Widow’s Bay 1×3 and 1×4 Review: “The Inaugural Swim” and “Beach Reads”

Widow’s Bay season 1 episode 3, titled ‘The Inaugural Swim’, and episode 4, titled ‘Beach Reads’, had the paranormal entities target two of the main leads as tourists swarmed the small island town.

With the double-episode premiere showcasing Tom’s persistence to promote Widow’s Bay as the next hip tourist destination against the many warnings from Wyck, as well as a scary encounter at the local inn, I wasn’t expecting the town to have a bunch of tourists roaming around in episode 3. However, I’m not complaining. Having tourists onscreen meant the narrative had red shirts on hand if the paranormal took a turn toward fatal encounters.

And while I wait for that to occur, it appears that the supernatural entities of the island town were more interested in targeting the main leads. ‘The Inaugural Swim’ had Tom getting yet another dose of the paranormal, this time around in the form of an old sea hag who had an appetite for lonely sailors.

I liked how the storyline weaved the lore surrounding the old sea hag with Tom’s current romantic status. Having lost his wife and raising his son as a single parent, apparantly, Tom hasn’t had the time nor the opportunity to find and pursue another romantic relationship even though he’s being played by freaking Matthew Rhys. Leave it to certain TV shows to have handsome men experience failure in the love department just because the narrative needs to head down a certain route.

According to Wyck’s folktale, Tom’s loneliness is what attracted the old sea hag. And whether he wanted to believe it or not, becoming such a target meant death. I also think that the paranormal beings were targeting Tom, and later Patricia, because they played a role in attracting tourists to the area.

Having Tom hit it off with a tourist named Marissa helped add some nice tension to Tom’s predicament. Frankly, even I wasn’t sure if Marissa was indeed the old sea hag in disguise. Even though it was revealed to be a mistake, I understood Tom when he refused to open the door for Marissa when she decided to visit him later at night. I would have done the same thing, especially after hearing Wyck’s story about how the old sea hag operated.

Another enjoyable scene was the old sea hag following Tom in the water as he returned to shore after his inaugural swim; an annual traditional swim the mayor had to undertake to let civilians know the waters were safe. I knew Tom was going to survive, but seeing someone frantically swim while being chased by a legit threat has always had a way of triggering a sense of dread in me, more so than seeing someone running away from a threat on land.

As for Tom’s climactic encounter with the old sea hag, the writers struck the right balance between horror and comedy as a paralyzed Tom dragged himself away from his attacker inside his house. The old sea hag’s ability to slowly paralyze her victims and then proceed to suffocate them to death was giving sleep paralysis vibes. I liked it because it gave me some context for what Tom might be feeling.

Wyck being able to get rid of the old sea hag quickly to save Tom was a bit disappointing. But overall, ‘The Inaugural Swim’ did a nice job of finally putting Tom on the same page as Wyck. The island was haunted, and the evil entities had only just begun their fun.

‘Beach Reads’ focused on Patricia and did a lot to flesh her out as a character. There’s a reason she’s socially awkward and was starving for acceptance amongst her peers, especially the women she went to high school with.

Patricia’s supernatural experience was via a mysteriously donated self-help book that had all the tricks to throw an amazing party to get people to adore you. You could tell that the book was feeding on Patricia’s desperation to find social acceptance. The scene of her reading the self-help book without realizing the time or the things happening around her in public was so good. Also, the reveal about the book actually containing dark magic and a sacrificial ritual was deliciously unexpected.

While the dark magic stuff was enjoyable, I found the exploration of Patricia’s backstory much more interesting. Patricia’s past was connected to the island’s Boogeyman serial killer, who had murdered a handful of young teen girls. Apparantly, the Boogeyman had broken into Patricia’s house. However, she managed to survive by hiding under the bed until he left.

And while Patricia stuck to her story, even mentioning how it all started when she began receiving creepy calls, the townsfolk, namely the women who went to high school with Patricia, couldn’t help but roll their eyes at her. To them, Patricia was nothing more than a victim-playing attention-seeker because not only did her house never receive any creepy calls, but the fact that she managed to be safe from the Boogeyman by simply hiding under her bed made no sense to them.

I could see where both parties were coming from. Of course, Patricia stuck to her story because that was a core experience for her as a teen. However, the townsfolk didn’t believe her because the police never found any evidence that the Boogeyman had targeted Patricia. In their opinion, instead of feeling sorry for the high school peers who were murdered, Patricia came across as a desperate person trying to gain popularity points by exploiting an unfortunate tragedy by “lying”.

I highly doubt things will change for Patricia anytime soon. Heck! Even after saving the enchanted people from drowning themselves, she was still accused of drugging them. I mean, yeah, Patricia was unknowingly responsible for forcing those people to off themselves because of what occurred at her cocktail party, but hey, at least she did what she could to set things right after realizing what was about to happen.

Both episodes operated to shake Tom and Patricia enough to have them be in a similar mindscape to assist Wyck in their goal to understand what might be happening across Widow’s Bay. With the narrative following the ‘supernatural-threat-of-the-week’ format, there’s still an overarching plot about a great evil that Reverend Bryce is being forced to investigate.

And with ‘Beach Reads’ concluding with an unexpected fate for Reverend Bryce, I’m very excited about what’s in store for Tom, Patricia, and Wyck. Again, the island isn’t happy right now.

Did you watch Widow’s Bay season 1 episodes 3 and 4? What did you think of them?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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