The world is full of horrors, all that remains is humor
Is “crying while laughing” the sentence that best captures the mood in the world right now? The grumpy child prince Trump attacking Iran. Terrible. He signs a preliminary peace treaty at Versailles, the place where Germany was forced to admit defeat after World War I. Funny. He wants to make the pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial “USA blue” but instead creates a poisonous green pool, full of algae and paint flakes. Jokes and memes rain, I scroll and snort. The world is full of horrors, all that’s left is to laugh at the shit.
This split emotional state is currently best captured by the horror comedy “Widow’s Bay”, which can be seen on Apple TV. “Easily one of the year’s best series” wrote New York Magazine about the work that wildly combines influences from Stephen King“Lost” and Lovecraft with the sitcom series “Parks and Recreation”. It’s no coincidence. The latter was written off Katie Dippold and she is the one sitting at the keys this time as well. The result is ten episodes of pure horror and joy, where old monsters are aired together with perfect jokes and together create something completely new.
The series revolves around Mayor Tom Loftis, played by the exquisite Matthew Rhys (his mince-play, which veers from arrogant denial to pent-up horror, is itself worth all the awards) and his staff on the sleepy island of Widow’s Bay off the coast of New England. Lofti’s dream is to turn the island into the next Martha’s Vineyard. The crux is that the island is cursed. And not so little either. We’re talking ancient evil that periodically rises from the sea to claim its human victims. Yes hope. Another problem for the staff to tackle at the next planning meeting. With whiteboard and sour coffee as only weapons.
Horror and comedy is a difficult combination, previous attempts have often faltered. “Widow’s bay” does not limp, however, she runs, crawls, screams and laughs straight into the dark. At the same time, the viewers are served jokes that sit like a slap in the face. A personal favorite is how the island’s history expert describes the 17th century witch hunts: “A source of great pride. We found them, we burned them.”
Or when the grumpy old sea bear Wyck, played by Stephen Roottalks about the sick lurking in the island’s supernatural fog. Stage one in the affected person: the eyes turn white. Stage two: loss of the five senses and delirium. Stage three: loss of erection. Step Four … He is interrupted when someone asks, “Who the hell is trying after step two?”
The fact that the story takes place on just one island means that we get an extraordinary gallery of characters. Everyone knows that isolated islanders are a bit unwelcoming. Best is Lofti’s closest co-worker Patricia, played by the fan-favorite Kate O’Flynn. In perhaps the series’ strongest episode “Beach Reads”, she happens to, wearing a crown of deer antlers, dry boos and a fox skull, build a wicker man– bonfire at its best people horror-style and almost sacrificed some fifty people to the sea. The kind of thing that happens when one’s predecessors made a covenant with satan.
Because about that if “Widows Bay” teaches us anything, it is that our history matters. No matter how many breathing or anchoring techniques we learn in CBT, the past can still come back to cut us in the hamstrings, or like the sea witch in the episode “The Seahag”, crawl up on our faces to fuck us to death. It also doesn’t matter how much Trump roars about making America “great again”. You cannot build a society on monstrous acts and then call the future bright. Sooner or later the paint loosens and floats to the surface.
Whether Loftis and Patricia will manage to break the curse and create a harmonious holiday paradise despite past sins, and without ruining their own souls in the coup, the future will tell. “Widow’s bay” has already been greenlit for a second season.
Jessica Eriksson is a culture writer.
