Widow’s Bay begins with a simple small-town ambition. Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) wants to transform an isolated New England island into the next Martha’s Vineyard. The town needs tourists, its businesses need money, and Tom needs its residents to believe he can build them a better future. The problem is that everyone else believes Widow’s Bay is cursed. Tom thinks superstition is holding the town back. As it turns out, those superstitions may be the only reason anyone is still alive.
Created by Katie Dippold, Widow’s Bay carries the deadpan comedy and municipal absurdity of Parks and Recreation into a town that feels pulled from a Stephen King novel. That combination is exactly what it sounds like, and Dippold understands why it works. The residents approach impossible situations with complete sincerity. Their matter-of-fact reactions generate the comedy, while the supernatural threats retain their danger.
The result? A series that fits comfortably within the kind of head-scratching genre television Apple TV has increasingly made its specialty. Widow’s Bay introduces a strange place, establishes rules it has no intention of immediately explaining, and trusts viewers to sit with the uncertainty. Every answer creates a larger question about the island, its history, and the people living there…