The splendidly demented “Widow’s Bay” performs out virtually like an anthology of Stephen King quick tales, shuffling supernatural city legends in a small New England neighborhood with equal components humor and horror. It’s actually in contrast to the rest on TV, a wild swing of tonal shifts that works as a result of it commits so absolutely to each halves of the equation. The closest factor to it’s the unforgettable “Teddy Perkins” episode of “Atlanta,” a chapter of tv that was one way or the other each hysterical and deeply unsettling (and it’s no coincidence this present has chapters directed by that episode’s filmmaker, Hiro Murai). It’s a reminder of how simply laughs and scares can coexist in the identical area, not in contrast to what would occur if Jordan Peele determined to reboot “Northern Publicity.” Yeah, it’s by no means something lower than fascinating.
Created by Katie Dippold (“Parks and Recreation”), “Widow’s Bay” will get its title from an island village off the coast of New England, a type of locations that’s so dense with its personal folklore that each nook of it feels a little bit haunted. Whereas Martha’s Winery is raking within the large vacationer bucks, nobody desires to remain on the inn on Widow’s Bay due to the tales of issues that go bump within the night time there which were handed down for generations. And that’s simply the tip of the creepy iceberg. Everybody who lives there has a scary story to inform, which type of hurts the probabilities of something rising or altering on this place that usually feels caught within the 18th century.
The city legend rut by which Widow’s Bay finds itself is slowly driving Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) insane. As he pushes to deliver extra vacationers to his city, the city pushes again with increasingly impossible-to-explain conditions effervescent to the floor. Within the second episode, Loftis agrees to remain within the haunted inn to show it’s viable for vacationers and learns the onerous approach that lots of the city legends are true. And that unforgettable chapter is only the start. Usually working together with his assistant Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), city oddball Wyck (Stephen Root), and native lawman Bechir (Kevin Carroll), Loftis finds himself confronting unimaginable horrors whereas additionally making an attempt to be a good single father to an more and more irritated son named Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick).
One of many many issues that works so effectively about “Widow’s Bay” is its dedication to being much more horror than it’s comedy. The sixth chapter, which flashes again to the origin story of lots of the island’s issues and brings a pair of nice performers we’ve been requested to not spoil into the ensemble, is as robust an episode of TV horror because the style has produced in years. It’s the place the present actually finds itself, pushing by way of the again half of the season with unpredictable momentum, making an attempt to reconcile the area’s folklore with the stasis of its current day. It’s a couple of neighborhood with a previous that’s chained like an anchor to its future, and it takes the time to fill out its setting sufficient to make it really feel actual, so the unreal that occurs inside it’s going to hit more durable.
It helps to have a fantastic workforce throughout, together with episodes directed by Ti West (“The Visitor”) and Andrew DeYoung (“Friendship”), two individuals who have confirmed on movie methods to navigate the tonal comedy/horror stability. And the writers brilliantly construction their season, weaving a number of standalone tales into episodes alongside the general arc. In a time when too many reveals are content material to do the overrated “10-part film” factor, it’s so nice to see one which echoes a construction near “The X-Recordsdata” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with single-episode narratives that add texture to the larger one.
The present additionally has a assured, lived-in visible language—you possibly can virtually scent the rain within the air, and the mud within the buildings—and the entire solid appears to grasp the project. All of them excel at setting acquainted character foundations that they will then discover and broaden. For instance, Root leans into the eccentricity of the city lunatic solely to permit us to grasp how he bought that approach in later episodes; O’Flynn will get to play each villain early within the season and hero later in an unimaginable slasher-inspired chapter; Rhys has all the time had top-of-the-line WTF faces on TV. And wonderful character actors like Dale Dickey, Jeff Hiller, and Toby Huss add great taste.
Not the entire large swings in “Widow’s Bay” flip into dwelling runs, nevertheless it’s by no means something lower than formidable. In a time when it seems like every thing desires to be “Massive Little Lies,” it’s so refreshing to see one thing that’s this tough to elucidate in a easy evaluation. It’s like that sense you get in an outdated constructing that the locals let you know is haunted. You simply need to really feel it to know what they imply.
Entire season screened for evaluation. Begins on Apple TV+ on April 29, 2026.
