Twitter

PBS‘s latest Masterpiece miniseries, The Miniaturist, is a creepy, atmospheric thriller that will latch into you and not let go. Now, I get that at first glance, that may not seem right. After all, it’s a prettily-appointed period piece about wealthy Puritan merchants in 1600s Amsterdam. It’s also a tautly crafted mystery that plays with dread and paranoia.

Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Petranella “Nella” Brandt, a beautiful young woman sold as a bride to a mysterious Amsterdam merchant. Despite the set up, Nella enters the marriage eager to please her new husband, Johannes (Alex Hassell). Standing in her way are Johannes’s controlling sister Marin (Romola Garai) and a house full of secrets. To win Nella’s affection, Johannes buys her a sort of dollhouse — a massive cabinet built to resemble the house. It’s an ostentatious wedding gift that reveals how Johannes thinks of his young wife as still a child, if not also a doll. Marin gives Nella a list of local craftsmen to employ to fill the house with odds and ends and little pieces of furniture…and here is where The Miniaturist finds its creep factor.

Nella never meets the miniaturist that she hires, but the craftsman seems to know Nella very well. Nella is sent more pieces than she orders, and the gifts keep coming. Soon the cabinet is full of dolls that look like perfect copies of the people circling around Nella’s life and the events that happen in the dollhouse begin to happen in real life.

The Miniaturist debuted a few weeks ago on PBS and its third and final episode airs this Sunday at 9PM. You can catch up on previous episodes on the PBS app or Masterpiece channel on Prime Video.

Where to stream The Miniaturist