Apple TV's Widow's Bay Gave Us Its Scariest Episode Yet With Three Crucial Guest Stars

Spoilers for "Widow's Bay" Episode 6, "Our History," and Episode 7, "Seasickness," follow.

"Widow's Bay" is, in this writer's humble opinion, the must watch new television show of the season. It's become appointment TV for me, and seeing the latest hauntings on Widow's Bay island has become the brightest spot of every Tuesday.

One easy comparison for "Widow's Bay" is "Jaws" — specifically, the first half of the movie before it heads out to sea. Series lead Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is mayor of the titular small New England village, and he's trying to drive summer tourism to the island, à la Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) in "Jaws." 

However, there's a danger lurking Tom doesn't want to acknowledge — and it's no mundane shark, but a centuries-old curse on the island. Though there's an ongoing narrative, "Widow's Bay" has the episodic charm of an anthology; each episode has focused on a different supernatural terror afflicting the island. Episode 6, "Our History," breaks up the narrative flow and in that disorientation delivers the scariest episode yet. (No small feat.) 

"Widow's Bay" has previously alluded to the town's troubled history, and this episode goes back to the beginning — 1702, when the island was first being settled. Naturally, most of the main characters are absent. In Loftis' place is Sarah Westcott Warren (Betty Gilpin), a woman newly arrived on Widow's Bay and betrothed to its leader, Richard Warren (Hamish Linklater). Sarah doesn't even get to enjoy her wedding night before she realizes something sinister is afoot with her new husband.

Behind the camera is a third significant guest star: horror filmmaker Ti West ("X," "Pearl"). West delivers an episode that slots in nicely with his other period piece horror films, like his 1980s-set breakout feature "The House of the Devil."

/Film's review of "Widow's Bay" compared the series to Mike Flanagan's "Midnight Mass," where Hamish Linklater played Father Paul Hill, a priest who brings an "angel" (really a vampire) to his island community. Granted, "Widow's Bay" creator Katie Dippold has downplayed any "Midnight Mass" connection in an interview with The Wrap — "I love 'Midnight Mass,' but [Linklater] just seems like a completely different actor in that show to me."

This time around, he's even scarier! Father Hill was a good man who made some very bad decisions, and "Midnight Mass" gave him a sympathetic POV. "Our History," though, is from Sarah's perspective as she slowly realizes her husband is a murderer in league with evil forces. In "Midnight Mass," Father Hill was charismatic and caring; in "Widow's Bay," Richard Warren is imperious and enigmatic. The episode is basically a horror story about a woman trapped in a marriage with a man hiding violent secrets, and he's as scary to us as he is to Sarah.

Sarah discovering caverns and a torture chamber beneath the Warrens' home might remind Ti West fans of the horrific climax in "House of the Devil." However, the 1700s colonial setting had me thinking of Robert Eggers' "The Witch." That movie derives its horror from the mindset of its Puritan leads, who believed that witches and demons literally stalked them, and that conceding to any temptation at all meant eternal damnation.

"Our History" similarly makes colonial superstitions feel all too real; in this time, there's only meager candlelight to fend off the darkness. That makes this 1700s-set prequel even scarier than other "Widow's Bay" episodes, which at least offer the comfort of modernity and familiarity.

"Widow's Bay" is streaming on Apple TV+.