John Powers

No, that took four days.

Despite this, the travel writer does a glowing newspaper article on Widows Bay.

But just when the tourists start coming, bad things start to happen.

Devouring mists roll in, church bells inexplicably toll, people catch sight of spectral figures.

Tom finds himself badgered by a grizzled boat captain named Wick, played by the always great Stephen Root, who tells him to raise an alarm and stop the ferry from bringing more visitors.

But like the mayor in Jaws, who won't close the beach despite the shark attacks, Tom refuses.

A mistake.

Soon Tom and Patricia and Wick are fighting to save the lives of the islanders and their visitors.

An effort that requires, as ever, confronting what's buried in the past.

Now, the benchmark for TV comedy horror is David Lynch's Twin Peaks, whose interlacing of goofiness and disturbing drama made it one of the most influential shows in television history.

Widow's Bay is much lighter, where Lynch explored our scariest psychic merc.

Dippold taps into our pop culture past.

We keep bumping into images and ideas that reference movies like Jaws, Halloween, The Fog, and The Wicker Man, among others.

Not to mention the work of Stephen King, whose titles appear prominently in the bookmobile Patricia Drives Around Town.

That said, Widow's Bay gives you the pleasures you find in a handsomely tooled series with top-notch talent, from directors like Hiro Murai, who's best known for Atlanta, to deft old character actors like Dale Dickey and Kay Callan.

All three leads are terrific, with O'Flynn teasing out the heroism in the forlorn Patricia, and Root capturing the pathos beneath his driven exasperation.

As for Reese, who specializes in uncomfortable heroes, he's rarely been this good.

His beleaguered Tom is a man whose face always starts off looking cocky, then melts into anxiety.

Like nearly all series these days, Widow's Bay doesn't truly end.

DePold leaves doors open for a second season, which I would cheerfully watch.