We definitely need to talk about Widow’s Bay, one of the premier series on Apple TV that has just aired the final episode of its first season. It seems to be a much-talked-about series, and I see many comparisons to Midnight Mass. I tried to watch Midnight Mass but failed to reach the fourth episode. It wasn’t horrible, but I just couldn’t get into it, and many viewers admitted that it got much better in the second half, along with what some considered to be a bat-shit-crazy ending—in a good way. After completing Widow’s Bay, I can see some similarities between the two, but I enjoyed it much more. One of the things that stood out was how they brilliantly added comedy elements to the show that straight-up cracked me up at times.

Although some viewers may be put off by the comedy aspect of the show, it’s so well integrated that it’s hard to fault. That’s not to say that the horror and supernatural elements are overshadowed. You’ll definitely get some defining horror moments in several of the episodes. Widow’s Bay is mainly about the mayor of a small coastal town doing his damn best to attract more tourists to the area. It’s hard work, as he’s not exactly getting the support he wants from the local residents. Soon enough, though, we learn that some sort of strange curse has been plaguing the town for quite some time. Our mayor doesn’t exactly believe this until he experiences a few horror moments of his own—then away we go.

Matthew Rhys as Tom and Kate O’Flynn as Patricia paired excellently together, and the other supporting cast members also did a good job. Surprisingly, I found that there were more comedic moments in the show that I enjoyed than horror ones. It also highlights how just a tad inconsistent I found some of the episodes to be. The first four episodes were highly enjoyable, with episode four and Patricia’s dance to “Rhythm of the Night” being one of the most horrific scenes of the show. Episode five felt like a dud. Episode six goes over the history of the town, which got it back on track. Episode seven was fun. Episode eight once again features Patricia having to deal with the Jason-esque serial killer/boogeyman, which felt very odd and not in line with the show so far. The last two episodes were just all right to close off season one. While the show does not leave us with a cliffhanger-type ending, it does leave us with some serious questions.

After the last episode, we still don’t really have a good idea of what exactly is cursing the town and preventing its locally born citizens from leaving. Is it really the devil itself that’s causing the curse? We learn that the county office was once used as some sort of human slaughterhouse. It seems that some of the people back then knew about this and even filmed footage of it, though I can’t tell for what reason. I’m also not sure how that ties in with the evil curse over the town. Were they sacrifices for some messed up ritual as evident in episode four after Patricia’s stint at cocktails where she unknowingly drugged the guests and they walked to some burning pyre by the river? We learn that the founder of the town had a living descendant and that their death will likely end the curse. In the last scene, Tom hears the bell tolling once again, which likely means the evil is not yet done with them. So yeah, we’re definitely going to have to wait for the next season. All in all, I enjoyed this series even if it felt like it ended on a whimper. Some laugh-out-loud moments made it clear that we shouldn’t take everything so seriously, even if we’re doomed on an island due to an unknown curse and other supernatural forces.