It’s next to the bay…
Warning: Spoilers ahead. Do not proceed unless you have watched the Widow’s Bay Season 1 finale, “We hope you enjoyed!”
In the Season 1 finale of Apple’s buzzy horror/comedy Widow’s Bay, weary mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) attempts to kill Ruth (K Curran), only to be killed in a plot twist. She confessed that she was secretly the mother of his deceased wife. So his son Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick) was her grandson.
This was a big problem because it meant Evan was the last descendant of the island’s founder Richard Warren (Haimish Linklater).
As established in the previous episode, Tom’s reason for wanting to execute Ruth was that killing the last of Richard Warren’s bloodline would lift the curse on the island and save everyone.
In the season 1 finale, Tom visits Ruth’s house during a storm and tries to kill her twice. First by crushing pills and putting the powder in her tea, then by nearly suffocating her with a pillow when he thought she was napping on the couch.
Tom is conflicted and keeps muttering to Ruth, “You’re a good person, you don’t deserve this.”
The friendly Ruth seemed oblivious to his attempted murder. She had a lot of fun showing him around the house and chatting with him about the herb garden.
She eventually confessed to Tom that she had once had an affair with a married man, had a child with him, and had him and his wife raise him. She reveals that her illegitimate child was Tom’s late wife. Surprised, Tom confirms with Ruth that no one else knows this information.
Elsewhere in the episode, the town huddles in shelters as a dangerous storm rages on. Patricia (Kate O’Flynn) and Wike (Stephen Root) were in charge. Things went haywire when everyone noticed mold growing in their food storage. The crowd panicked and started fighting.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Bashir (Kevin Carroll) is shocked to learn that a storm has trapped him and his pregnant wife on an island, and has brought their due date early.
Bashir didn’t want his child to be born into the island’s curse, so he showed up at Ruth’s house with a gun and shot her.
“I don’t curse my child. Patricia said you’ll end it,” he tells Tom, referring to killing Ruth and ending the curse. Ms Bashir added that she came to Ruth’s house because she knew Tom “wouldn’t” do something like that.
When Tom tells Bashir that Ruth is not the last living descendant, Bashir points a gun at Tom and asks him who is the descendant. Before Tom could say anything, the storm stopped.
So, apparently everything went well. Ruth was injured and bleeding, but appeared to be still alive. The episode ended with Tom driving away with Evan.
However, he noticed the sound of a bell. This indicates that the island does not have enough people and needs to offer more people as tribute.
This is where “Widow’s Bay” ends and we move on to season 2.
The season 1 finale was more serious than the rest of the season, but the change in tone worked. Tom spends most of the episode agonizing over his choice to kill a kind old woman.
As Tom revealed, Rye’s performance was great as always – if he didn’t get an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination, it would be an outrageous snub.
There were still plenty of laughs, such as when Ruth looked at her photo album and pointed out which men had “made advances on her.” She also told Tom that she loved one of her ex-boyfriends until he was “bitten by an animal and turned into that animal.” The show is still fun and weird.
Apple’s horror comedy is a viral hit this summer.
“This show has become one of the shows everyone talks about, and we’re thrilled that viewers continue to embrace it,” Apple TV programming executive Matt Chernis said in a statement announcing Season 2.
Horror king Guillermo del Toro himself has publicly praised the show, posting on X that it “very likely will be the best streaming series in a while” and calling it “mesmerizing”.
Creator Katie Dippold joked in Apple’s statement announcing the renewal: “Season 2 is about everything being great on this island and there’s nothing to worry about.”
The premiere date for Season 2 has not yet been determined.
