Black neighborhood committee meeting from him. He leaves and wanders the streets. As Theo passes an abandoned hospital, he believes he sees a light flickering from within. As he looks more closely, an inebriated Black man grabs him and rams into the fence. When Theo sees that the man needs help, he offers to bring him to a hospital; the man runs off. Two police officers immediately show up, looking for the man. Theo returns home and sees Kim get into a car with an overnight bag. He notices that she has installed several security cameras. Meanwhile, a post on OurHood asks if anyone else has been feeling the ground shake at night.

Sydney researches reasons for the ground shaking and then takes an Uber to a hair salon. When the driver locks the doors and drives past the street to the salon, Sydney grows nervous. Finally, he stops the car and directs her to walk down the block to the salon. Outside, she wonders if she is paranoid. Sydney wants to reach out to Drea about the encounter (as the driver knew her last name) but decides not to worry her after “what happened in Seattle”—where she used to live with her ex-husband.

At the salon, Sydney’s hair braider Sandrine tells her that the salon will be moving in a week because the landlord wants to sell the building. She asks about Sydney’s mother, and Sydney tells her that she’s in an assisted living home. A woman named Denise enters the salon and says the police are crowding the Jones’s house to arrest their son Preston for selling drugs. The women are shocked because Preston has a reputation for being straight-laced.

Sydney joins her Black neighbors at Mr. Perkins’s house. A woman named Grace proposes that Black people in the neighborhood are being arrested so homeowners will be forced to sell their houses to pay bail and other legal fees. On OurHood, Josie posts about not picking up after one’s dog being a fineable offense and that she’s already contacted the police about it.

Theo goes to the neighborhood YMCA to exercise, where he meets BVT real estate agent William Bilford. William gives him a business card and brags about how good business has been lately. Later, Theo sees Sydney (now the object of his affection) working in the community garden. Sydney tells him that her mother started the garden, and that she regrets not having paid closer attention during her childhood gardening lessons. She tells him that if he's going to help her with her history tour, they need a safe word for him acting “too white.” They settle on “Howdy Doody,” which makes Sydney laugh. Meanwhile, posts on OurHood argue about the value of gentrification.

Sydney and Theo study Mr. Perkins’s historical documents. Sydney explains that Brooklyn was predominately white until the Panic of 1837, when stocks crashed and people had to sell their properties quickly. She teaches Theo the connection between slavery in the South and the economy in the Free North: New York City hosted the bank business, and slavery relied on the bank business. Despite New York enforcing abolition laws, the ties between the North and the Antebellum South were important to both. Sydney assigns Theo the task of researching the Dutch West India Company’s influence on the development of New York. She also picks up on Theo’s flirting.

Back at home, Sydney’s phone rings; she answers it but avoids conversation with the caller seeking her mother. She texts Drea for help. She hears a dog barking and discovers that her front door is open, despite having closed it.