Widow’s Bay (Season 1) created by Katie Dippold
Directors: Hiro Murai, Ti West, Sam Donovan, and Andrew DeYoung
Starring: Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn, Kevin Carroll, and Dale Dickey
Publisher: Apple TV
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Horror, Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by AstilbeA New England mayor trying to boost tourism on his island must navigate strange events suggesting it might be cursed.
It may be a small town, but it’s anything but sleepy.
The plot twists in this show were fantastic, and I was surprised by them on more than one occasion. What made them even better was how much effort the creator put into not only giving the audience fantastic clues but also making plenty of space for alternative interpretations of them as well. This meant that even when I was wrong about where the plot was headed, I still felt satisfied by my attempts to predict the ending of season one as my theories were perfectly reasonably at the time.
Horror and mystery are even more enticing to me when mixed together, and I loved digging into the history of Widow’s Bay as secrets were slowly revealed and a few explanations as to why this small community had such terrible luck were put forward by various characters. The paranormal themes only made everything scarier and more thrilling, and I’m hoping that these types of scenes are given even more screen time in the future as they provided ample opportunities not only for frights but also for some memorable character and plot development as well.
Speaking of small towns, I thought this was an honest portrayal of both what it’s like to live in a rural community as well as what it feels like to move to one and interact with people who have all known each other for their entire lives and may not always be that interested in getting to know outsiders. The tensions between various groups of people including newcomers, lifelong residents who wanted to see their community grow, and those who strongly preferred for things to remain the same forever were well written, fair, and sometimes downright hilarious. Honestly, I could understand everyone’s perspectives even if I didn’t necessarily agree with all of them, and I thought this added some nice conflict as well early on when the paranormal antagonists weren’t as active yet.
This first season of Widow’s Bay has me eagerly anticipating what might happen next. What a wild ride!
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