Widow’s Bay starts with a bang, pulling viewers right into the creepy atmosphere in the first episode. The series opens with an eerie mystery of foggy waters, missing persons with no explanation, and a town that may be hiding something far darker than anyone wants to admit.
A Night of Distress at Sea
The episode opens with a fisherman on his boat late at night. He’s speaking on the radio with his friend Lonnie at port control and venting about his failed marriage. What begins as a normal conversation soon turns unsettling as Lonnie notices something strange moving through the fog.
The radio goes dead a few moments later. The birds fly off suddenly in panic and the man turns to a darkness that is coming towards him. It completely engulfs him.
The scene immediately sets the tone of supernatural horror that hangs over Widow’s Bay, although the show never explains what he’s seeing.
A town already breaking up
Back in town, a gang of teenagers are partying in a car, when strange electrical interference hits the radio. Seconds later the power grid collapses all over town and then a violent tremor shakes the island.
Mayor Tom rushes to check on his stepson Evan, only to find he’s snuck out again. The following morning, local news reports the earthquake as the town’s first in two decades.
The locals shrug off the incident, but Tom is desperate to keep the town running. Widow’s Bay is economically depressed and he thinks that an upcoming feature from The New York Times might finally bring in tourism and save the community.
Unfortunately, no one else seems to be interested in helping Tom make a good impression.
Tom’s Battle to Save Widow’s Bay
At town hall the mayor is growing increasingly impatient with the lack of urgency around him. Instead of dealing with the ongoing blackout, the staff is gossiping, businesses are looking to close early, and rumors about missing fisherman Shep Clark are already flying around town.
Tom writes off most concerns as overreactions. His main goal is still to impress Arthur, the visitor reporter from The New York Times.
When Arthur arrives early, Tom runs to meet him, only to find him listening to gruesome tales about the history of Widow’s Bay. Local historian Gerrie loves to tell stories of the island of cannibalism, witch hunts, disappearances and curses.
Tom attempts to dismiss the town’s dark reputation, arguing that the legends are nothing more than exaggerated folklore. But Arthur seems fascinated rather than frightened.
That’s only more of a thing, as the episode goes on.
Something is waking, warns Wyck
The main conflict of the episode really doesn’t come into play until Wyck enters the picture.
Tom doesn’t believe it, but Wyck thinks the island is cursed. The earthquake, the heavy fog, and Shep’s disappearance all tell him that something ancient is waking up again.
Wyck keeps ordering Tom to ring the town alarm and alert the people to the danger. Tom refuses, accusing him of paranoia and fear mongering.
Their confrontation is one of the best parts of the episode, as they both represent completely different points of view of Widow’s Bay.
Tom sees promise, tourism and progress.
Wyck sees a place that will relive its horrific past.
It’s an interplay of skepticism and belief that fuels almost every big scene in the premiere.
Creepiest Scene Of The Episode
When Shep is found alive everything changes.
He ends up in a local bar in terrible condition and is rushed to the hospital. When looking over the medical report that doctors at first think is just from a bad fall, Tom sees something strange.
Shep is known as a drunk but he’s got absolutely no alcohol in him.
Shortly after this Shep wakes up and starts to mutter incoherently. Tom leans in closer to hear him, and the man’s eyes suddenly turn completely white.
Without warning, Shep lunges at him.
The sound design and frantic camerawork make the sequence truly disturbing. Shep violently grabs Tom by the throat, and then collapses and dies moments later.
It’s the first sure sign that something unnatural is going on in Widow’s Bay.
Tom can’t pretend it isn’t there any more.
Fear Begins to Spread Through Town
Things get more horrific when Tom has dinner with Arthur.
Tom looks shaken as the fog begins to creep closer to town again. Another flash of the restaurant lights causes panic among the customers. When several people try to leave, Tom frantically tells them not to go out.
“Something in the fog.”
This is the first time Tom openly admits that he might actually believe the stories himself, so the line works perfectly.
Arthur, however, assumes the whole thing is some elaborate publicity stunt to make Widow’s Bay feel like a tourist attraction similar to Salem.
The misunderstanding adds another layer of tension heading into the next episode .
The Episode Ends Leaving Us With More Questions
And the final moments show another disturbing image.
Under the town they discover a secret tunnel with what appears to be an old torture chair facing a rusted metal door. The camera slowly pulls into the sealed entrance, strange noises echoing in the darkness.
The scene heavily suggests the real horror of Widow’s Bay has been underground for years.
Now, maybe, it is finally waking up again.
An Excellent Atmosphere & a Solid Horror Mystery
The first episode, Widow’s Bay, is a great blend of mystery, supernatural horror and dark humour. This is a show that relies on atmosphere, sound and uncertainty rather than jump scares to build tension.
The fog itself is one of the episode’s best weapons of horror. In every scene in which it appears it feels threatening, even when nothing can be seen within it.
The series also smartly centers its story on the ideological conflict between Tom and Wyck. Tom is the logic and the modernization. Wyck is the fear, the tradition, the belief in the curse of the island. Their conflict gives the story its emotional weight, in addition to the supernatural mystery.
The episode also creates a visual constant feeling of isolation. Widow’s Bay is like a place outside of time, a sort of prison cut off from the outside world.
The show gives viewers a few big questions to chew on at the end of the premiere:
But what is there in the fog really?
Why does everyone think no one born in Widow’s Bay ever leaves?
What lies behind the metal door in the ground?
And is the island itself somehow alive?
If the rest of the season is as tense and atmospheric as this, Widow’s Bay could be one of the most interesting horror shows of the year.