The Season 1 finale of ‘Widow’s Bay’ solved a number of mysteries while setting up the central conflict for Season 2.
Widows Baythe horror comedy series created by Katie Dippold for AppleTV+concluded its 10-episode first season on June 17, leaving more than a few threads unresolved.
AppleTV+ had already renewed the show for a second season ahead of the finale, and Dippold has signed a multi-year deal with the streamer.
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The series stars Matthew Rhys as Tom Loftis, the mayor of a fictional New England island town who is struck by an ancient curse. Rhys also serves as the show’s executive producer. The season 1 finale episode resolved some of the mysteries the series had been building towards, while also setting up the central conflict for season 2.
Spoiler alert: The following contains plot details from the season 1 finale of “Widow’s Bay.”
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The curse is still active on the island
The most immediate revelation in the finale concerns the state of the curse following Kenny’s (Michael Malvesti) sacrifice. While the island seemed to accept Kenny’s death, the finale makes it clear that the curse is not completely resolved, but only temporarily satisfied.
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The show uses the church bell as a benchmark for the curse’s demands. At the beginning of the series, the bell rang nine times, indicating the required number of victims. In the finale, it rings eight times, indicating that one sacrifice has been made, but eight remain.
That math poses a significant problem heading into Season 2. The curse hasn’t gone away, and more victims will be claimed, either intentionally by islanders who learned the rituals while sheltering from the storm, or accidentally, as was the case with Kenny.
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The finale changed the dilemma Tom faced
The most dramatic revelation in the finale concerns Tom’s son Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick) and the island’s founding family, the Warrens. Throughout the season, Tom believed that eliminating the last of the Warren bloodline would break the curse. His target was Ruth Livingston (K Callan), Warren’s last known descendant. He decided to poison her.
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What Tom didn’t know, and only learned after acting, is that Ruth is Evan’s maternal grandmother, making Evan himself a descendant of Warren through his mother Lauren. The child Tom tried to protect is exactly the person who, according to the logic of the curse, must be sacrificed.
The dilemma this creates for season 2 is layered. Earlier in the season, Tom was faced with what the show sees as a clear choice: kill the last Warren to save the island. That calculation assumed Evan was left out of the equation.
Now Tom is the one implicitly asked to make the same choice he wanted to impose on Ruth, only the target is his own son.
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Rhys said Variety he has been pressing Dippold for answers about where season 2 is going. “I keep going to Dippold asking, ‘WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN?!?!’” he said. “She says, ‘I’m not going to tell an actor.'”
Tom must also decide whether to keep Evan’s heritage hidden from the rest of the islanders, who, once they learn the truth, can draw their own conclusions about what the curse requires.
After attempting to kill Ruth himself, Tom would be in a difficult position to object if someone else came to the same conclusion about Evan.
Dippold offered a characteristically deadpan tease of what season 2 has in store. “Season 2 is about how everything is great on the island and you don’t have to worry about anything,” she said in the renewal announcement.
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