Review: Widow's Bay, "We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time!" | Season 1, Episode 10

Hey free subscribers—as the Apple TV horror comedy finishes its first season, no better time to join the conversation. Our anniversary sale will end soon, so grab your discounted year of reviews soon!

I haven’t made much secret of my frustrations with Widow’s Bay and its rapturous critical reception. That’s the kind of annoying weirdo I am, unfortunately, and while I’d love to come here and say that “We Hoped You Enjoyed Your Time!” fixed all my issues with the season’s overall plotting, I can’t. I can absolutely say that it’s a strong finale, albeit one that looks bolder than it actually is. We get to watch Matthew Rhys deliver yet another masterclass in acting, we get at least one answer to a question that’s been bugging me for weeks now, and the season—as a whole—feels complete enough to move on to next year. 

I’m glad about that, by the way—for all my grouchiness, I do think there is a core of excellence in Widow’s Bay that deserves celebrating, and I’m hopeful that a second season will give the writers a chance to work out some of the trickier details that they spent season one aggressively fudging. There is a strong conceptual foundation in play, with a great cast, terrific direction, and a good sense of how to build tension and comedy in equal measure. What it’s lacking is an understanding of how mythology works, and why it’s important that said mythology makes some kind of internal sense.