Widow's Bay is a picturesque island off the coast of New England, with wonderful sea views and friendly locals. Mayor Tom Loftis is determined to make Widow's Bay the "new Martha's Vineyard," by getting a feature in a national newspaper and website. But a great many locals are convinced the island is cursed, to Tom's disgust. The tolling of the church bell for the first time in decades and the beginning of a new series of unusual events starts to make even Tom wonder if something really strange is going on.
Widow's Bay is a new Apple TV show that attempts to merge the uncanny weirdness of, say, Twin Peaks, with more comedic sensibilities. Showrunner-writer Katie Dippold (Parks & Recreation) nails the vibe of offbeat humour just perfectly, creating a show that feels like it could be a Stephen King novel with a laughter track (perhaps inevitably, King is a big fan), or maybe a TV version of the movie Cabin in the Woods.
Matthew Rhys (The Americans) stars as Mayor Loftis, the harried everyman who is trying to make the island more attractive to investment and tourism, to the disdain of his constituents who seem to simultaneously decry the state of the economy but also complain about any attempt to fix it. Loftis is a determined believer in science and rationality...up to a point. His assistant Patricia (Kate O'Flynn) still bears the scars of a close encounter with a serial killer when she was a teenager. Local eccentric Wyck Crawford (Stephen Root) claims that disaster is about to befall the island, to Loftis's scorn...until some odd events see him reluctantly seeking Crawford's advice.
The show starts off in an episodic mode, with each episode seeing a different weird event happening on the island, with Loftis investigating and scoffing at any idea there is a supernatural explanation. Early episodes end inconclusively, with it being unclear if supernatural shenanigans are to blame or perhaps sabotage-minded locals keen to keep tourists away. Eventually the show takes a stand and a more serialised storyline develops, as the backstory of the island is developed through flashbacks to 300 years ago. The show is also not afraid to experiment; one self-contained storyline about what appears to be an evil self-help book is particularly genius. The transition from episodic to serialised also works quite well.
Superb performances by leads and bit-players alike anchor the show, with O'Flynn emerging as the most impressive player, stealing scenes from out under her more famous co-stars Rhys and Root. Betty Gilpin (GLOW) also steals the entire flashback episode she leads.
Where the show falters is in two areas. The young teens of the island, led by Loftis's son, are not particularly interesting or sympathetic, making that whole storyline fall a bit flat. The show's pacing also flags on the home straight, with the feeling that maybe eight episodes would have been better than ten to tighten up the narrative. The amount of comic invention on display is impressive, but can feel a little diluted by overuse. An entire episode where one of the characters is out of their mind on drugs also falters, though the idea is handled better than in some other shows.
But it's hard to criticise the show too much. Widow's Bay (****½) is darkly comic, occasionally scary, but mostly a well-played drama and horror where the darkness comes as much from the interior of the characters and their experiences as it does from the exterior, maybe-supernatural causes. The season is available now on Apple TV+. A second season has been greenlit.
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