Widow's Bay Review: An Enjoyable Horror-Comedy With a Great First Half
Though horror and comedy are fairly popular genre combinations, it’s quite hard to successfully blend the two and create a movie or show that’s both genuinely frightening and, at other times, laugh-out-loud funny. I think that for the first few episodes of Widow’s Bay, the show is able to expertly combine the two.
The second half of the season, however, shifts the show more firmly into the horror genre. Widow’s Bay is still a show I very much enjoyed overall, but to me, the latter episodes aren’t as good as the first four. There are still a few funny, offbeat moments here and there, but the show definitely evolves into being more horror centric.
I think that since the show is more about showcasing horror tropes in a unique way, when there’s less comedy involved, it’s a less successful program because it feels more cliché and like less of an original look at common tropes. Also, while the show tells a linear story, each episode feels pretty different from the others. This led me to clearly like some more than others, with the major standout of the series being the fourth of the season, “Beach Reads.”
Widow’s Bay centers on a skeptical mayor who wants to increase tourism to the fictional island town depicted despite the fact that the town may be cursed. As events ramp up, he’s forced to confront the evil of the island with the help of his assistant and an older, outspoken true believer in the island’s curse.
It’s a very well-crafted show. The sets and overall look of the series are really able to capture a spooky vibe that I enjoy. Matthew Rhys stars as the mayor, Tom Loftis, and he’s an actor who always delivers quality performances, going back to his days on The Americans.
Kate O’Flynn plays Patricia, Tom’s assistant. She shines in the season’s best episode that I mentioned earlier, and her performance grew on me as the season went along. Stephen Root, an actor who’s in a ton of shows but rarely as a lead (and whom I recently watched on The Man in the High Castle), is a wise casting choice as Wyck, an adversary of the mayor’s at first who eventually becomes his ally.
Widow’s Bay episodes range in length from only 31-48 minutes, with most being on the shorter side. This makes the show extremely bingeable. It’s certainly a series that could be watched over a week’s worth of time, and I think viewers would enjoy it more this way, as opposed to watching one episode weekly, which is how it was released.
Sometimes though, I did find that the episodes felt a little too short. Widow’s Bay is never a boring show, which I appreciate, and there are no wasted scenes, but buffing each episode up to at least 45 minutes with additional scenes could have worked well. There are a good amount of potentially interesting characters on the show, including a colorful cast of people who work with the mayor, and with the exception of Patricia, for the far majority of the season we don’t get much development from any of them.
I also found the mayor’s relationship with his son to be only fine. I totally bought the pair as father and son, but what happens between the two, and the rebellious teenager aspects to the son’s storyline, weren’t all that interesting to me. I understand that we need this dynamic to really round out the mayor’s character, but these were the less engaging parts of the show.
I’m being somewhat nitpicky here as Widow’s Bay is still a show that I’d certainly recommend. It’s already been renewed for a second season and I’m curious to see what twists and turns the series will take. While I found earlier episodes, where comedy is more heavily blended with horror, to be more enjoyable, taken in its entirety, it’s still a well above-average show.
Grade: 8/10