It’s not that I’ve ever forgotten Betty Gilpin. She’s a stalwart of the streaming era whose keen instincts, unmatched aura, and finely tuned line readings turn anything from a “Maybe I’ll see it (lying)” in “What platform is it on (sincerely)?” Since the last time he body-slammed Alison Brie GLOWGilpin has been the best at things like american primitive, Death by lightningand that Peacock show where she’s a nun fighting AI. Not everything she has acted in is a winner, but she is never the loser in any of them.
But sometimes a phenomenal, reliable talent can be so consistent that you almost take it for granted. I made this mistake recently with Steve Carell and now widow’s bay It hits me over the head to remember that Betty Gilpin is just great. It happened when I turned on the first of two new widow’s bay episodes, released simultaneously this Wednesday morning, and I was excited that she was the star of a spooky, one-of-a-kind special. “Our Story”, the sixth episode of Widow’s Bay, directed by unknown The architect of the trilogy, Ti West, turns back the clock to 1702, in the early days of the founding of the island town. Gilpin plays Sarah, an over-the-top spinster (by stifling 18th-century standards, to be clear) who arrives by boat to marry the village’s brooding widowed founder, Richard Warren (Hamish Linklater). That’s when the nightmares begin.
As if her new boyfriend’s strange vows weren’t a strong enough warning to swim back to the mainland, Sarah is left hysterical by even stranger things happening in town. Her controlling husband’s creepy nighttime rituals and his propensity for violence, the missing villagers and the hooded figures who come looking for them at night: it’s a lot for a woman whose worldview has been that existing as a single woman is worse than death.
Finally, Sarah aligns herself with the townspeople to get Richard into their hands. But through Richard’s manic chatter, it becomes a little clearer who or what is haunting Widow’s Bay. For Richard, a pact with God requires regular sacrifices or else “the terrors will not cease.” So too all the islanders cannot escape unscathed. Without Richard fulfilling the pact, Widow’s Bay literally becomes a dead zone where no one born on the island can survive beyond its shores. Which casts a grim shadow over Sarah and her children as they row into the darkness.
Through it all, Gilpin is the glue that holds the episode together, closely followed by Hamish Linklater’s brooding patriarch. (Written in my notes: “Colonial Undertaker”). Gilpin’s performance is finely calibrated to creator Kate Dippold’s sensibilities, where comedy and horror swirl as one. Even when crying before a priest, Gilpin knows when a very serious sentence could use a hilarious reading. The number of times I have rewatched “You must send ten good and strong men!” It is, honestly, embarrassing.
“Our Story” is a totally illuminating prequel that will satisfy Widow’s Bays sleuths in the making and an indie horror about gender roles and marriage as a carceral institution. Frankly, I am not cultured enough to know the nuances of domestic life in the colonies; I just know it wasn’t cold. Gilpin’s shameless feminist politics that she has laid bare in brilliant essays for Glamor and The Hollywood Reporter give their presence extra weight in that context. There are moments in “Our Story” when Sarah feels like a modern woman lost in time, handcuffed to her cruel destiny for no other reason than circumstance.
The episode also follows the tradition of exceptional supporting episodes, a recurring genre of episodes that Apple TV is unusually good at. (See: mythical quest.) “Our History” does not outrank ‘mythical quest’s “A Dark and Quiet Death” or “Backstory!”: There’s no time for bittersweet melancholy when dealing with the underworld. But the episode ends up being an effective and atmospheric distraction from Widow’s Bays main plot. It’s like someone has fallen the witch in our Jaws-Flavored soup, but we don’t complain when it tastes so good.
Not all the questions people may have about widow’s bay are answered in “Our History”. We’re still not sure who (or what exactly) has widow’s bay in a vise grip. The villagers believe he is the devil; Richard swears he’s God. It’s funny how perspectives work like that. (I also now realize that this is the second show in which Hamish Linklater conspires with supernatural forces on a supposed divine mission to protect an island.) Perhaps not all questions need to be answered here; widow’s bay He has been at his best when he plays with ambiguity. But while programs like widow’s bay With actors like Betty Gilpin, I’ll believe what they want me to believe.
