A friend of mine told me him and his wife were watching Widow's Bay so I added it to my list. The name sounded like something like Desperate housewives and more for ladies than the men so I put it on the backburner for a while. But a couple of weeks ago we were at a loose end and threw it on. It is on Apple TV . The first positive is that re-owned actor Matthew Rhys is the star man in it. He is excellent and if anybody saw his series with Clare Danes called "The Beast In Me", you would know how good of an actor Matthew is. I was expecting some kind of drama but what I got is the opposite. Widows Bay is somewhat of a horror / dark comedy/ mystery and by the end of the first episode my wife was cursing me for recommending the series.
The series starts in a quaint island town called Widows Bay. Matthew Rhys plays the mayor of the town called Loftus and he is tasked in reviving the ailing town back into the spotlight from a tourism perspective. The only problem is the locals think the town is cursed and anybody that comes to visit is reminded about all the stories and creepy things that happen in the town. So pretty much every episode is a different story about these horrors while Loftus tries to keep a lid on it which is comical in a way but yet serious at the same time.
I had a great time watching this and getting frights and laughing alot at some of the towns folks. Widow's Bay is a great watch and it is a truly gripping horror series that I was not expecting. The Old Hag episode was freaky yet hilarious and it actually is funny going through a mix of emotions watching a 40 minute episode. There are one or two episodes that bring you back to the old times when Widows Bay was forming into a town and there is not much humour there let me tell you. It was hard going. There is one episode where Loftus takes magic mushrooms by mistake and it is truly hilarious at the panic setting in after realising how much of a dose he had taken which would put seasoned magic mushrooms eaters to shame. Widows Bay is a gem of a series and worth a watch if you are looking for something a wee bit different.
Rating: 90/100