So a friend turned me on to this new Apple TV series Widow’s Bay. It’s something of a mashup satire of horror/disaster movies, with pointed references to such classics as Jaws, The Fog, and many others.
A “dramedy,” the most fun of the show involves the quirky citizens of the quaint New England island Widow’s Bay. The main character is local mayor Tom Loftis, played by Matthew Rhys, performing admirably a role reminiscent of Murray Hamilton’s classic money-obsessed mayor in Jaws. Only Tom is more nuanced and complicated: He’s not exactly likable but you end up pulling for him anyway. He often says or does the wrong thing. His assistant, Patricia, is the funniest character, who bickers with Tom and plays passive-aggressive head games.
At times the humor is tongue-in-cheek. For instance, Tom is single, raising a rebellious teenage son (is there another kind?), and explains that his wife died “in childbirth”: The way he says it makes it seem suspicious. It’s either a throwaway explanation for his being a widower or maybe he’s lying and there’s a “secret” that will be revealed later. In another scene mayor Tom makes a scene at a local bar when he yells out, “There’s something in the fog!” That’s a tagline from the famous John Carpenter film of 1980, The Fog. And there is something in the fog, but the scene is played for comic laughs. Everyone stares at him and the fog quickly dissipates.
Episode 2 has a subplot in which Tom agrees to spend the night at the spooky local Inn that has a history of unnatural deaths: He does it to quiet the locals who are scaring away the potential tourists. Many clues make the connection between this spooky Inn and Stephen King’s notorious Overlook Hotel of The Shining (1980) fame. He has to stay in the Captain’s Suite, which has a particularly bloody history, shades of Room 237 from The Shining. He also meets a lovely young woman who seems rather aggressive with her come-hither looks, who invites herself over to his house, and whom he comes to believe is an incarnation of the Sea Hag—a ghost-woman who lures sailors to their deaths by sitting on their face.
It’s on Apple TV and debuts a new ep every Wednesday. Next week is the fourth episode of ten, so we’re not even halfway into the series. It’s a winner.