Welcome to Widow’s Bay, an unforgettable adventure that garnishes a legitimately scary horror premise with the equally legitimate frustration of workplace despondency.
While the Apple TV site bills it as a mystery/thriller, the press site categorizes it as comedy-horror. Having screened the season, I would reverse the latter, more accurate description, emphasizing that Widow’s Bay plays out as a genuinely frightening narrative, only made more so by the locals’ sometimes blasé, sometimes irrational reactions.
The series is beautifully shot and paced, building an authentic mythology around the picturesque town that has held its residents hostage for generations and stoking tensions between the superstitious old guard and the determinedly optimistic municipal leadership.
Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay
Apple TV’s press site describes Widow’s Bay as “a quaint island town 40 miles off the coast of New England. But something lurks beneath the surface.
Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is desperate to revive his struggling community. There’s no wifi, spotty cellular reception, and he must contend with superstitious locals who believe their island is cursed. He wants these people to respect him. They don’t. They think he is soft and cowardly. And he is.
But Loftis is determined to build a better future for his teenage son and turn the island into a tourist destination. Miraculously, he succeeds: tourists are finally coming.
Unfortunately, the locals were right. After decades of calm, the old stories that seemed too ludicrous to be true start happening again. Widow’s Bay blends genuine horror with character-driven comedy.”
Again, the comedy element is a light touch, almost observational in nature. But the show is indeed character-driven.
Meet the Locals
Matthew Rhys is convincingly beleaguered as Mayor Tom Loftis. Not a popular figure (he ran unopposed for the job no one wanted), he single-mindedly forces the tourism plan into being, ostensibly for the good of the town, but, in fact, so his son doesn’t feel so deprived living in the isolated, tech-starved community.
None of this makes Loftis a likable character. In fact, I’d be hard put to point out any character as particularly “likable.” They are multi-faceted, well-drawn, dynamic characters, but likable? Not really.
As described above, Loftis is a coward, but he’s also desperate. And terribly unlucky. His son, Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick), exhibits the same traits but is also a typical resentful, moody teenager. A truly winning combination.
At the town hall, Loftis must contend with his knowledgeable but unhelpful office manager, Rosemary (Dale Dickey), the perpetually confused but compliant Dale (Jeff Hiller), and the sweet but aged Ruth (K Callan).
Patricia (Kate O’Flynn) appears to be his sole supporter on staff, but she wields passive-aggressiveness like a superpower.
And then there’s Wyck (Stephen Root), one of the local seadogs with an encyclopedic understanding of the very real manifestations of Widow’s Bay’s curse.
His warnings go largely unheeded until it’s too late, but does he give up? Nope, he’s a one-man car alarm, loud and persistent.
Local Color
As the series unfolds and the town’s curse strengthens, there’s a hint of a monster-of-the-week plot device in the supernatural beings that pop up at the height of tourist season, every one of them proving that folktales and lore aren’t always embellished over time.
I love the little details Katie Dippold seeds throughout Widow’s Bay, a breadcrumb trail that guides us into the heart of a tragic and layered origin story. It helps that Widow’s Bay comes complete with spooky structures dating to the town’s founding, an iconic lighthouse, and a very thorough museum.
In the span of ten episodes, each only running about 40 minutes, showrunner Katie Dippold, also the creator and EP, fleshes out the town’s entire cursed history with unsettling detail and uncanny atmosphere. It’s an impressive, ambitious undertaking, and unquestionably successful.
Widow’s Bay premieres on Apple TV on April 29 as a two-episode event, with new episodes dropping on subsequent Wednesdays through June 17.
