Review: Widow's Bay is a boldly original take on comedic horror

Widow’s Bay, the delightfully eccentric new comedic horror series from Apple TV, is easily one of the best new series of the year. There’s a reason everyone from Guillero del Toro and Ben Stiller to Damon Lindelolf (Lost) is raving about the show. It’s an eminently binge-able, addictive series that pays tribute to all the classic horror tropes while reinventing them in surprising ways. Think Stephen King meets Parks and Recreation, with a dash of Twin Peaks—except Widow’s Bay is very much its own refreshingly original beast. (Some spoilers below but no major reveals.) Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is a widower and mayor of Widow’s Bay, a quirky little seaside town that has a colorfully bizarre history marked by periodic tragedies. Tom is eager to elevate the town into a trendy summer tourist destination. But the arrival of New York Times travel writer Arthur Lloyd (Bashir Salahuddin), who has the clout to make Tom’s aspirations for Widow’s Bay come true, coincides with the onset of a mysterious fog. Local resident Wyck (Stephen Root) warns Tom that the fog is an omen that the island is “waking up,” meaning more supernatural occurrences are bound to happen. Initially skeptical, Tom becomes increasingly paranoid after a sailor who got lost in the fog essentially goes mad, with his eyes turning white just before dying. But by then Arthur has published a glowing account of his time in Widow’s Bay and tourists start flocking to the island for the summer season. Tom gamely tries to put a positive spin on things. He stays in the local haunted hotel alone overnight to prove it’s safe (it isn’t), and runs afoul of the legendary Sea Hag during the traditional mayor’s inaugural swim to open the beach. But Tom still refuses to close everything down, despite Wyck’s warnings. Tom’s assistant, Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), has her own disturbing supernatural experience when she tries to host a “sunset cocktails” event to boost her social status in the town. It doesn’t go well and the mayhem is next level. That’s all I’m going to say, because the fun lies in the finding out. Meanwhile, Tom’s rebellious teenaged son, Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick), has fallen in with a delinquent crowd out of sheer boredom, resentful that he’s never been allowed to leave the island. That’s because local legend holds that anyone born in Widow’s Bay cannot leave. The supernatural energy keeps escalating with each subsequent episode, eventually delving into the island’s early history and the town’s founding by one Richard Warren (Hamish Linklater). That history still has repercussions for Widow’s Bay in the present. Series creator Katie Dippold is best known (until now) as one of the writers on Parks and Recreation, and Widow’s Bay actually started out as a spec script for that earlier series. “That version was much jokier,” she told Deadline Hollywood earlier this month. “It was more comedic and I think it gave a good idea of my sense of humor.” But she described that script as feeling more like a spoof, “and as a horror fan, I just wanna be immersed into the island,” she said. “I wanna feel like I could go explore this island and find all the little nooks and crannies and terrifying little spots. That’s my dream, but I’m strange.”