*Warning: Spoilers ahead for Widow’s Bay episode 8.*
Comedy-horror Widow’s Bay took a turn for the darker in episode 8, fully embracing the slasher subgenre.
After convincing themselves they’d rid the town of its curse, our troublesome trio, mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), Wyck (Stephen Root) and Patricia (Kate O’Flynn) begin the episode by trying to get back to their normal lives.
But things soon take a turn for the worse when the Boogeyman – the masked serial killer we’ve been hearing about all season – returns, setting his sights on Patricia once again.
The masked man follows Patricia all over town, leaving death and destruction in his wake, as Patricia does her best to scamper away and foil his plans.
But creator Katie Dippold has revealed that the episode was originally very different.
She told TheWrap: “Originally, we talked about that episode as just doing it as a flashback of when Patricia was a teenager and showing what happened.
“But then we were like, ‘Well, we have this amazing actress who’s so funny. It’d be so much more fun to watch this 40-year-old woman running through the streets.’”
She added: “A lot of this season was following that gut feeling of, ‘Do we want to be scared right now, or do we want to have fun?,’ and constantly balancing that.
“For episode 8, I wanted people to be scared when she’s in her house and you know he’s coming. But then, once you’re off to the races, Kate O’Flynn is just so funny. The idea of her sprinting through the streets with this man slowly following her just really made us laugh.”
Dippold previously opened up to Radio Times about balancing the comedy and horror carefully, explaining: “It was a tonal tightrope walk from the beginning to end. I’m a comedy writer, but I’m also a massive horror fan – and to be honest, I don’t necessarily love all comedy horrors.
“For me, the goal was to hit the comedy, but also keep the stakes and tension alive so it never undercuts the other and just let they can feed off of each other. As the season goes on, the more the tensions rise, the more fun it became.”
Widow’s Bay follows the mayor of a small town who attempts to bring tourists back for the summer season. But, when strange happenings start to befall him, he has to wonder if the superstitious townfolk, who are convinced the place is cursed, might be onto something…
Widow’s Bay is streaming weekly on Apple TV.
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