After the shocking reveals in episode nine of Widow’s Bay—including a cliffhanger where viewers genuinely cannot tell exactly what Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is going to do with the game-changing information he’s just received—fans are counting the hours until the finale arrives on Wednesday. (Technically, with the way Apple TV releases its shows, it’s Tuesday night, but officially it arrives June 17.)
Unsurprisingly, the show’s creators won’t whisper a single spoilery word ahead of time. But they will tease what fans, who are still jubilantly basking in that Widow’s Bay season two renewal news, can expect from the finale, which is titled “We Hope You Enjoyed Your Time!”
In case you’re not caught up, here’s a last warning to turn the boat around.
In episode nine, “Emergency Shelter,” Tom, Patricia, and Wyck got a full-scale genealogy breakdown from Rosemary, tracing Richard Warren’s bloodline from the 1600s to present-day Widow’s Bay. It emerges that Ruth, the octogenarian who works as Tom’s assistant, is the only remaining descendant of the town’s founder. Therefore, she’s the sole reason the island is still cursed.
There’s a disagreement over what to do with this information. Wyck thinks they should kill Ruth (in the least-cruel way possible, of course). Patricia is aghast that’s even under consideration. Tom’s top priority is keeping his son, Evan, safe. But we have no idea how that will translate into action when he leaves the town hall at the end of the episode. We can guess, however, that he’s heading to Ruth’s house.
In a new Hollywood Reporter feature, creator, showrunner, and executive producer Katie Dippold; director and executive producer Hiro Murai; and Rhys (who’s also an executive producer) talked about episode nine with a few little scraps about episode 10.
The pacing of “Emergency Shelter,” with an apocalyptic storm building outside as the trio takes in Rosemary’s drawn-out family tree breakdown, was very carefully considered. “Katie was just like, ‘It just feels right for us to be in this high-stakes storm of the century mode and then all of a sudden have to sit through a presentation on a projector for eight minutes,'” Murai said.
The payoff, of course, is that Ruth—a sweet old lady by all accounts—is all that’s preventing Widow’s Bay from shaking off the evil that’s clung to it for centuries.
“I said to Hiro, ‘This is the most dense drama I’ve done in a very long time,'” Rhys said, speaking about the finale in particular. “I’m coming off the back of [Netflix thriller] Beast and Me, and I was like, ‘This feels heavier than that!’ But the drama becomes magnified and far richer as a result of it.”
And that’s exactly how Dippold has approached all of Widow’s Bay. “The heart of the show, as I look at it, is: I think life is a nightmare. It’s just an absolute nightmare […] The reason I am a comedy writer is because I feel that way, and I’ve always been an anxious person, and so if I’m upset about something or something terrible happened and someone makes a risky joke that makes me laugh, that is my favorite feeling in the world.”
“That’s what the show is to me. Just as you’re scared and feel bad, something makes you laugh, because that is also life—the ridiculous absurdity of life.”
The Widow’s Bay finale arrives next week on Apple TV. Praise be to the sea hag: a second season is officially on the way.
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Source: Gizmodo