Review: Widow's Bay, "The Inaugural Swim" | Season 1, Episode 3

Poor Tom. I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot in the weeks ahead, so we may as well get started now: poor Tom. All he wants to do is be the mayor of a prosperous town and maybe get laid once in a while, and both those wishes backfire horribly for him this week. The article promoting Widow’s Bay was a hit, and now there are tourists everywhere. Even bachelorette parties are getting in on the fun. It’s too bad about that hag, though. I can think of worse ways to die, but few that are as simultaneously as horrifying and embarrassing as “foul creature of sea sits on your face.”

“The Inaugural Swim” once again finds our favorite mayor in over his head. (Yes, I was paid to write that.) He meets a nice adult off-lander with a sense of humor, only to mistake her for the sea-faring hag mentioned above. Last week, I griped about the show being too mealy-mouthed with its horrors, offering a barely plausible real-world explanation for Tom’s bad night at the inn. In “Swim,” there’s no attempt at ambiguity, and the story is all the better for it. We’ve moved past “Tom keeps denying the obvious horrors” phase of events; I’m sure he’ll continue to be skeptical and awkward in the weeks to come, but it will be hard for him to completely forget Wyck saving his life.

We’ve been talking about how the show has mixed horror and comedy, sometimes with (to my mind) mixed results. To stress, this is an incredibly difficult balance to pull off consistently, and if my criticism seems harsh, it’s mostly because I don’t start every negative point with “this is very funny, but.” Widow’s Bay is nailing the humor, and while it’s a familiar kind of humor (just as it’s a familiar kind of horror), the timing, pacing, and performances are all top notch. I’m having fun watching even as I wonder what direction this is all heading, and in terms of “journey, not the destination,” we’re doing just fine.