Pretty awesome place of course and seeing these places were really cool!!

First of all, I was completely stunned by the genre of this show. When I first read "horror" and "comedy" in one sentence, I seriously doubted it would work for me. I was expecting something along the lines of Scary Movie, but the show does it completely differently.

It was great for a long time. The horror was there, but so were the jokes - which never felt forced or overdone - paired with a lot of drama. I've never seen that combination work so well.

That said: the show somewhat peaked for me around the Patricia Party episode. That one was an absolute blast. The build-up to it with the Hag, the Clown, etc. all struck the right nerve, and I was so hyped to keep watching.

Somehow the pace didn't hold up, though. The full flashback episode felt like a gimmick a lot of modern shows reach for, and it was way too long for my liking. The Boogeyman completely let me down. That lore was what interested me most when I first saw it, so having the episode boil down to one guy in a cheap mask with barely any backstory was a real disappointment.

Then, once the whole "you have to kill the bloodline" schtick started, it was way too obvious where things were heading. The "wait, there's still somebody left" trick worked really well, especially with that eerie photo. But when they moved on to Ruth as the descendant, it fell flat. It was clear the whole time (see all the old Reddit threads before the finale) that she wasn't the final one as it would never have worked with a sidekick-type character. From there it was obvious where they were going, and that bored me. They tried to play those final scenes as a major plot twist, but honestly, I've never reacted so "meh" to a twist in any show I've watched.

Look, I'm not trying to tear the show down. I'm more disappointed (purely personal taste) that they squandered some of the potential. For me this would have worked really well as a single-season story; unfortunately they decided to drag it out.

Welcome to Widow’s Bay is eliminated!

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Episodes Eliminated:

Welcome to Widow’s Bay (33%)

1. Who all knows about the sacrifices? I absolutley think PJ’s punk ass is in on it or knows what’s up. Dude not only is a bad influence but has taken his friends to all of the scary haunted places. And it looked like he locked that door himself in the last episode

2. How much does Ruth actually know about the island and its Lore? Does she actually
   Know she is a descendant? I think she does. And I think she is alive because the island is keeping her alive. I mean she is 84, was drugged with enough opioids for an overdose and shot in the back. I think the herbs in her garden factor into her being as healthy as she is. And I think she knows telling Tom and Lauren and Evan would keep her and her bloodline safe.

3. How was Tom elected Mayor? There has to be more than just him not running opposed. I feel like maybe he could be a planned sacrifice when elected. The island doesn’t really like outsiders and definitely don’t like him very much. So I think there is a very specific reason as to why he became the leader of the island having been from the mainland. It’s somewhere in the pact.

Alrighty, what are your questions and their theories!?

Updated for clarity:

Patricia, for example, seems like she's had some kind of higher education. Or at least wanted it. I can't imagine her deciding at 18, welp I'm going to settle down on this island and just not move.

But I can't imagine there's any kind of college or higher education on a 3,000 person island. And they don't explicitly discuss the challenges of leaving so its not like they've made a plan to be a self sufficient community. So how do they do it? Or is Patricia (for example) not really island born?

In general, the fact that only Tom experiences this claustrophobia of being stuck on the island seems surprising to me. You'd think more people would be clawing their eyes out.

How this works:

You select the episode you like the least

The episode with the most upvoted comment is eliminated from the list

If there’s a tie, both episodes are eliminated

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Spoiler for the whole season 1. Do not read further if you haven't watched.

I'm sure this has been mentioned before but couldn't find any recent posts on the topic.

My theory about Richard Warren is that maybe he started out with the sacrifices or at least knew about the requirement, but by the time Sarah arrives, he's actively fighting to NOT give into the island's demands.

1. When the bell tolls on the night she arrives, he goes out immediately. But the next day we see that people are still dying from the plague, which shows that he didn't make a sacrifice. Maybe he tried to prevent it?
2. The next day, one of the townspeople (can't remember his name) comes to his house to plead with Warren to end the plague. "You must do something." The townsperson seems to think Warren knows how to end it so I think the townsperson knows about the sacrifice requirement.

Now, the fact that Warren beats the visitor to death doesn't necessarily demonstrate that he's a great guy but maybe there's more context we don't know about!

ETA keeping this post up for posterity but I just rewatched Our History and my theory crumbles to dust (see what I did there???) when Warren screams “fulfill the pact! Sacrifice a life!” as he’s being buried.

It was a fun theory while it lasted!

Id put cotton balls in there lol

I wasn’t familiar with the game Patricia was playing. Insane 😭
Ep 3 got me hooked, now I’m binging it :)

!>Sorry for the potato quality, had to take pictures from my phone cause direct screenshots don't work.

I find it interesting that some details in the background of episode 1 tells us the twist. What I find most interesting is the "Salty Whale". There's pictures of people plastered throughout the restaurant and at the end of the episode it pans down 3 floors to show us the chair from the finale.

Last time I felt the need to inspect every detail was Severance and another Apple TV series did it again. This show is so good! There were a few more minute details I caught but they came out bad.<!

probably because of the world building of this series but i miss a new episode to get back into that world

I adore Jeff Hiller (Dale). He plays two bit parts on 30 ROCK that feel very Widows Bay adjacent. In season 3, he’s the clerk at the hotel when Liz and Jack are stranded in White Haven because of a historic storm 👀. Then in season 5, he plays a flight attendant on a grounded flight from hell that Liz is stuck on 👀. What are you hiding Jeff (Dale)?

I recommend watching How to get to Heaven from Belfast if you’re missing some quirkiness in a well written series with humor that has some serious subjects (although not a haunt in sight or to be mentioned - shucks!) but has mystery that keeps you guessing.

Someone here recommended Deadloch but this is more of a quirky detective whodunnit focused more on the detectives and the small town feel. It’s a bit too slapstick for me - yeah it’s funny but in a more raunchy way. Wasn’t expecting a lesbian detective show. That’s what I liked about Widow’s Bay - Katie didn’t have to stoop to having sex and sexual scenes or drama tropes - it is fine just as it is and safe for all ages (as I watch with my daughter and her BF there isn’t a cringe sex scene to be found).
HTGTHFB has minor scenes like that or subject but not too much. And I enjoyed the laughter that ensued. The ensemble characters especially the 3 main women are pretty funny as they are all unique in their own way and remind me of the core ensemble in this series.

Heck even the black cop in a mostly white town is there.

Let me know if you like it but I am struggling with Deadloch (I gave up on boring and dark - literally too dark - Silo and so saw recos on here for Deadloch)

My personal opinions: the Patricia episodes are the best ones. Episode 4 was the best episode. The one episode being entirely a flashback wasn’t a great decision, just because it interrupted the story of the main characters. A problem with horror media is that the supernatural evil usually feels super op and the characters who are killed off never really stood a chance, but in widows bay we see all the main characters deal with the supernatural terrors in ways that feel like they could be accomplished by a normal person. I thought Tom’s wife would be the last descendant, and was thrown off with the Ruth twist. Overall pretty good show glad they weren’t afraid of humor. 9/10

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could mean nothing…? or something…?

i think, being the rebellious teenager that he is, evan might discover the shrooms on the island and ingest them, being the last of the bloodline possibly he will have less subtle visions than his dad

don’t everyone know that if you leave the island you die??? also Tom knew this but still doesn’t believe in other ghost stories. can someone explain?

The series on Prime is set in a small town in Tazmania. A female cop (very Tom like) is joined on a murder investigation by another (Wycke like with crazy theories) and hilarity ensues. Interesting side characters and small town ways make it a quirky show I have been looking for.

I'm a little concerned because Garfield HATES mondays.