‘Widow’s Bay’ Review: A Perfect Mix of Horror and Comedy

It’s rare that a show feels completely and utterly unique in today’s age with the content overload of the Peak TV era and the history of what’s come before and after that era but Widow’s Bay somehow manages to pass the uniqueness test with flying colors – some of those colors I didn’t even knew existed.

Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), the mayor of Widow’s Bay in an attempt to bring more tourism to the small island, convinces a New York Times reporter to come visit and do a piece on it. Tom is urged by Wyck (Stephen Root) to shut the town down as the island is “waking up” which Tom does his best to thwart. Eventually the mysteries of the island are too great for Tom to ignore and thus ensues a series of horrific events that he must stop.

Widow’s Bay was originally intended to be a Parks & Recreation episode. Widow’s Bay showrunner, Katie Dippold initially wrote the script on spec when she was a writer on the show and it was originally a more comedic version that was more “jokier” according to her. Some of the DNA of that remains in the humor of the show which is an absolute roar but what makes the show genuinely incredible is the mix of the humor while still keeping the horror intact. The horror and the comedy intersect but neither are ever undercut by each other which makes the horror scarier and the comedy funnier.

The horror in particular is helped by the atmosphere of Widow’s Bay crafted by Hiro Murai’s brilliant direction and Steve Arnold’s wonderful production design is such a treat. The island they’ve created for the show feels real which is a testament to what they, and all the other technical crew have built with what feels like a sizeable budget from Apple.

What really makes this show is the episodic nature. There are multiple self contained episodes that support the greater narrative while feeling complete themselves. What makes the contained episodes work is that they all feel so different in every which way. They tackle different types of horror stories in a distinct manner. Some of them are riffs on classic horror films but they attack it from a different lens. Even the type of comedy is different based on the horror involved. The show is as fantastic at being witty as it is at physical humor which helps the elasticity to fit the horror in the episode.

Matthew Rhys, Stephen Root, and Kate O’Flynn are the centerpieces of the show and they’re all wonderful. Rhys and Root are both alumni of two of the greatest shows ever made, The Americans and Barry respectively so I’ve known what both were capable of but I can’t say I’ve seen much from Kate O’Flynn before which is why she feels so goddamn special here. She is the beating heart of the show, two of the three best episodes are episodes where she is the central lead and Kate O’Flynn’s performance shines beyond belief.

What’s fascinating is that despite the show being a mystery box show, it kind of forgoes the suspense of it. I don’t even mean that in a bad way, the show simply doesn’t build up to any answers—instead it just gives them to you. We find out why the island is cursed, we find out what they have to do to stop it which feels like the two things that most mystery shows take ages to reveal but Widow’s Bay chooses to tackle different things. It’s a bold choice that I thought worked well for the show.

The only show, vibe wise that this show reminded me of was Lost. I do think they’re completely different shows but there are moments where I feel like there’s an essence of Lost in the air. There’s a flashback episode, which was my personal favorite episode that details the history of the island in particular that reminded me of the show. Other than that, this show felt wholly unique to me and I can’t wait for more of this show.

Thanks for reading this, Widow’s Bay Review. For more, stay tuned here at Feature First