As we glide into out third outing at Widow’s Bay, there’s a definite sense that the opening episodes of Katie Dippold’s strangely charming horror/comedy has only been something of a preamble. Obviously, anyone who’s ever read a old pulp horror novel from the late 70s or early 80s knows that before you delve into the full blown monster stuff, you use the preceeding chapters to endlessly circle around it, piling on endless foreshadowing as a nameless evil gradually builds on strength. Thus with “The Inaugrial Swim” there’s a feeling that the preshow is coming to a close and things are about to get a lot less subtle on the incredibly haunted island.
Of course, it’s not everyday that you describe the predatory habits of an undead Sea Hag as subtle, but as Tom once again comes face-to-pruned face with another one of Widow’s Bay’s legends, there’s a sense that somebody is poised to change up some gears.
It seems that for all of his struggles, anxieties and endless frustrated tantrums, Tom Loftis’ efforts are finally being rewarded as tourist are flocking to Widow’s Bay in the wake of that favorable article in the New York Times. However, now that he’s managed to increase footfall on the island, the long-suffering Mayor has to ensure that the eccentric townsfolk manage to deliver on his promises. Things start to look up even further when he picks up Marissa, a lost woman who has become separated from her bacherlorette party, and discovers that they have something of a sparky rapport. Managing to schedule a meet up around Tom’s many town duties, it seems that everything is starting to come up aces – or at least it does until and encounter with a strange, damp, old woman Tom encounters on a quiet road at night.
As the moist harridan attacks him, she scratches Tom’s arm which stubbonly refuses to heal and the very next day, regular as clockwork, he’s fed yet another legend from the melting pool of lore that comes with the island. It seems that Tom had a run in with the Sea Hag, a malevolent witch that locks on to her prey and draws blood in order to catch their scent. From there she waits until her intended victim is paralysed from their wound and then kills them by – wait for it – sitting on their face.
After a second encounter during the annual tradition of the Mayor’s inaugural swim and a chat with Wyck to get some advice, Tom once again pulls on his skeptic hat and goes on to his date with Marissa. But it seems that even after having a nice time, the island can’t stop getting in his head. The Sea Hag is a trickster after all and this attractive, “age appropriate” woman seems to have showed up at quite the suspicious time. Can Tom survive yet another brush with one of Widow’s Bay’s terrible legends? Speaking of which, what has Reverend Bryce learned about the church bells that’s got him so scared?
In a recent interview with Katie Dippold, she described the third episode as something akin to the closing of act one, which is something that is certainly backed up by the episode itself. For a start, this is the third episode in a row that’s taken a monster of the week stance after giving us a Sea Hag hot on the heels of a zombie Shep Clark and the ghost of Willy The Killer Clown, but while this has been genuinely fun, you can sense that the show is itching to shed this skin and up the ante. By the time we get to the end of the episode, we get the feeling that something big is going on thanks to both the continuing subplot of Reverend Bryce discovering some horrible history about his church and a worrying phone message left by Sheriff Bechir calling for help. However, whatever is befalling both the townsfolk and the numerous tourists who have picked the worst time to visit will just have to wait as we have just one more personalised scare for Tom to muscle through.
Thankfully it’s a fucking doozy and arguably provides us with Widow’s Bay strongest episodes yet. By this third episode, both Dippold and director Hiro Murai (now on his third consecutive installment) have gotten their shit down pat and the cast have also now gotten cozy with their characters which allows “The Inaugrial Swim” to capably split its time between lashings of embarrassment humour and a supernatural encounter that ups the scares quite significantly. To start on the laughs, the fact that Widow’s Bay is now a hive of holiday making activity means that the more introverted members of town have to buck their ideas up (or not in the case of Rosemary, who just fancies a sit down). But while Tom’s constant, inadvertent offending of Patricia over her age is fast becoming the running joke of the series, the awkwardness of the Inaugrial Swim manages to harness both those toe curling laughs and the scares-in-waiting to quite impressive effect.
In fact, those Jaws parallels I mentioned a couple of reviews ago are brought right to the fore as Tom is required to take a timid swim out to a buoy and back while projecting a false image of complete confidence that feels like the moment where Mayor Vaughn convinces an underling and his family to go paddling in shark infested waters to reinforce that lie that everything is a-ok. However, if watch Tom gingerly paddle out isn’t obvious enough, how about the obvious nod that someone’s drawn a shark on the blackboard in his office…? However, there’s no Great Whites here, only a dripping Sea Hag who contributes greatly to the waves of hag horror that’s been sweeping the genre of late thanks to films such as The Witch, Weapons and this year’s Hokum. It’s nice that Widow’s Bay seems to be working through something of a horror’s greatest hits as both The Fog and The Beyond were both referenced in episode one, while the second gave us a gibbering, Pennywise-style ghost clown, because it allows plenty more visual nods to occur once the Sea Hag makes her drippy presence known. From our first encounter which sees her standing in headlights by the side of the road, to the fact thatvwe never clearly see her face, there’s something of a Ringu vibe to her, but later, while she advances out of a bathtub, she looks alarmingly like the woman from room 237 from The Shining. She also provides us with possibly the show’s biggest laugh so far as a tremendous show of slap stick sees the Hag catapulted across the room after a struggling Tom manages to yank the lever on his reclining chair.
However, while the horror is escalating steadily, it’s worth noting that so is the heart. We get more info that Tom’s wife died in childbirth and the moments between he and Marissa are sweet, even if she’s a red herring for the Sea Hag. However, it’s the final scene team-up between a terrified Tom and a harpoon wielding Wyck that hits that the status quo of Widow’s Bay is about to violently change.
Going from strength to strength with every episode, The Inaugural Swim ranks as the show’s best so far. But as next week promises to lean even harder into the accumulated horrors of Widow’s Bay, there’s a feeling that the show is at a vital juncture. Still, even the ragged talons of an amorous Sea Hag aren’t enough to puncture the rise of this awesome show.
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