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Widow’s Bay

When Emmy nominations were announced on July 8, fans of the tragically underrated WIDOW’S BAY had reason to rejoice. The hybrid horror/comedy series was bestowed with a whopping 19 nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor (Matthew Rhys), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Stephen Root), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Kate O’Flynn and Dale Dickey), Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Hamish Linklater), Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Betty Gilpin), along with a slew of others including writing, directing, casting, music, and cinematography.

Despite not receiving the same publicity as some of the streaming service’s household names like TED LASSO, THE STUDIO, and MONARCH: GODS AND MONSTERS, the quirky, genre bending mystery is easily one of the best series on television.

From the outside, Widow’s Bay appears to be an idyllic island off the coast of Massachusetts. Sure, it has its eccentricities, but what small town doesn’t? There’s your classic “haunted” inn, a mysterious fog that brings terror and death, and the pesky rumor that anyone who was born on the island can never reach the mainland alive. Other than that, it seems pretty great!

Mayor Tom Loftis (Rhys) is more than willing to turn a blind eye to the increasingly bizarre happenings on his island if it brings in more tourists. When a travel writer from the New York Times comes to visit, he longs to present his home as the next Martha’s Vineyard. Tourists would bring money, and money would breathe new life into their flailing economy. There are those on the island who have far more grave concerns. Wyck Crawford (the indelible Stephen Root) is convinced that the fog rolling in signifies that the island is “waking up” and is a harbinger of death and destruction, but Loftis isn’t willing to listen.

In its early goings, WIDOW’S BAY plays as a fairly strait-laced comedy with your typical cast of odd and idiosyncratic characters. The mayor’s office is a perfect collection of these; from side characters like the chain-smoking and cantankerous Rosemary (Dickey), to the exceedingly overzealous Patricia (O’Flynn) they hone their hilarious personas early and make the most of their screentime from the jump.

Everything about WIDOW’S BAY is spectacular. The setting, the pacing, the mystery, the horror, the comedy, and the performances make it a truly unique viewing experience. Borrowing elements of shows like X-FILES, LOST, and TWIN PEAKS, it still finds a way to become its own spectacularly original entity. The tone is continually shifting, which will disorient some and delight others. The progressive dissolution of the boundaries of normalcy is amplified in each episode. Early on, we can understand why Tom is willing to turn a blind eye to a weird thing happening here and there. What small town doesn’t have strange occurrences? But, as each episode passes, it becomes strikingly apparent that something is seriously wrong. By the time we reach the cataclysmic final episode, horror has eclipsed comedy and the results are beyond unnerving.

Rhys, who has already given one Emmy caliber performance this past year (for which he is also nominated) in the limited series THE BEAST IN ME, is nothing short of spectacular. His turn as Tom Loftis is perfect, exuding an air of flippant deniability that melts away to expose a core of fear and self-loathing. He is equal measures humorous and infuriating, displaying a range of wordless emotions that say more than any dialogue ever could. Rhys’s ability to project genuine fear is something rarely seen in film or television. In his expressions, the terror is palpable, so even if in the series’ silliest moments (and there are plenty) the audience never bails.