3 min read
IF YOU WERE the mayor of a cute little island town in New England, and just wanted to make it both a nice place for residents to live and a great vacationing spot for everyone… that wouldn’t be such a bad life, right? Well, what if you had a peanut gallery of local characters who kept trying to get in your way and make life difficult? And what if some of those local characters started insisting that your cute little New England island town was actually haunted, run amok by ghouls, hags, creatures, and books of evil magic? And what if they turned out to be right?
That’s the basic premise of Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay, a show that brings the spooky New England horror aesthetic of Stephen King together with the “head in the sand” themes of Jaws and the kooky little town nature of Parks and Recreation. It’s the type of pure, seamless, genre mash-up we haven’t seen since Bill Hader’s masterful Barry—and it’s also the best show on TV right now.
Not only is Widow’s Bay thoroughly creepy, filled with scares and sequences that will get to even the most thorough of horror fans, but it’s also really funny too. The show comes from creator Katie Dippold—who, in addition to her time writing on Parks and Recreation, is also known for authoring one of the funniest tweets of all time. That’s kind of the Widow’s Bay vibe; it’s like if the characters and world of Parks and Recreation got invaded by some extremely evil vibes.
The show also has major assets both in front of and behind the camera. Matthew Rhys has quietly become one of the best actors working today; The Americans made him television royalty, and last year he gave a truly dynamic performance in Netflix’s The Beast in Me. Here, he channels the ‘calm man among the chaos’ nature of someone like Jason Bateman in Arrested Development, but still manages to totally make his character of Mayor Tom Loftis into an entirely new creation. He’s joined by the fantastic Kate O’Flynn as local employee Patricia (the show’s fourth episode, “Beach Reads,” centers on her; it’s one of the best things you’ll see on TV all year) and the always-great Stephen Root, channeling Robert Shaw’s old weary hand from Jaws.
What makes so much of the show really sing, though, is the gorgeous nature in which it’s filmed. Hiro Murai (a frequent collaborator of Donald Glover and director of shows like Barry and Legion) takes on a number of episodes while star directors like Ti West (of X and Pearl fame) and Andrew DeYoung (of Friendship fame) also pop in to direct bangers of their own. The way the show is made in such an advanced, gorgeous manner elevates it from feeling like a sitcom (which, technically, it is) to something more like a bit of cinematic folk horror (with that layer of dry comedy thrown in for good measure).
Widow’s Bay is unlike anything you’ve seen on TV before, anchored by beautiful direction to go along with great writing and performances. And, quite frankly, there’s nothing better on TV right now. As the show enters its stretch run and final few episodes, we wanted to make sure you know not to miss it.
When is the next episode of Widow’s Bay coming out?
All 10 episodes of Widow’s Bay season 1 are now out. But we’re getting season 2!
How many episodes of Widow’s Bay are left?
The first season of Widow’s Bay is 10 episodes in total, all of which have now been released on Apple TV.
Here’s the complete release schedule for Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay:
Episode 1, “Welcome to Widow’s Bay” – Now streaming as of April 29
Episode 2, “Lodging” – Now streaming as of April 29
Episode 3, “The Inaugural Swim” – Now streaming as of May 6
Episode 4, “Beach Reads” – Now streaming as of May 13
Episode 5, “What to Expect on Your Trip” – Now streaming as of May 20
Episode 6, “Our History” – Now streaming as of May 27
Episode 7, “Seasickness” – Now streaming as of May 27
Episode 8, “Your Baggage” – Now streaming as of June 3
Episode 9, “Emergency Shelter” – Now streaming as of June 10
Episode 10, “We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time!” – Now streaming as of June 17
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
