I’ve never lived in the Northeast. I’ve visited family in Boston and Maine numerous times, but usually during tourist season. And while walking the Freedom Trail or biking on Martha’s Vineyard are fine and dandy, they don’t give you a local’s perspective on the area’s history.
In the case of Widow’s Bay, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Coming soon to Apple TV, Widow’s Bay shows us what can happen when modern aspirations collide with legend. Enter Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys). He’s desperate to turn his sleepy island into a tourist destination on par with Bar Harbor, even arranging a visit from a writer for the New York Times to get the word out. So what if the island doesn’t have cellular coverage? Or a decent restaurant? Or if mysterious fog banks occasionally roll in (with sinister impacts)?
Mayor Tom isn’t a local, though he was married to one (before she left). And even as his son faces the grim prospect of spending his teen years on a remote spot in the North Atlantic, the native citizens of Widow’s Bay are more than happy to point out Tom’s mistakes.
Chief among these is Wyck (Stephen Root), who insists something on the island is “waking up” and therefore luring tourists there would lead to disaster. Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), Tom’s assistant, has her own link to the island’s malevolent past. And city hall receptionist Rosemary (Dale Dickey) can tell you all you never wanted to know about local genealogy.
Created by writer Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation, Ghostbusters), Widow’s Bay leans into the island’s creepy underpinnings without sacrificing laughs. A stacked cast doesn’t hurt, but it takes a deft touch to juggle comedy with authentic scares, and Dippold and director Hiro Murai are mostly up for the job.
Yes, “mostly.” Over the series’ six episodes, we learn more about the island’s past. Two eps take place in flashback and are almost pure horror, and the jarring changes in tone are one of the few complaints to be had. Dippold and Murai keep the humor deadpan, and there’s a definite Parks and Rec sensibility to the office scenes. And various subplots, like Patricia’s teen trauma or Sheriff Bechir’s (Kevin Carroll) struggle to remain indifferent in the face of the (possibly) supernatural, help flesh out the proceedings.
As the mayor of Widow’s Bay, Rhys continues his stellar TV run. His first major exposure to audiences on this side of the pond was in The Americans. He followed that up with Perry Mason and The Beast in Me, not that you could tell with his portrayal of Tom Loftis. The mayor is, by his own admission, a coward. He butts heads with Wyck, but ultimately (and reluctantly) starts coming around to the old islander’s way of thinking.
Similarities between Widow’s Bay and Netflix’s Midnight Mass seem apparent, until they aren’t. Both take place on isolated, underpopulated islands. And both involve malevolent forces affecting the inhabitants. Hell, WB even has Hamish Linklater in a couple episodes. In reality, Mike Flanagan’s vampire saga is more of an examination of faith and forgiveness. Widow’s Bay goofs on genre tropes and only allows a handful of characters to exhibit any sort of pathos.
But if quirky characters and nameless evils are your cup of tea, you could do a lot worse. Apple gets a lot of justifiable criticism for its corporate policies. But they’ve got a lot of money and they don’t mind spending it on streaming. The results can be iffy, not gonna lie. But for every whiff like Napoleon or Smoke or the second season of Hijack, you also get Slow Horses, Shrinking, and Down Cemetery Road. Add Widow’s Bay to that list. And with room left by Katie Dippold for at least another season, hopefully we can visit again soon.
The first two episodes of Window’s Bay will stream on Apple TV on Wednesday, April 29.
