Just over halfway through the first season of Widow’s Bay (created by Katie Dippold, streaming on Apple TV), three unlikely comrades make an appointment with a local drug dealer (Chris Fleming). “Todd O’Connor?” Patricia (Kate O’Flynn) asks curiously. “Hey Patty,” he responds jovially. She smiles at the connection they have made before throwing up her hands: “Oh, my god, you’re a drug dealer.” “No, no, no, please. I’m a shaman,” says Todd. “Todd and I went to school together,” Patricia explains to the others before her boss Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) cuts her off so they can get down to business. Tom, Patrica, and local fisherman Wyck (Stephen Root) are seeking information about a hallucinogenic mushroom they found on the desk of the Rev. Bryce (Toby Huss) after he hanged himself in his church office. They think it might be a clue to the curse that is destroying their island.
The scene encapsulates the remarkable mood and tone of the show, weaving together deadpan humor, macabre and bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, supernatural menace, and the endearing but often suffocating rituals and habits of small-town life. The small town in question is a tiny New England island called Widow’s Bay. As in many small towns, most of the residents have roots that stretch back decades, if not centuries. Rumor has it that the locals cannot leave the island without suffering terrible retribution. No wonder you can’t go looking for mushrooms without running into an old classmate.
Most of the locals seem to take this reality in stride, and they are welcoming enough to newcomers. Tom, for instance, was born off island, but he married a local girl, and when she died, he stayed to raise their son. After he is elected mayor in an uncontested election (perhaps a first warning sign that the locals know something he doesn’t), he is sure that if they can just attract more tourists, the tides will turn for the island’s fate. They do, but not in the way he was hoping. As crowds of new visitors arrive for the start of the summer season, a fisherman sails beyond the coastal boundary of the town and loses his mind, ghosts begin to haunt the recently renovated inn, a spectral presence stalks Tom, and the weather turns wonky. This, it turns out, is only the beginning.
