Aaron Ploof
The following recap contains spoilers for Widow’s Bay S1E4, “Beach Reads” (written by Mackenzie Dohr and directed by Sam Donovan)
With the fourth installment of Widow’s Bay, “Beach Reads,” Patricia (Kate O’ Flynn) gets her very own episode! Tom and Wyck are left to the side in this one. Instead, we get some sorely needed character development for Patricia. When she picks up a self-help book from her bookmobile, she embarks on her own mission to hold the perfect party. Unfortunately, on an island like Widow’s Bay, you can’t trust appearances, and even books hold secrets that aren’t readily apparent.
The episode begins by moving the action four days earlier than Tom’s (Matthew Rhys) encounter with the Sea Hag and the mysterious, frantic radio transmission from Sheriff Clemmons (Kevin Carroll). Patricia is sitting in her bookmobile, looking lonely and frustrated as people walk by, not giving her any attention. Her focus particularly rests on a group of laughing, happy people, which showcases Patricia’s yearning for friendship.
As she collects the books donated to the mobile (and the trash thrown into the same box), one particular book seems to catch her eye. Your Turn: Out with the Old and in with the You appears to be a regular old self-help book, but it interests Patricia due to her loneliness. Her eyebrows give a “hmm… that looks intriguing” kind of arch, but she shelves it along with the other books. The camera slowly zooms in on the book afterwards, and creepy, unsettling music plays. This, along with the fly that Patricia has to shoo off the front cover, implies that this book definitely has more to it than it seems.
Patricia drops by Lenore’s (an acquaintance) house to join a party, and it’s immediately clear that she’s not welcome. Lenore is surprised by her appearance and ignores her. When Patricia tries to join a conversation, she acts like Patricia isn’t there. Shelby (Emily Davis), a woman who has just moved to Widow’s Bay from Portsmouth, is friendly to Patricia and helps her get a glass of wine. Shelby asks Patricia about the “Boogeyman incident,” and Patricia starts up on the story, only to be interrupted by someone who rudely bumps into her and spills wine on her.
Patricia goes to the bathroom and comes out, only to hear the others ridiculing her story, saying that she’s lied for the past 25 years about the Boogeyman. No wonder Patricia feels lonely when she’s surrounded by women of this caliber. Embarrassed, she excuses herself and heads back home to bed, but not before seeing that her bookmobile’s lights are mysteriously on, and the self-help book that caught her eye is lying suspiciously on the mobile’s floor.
Before nodding off for the night, she opens the book and starts reading. Although the first few pages of the book don’t cause much alarm (a welcome page and a worksheet), as Patricia continues to flip through its pages, things get much weirder. “Circle your worst features,” the book instructs, showing a naked woman’s front and backside. Shockingly, this doesn’t seem to perturb Patricia all that much; she continues, circling her shoulders, her neck, and her breasts. Indeed, as she told the book earlier, she cares too much about what other people think.
This book is clearly not harmless. But then it proves it can read Patricia’s mind when she turns the next page, and it speaks directly to her through its text. “Feeling like you could die tomorrow and no one would notice? Well, that could be. But the right party can change that,” it reads. Patricia is entranced.
This catapults Patricia into a planning frenzy. She makes out a list of supplies that she gives to Rosemary, she hires Dale to be the DJ, she sends out an invite to everyone she knows, and then some. In her mind, this Sunset Cocktails party will be the one that will change people’s perception of her forever; she’ll be popular like she’s always dreamed of. She’s obsessed with her plans and obsessed with the book. Sheriff Clemmons sees her poring over its pages on his video monitor from the afternoon into the early hours of the morning. She’s quite literally lost her mind to the thing and the promise that it will deliver.
At first, the promise doesn’t feel fulfilled when the party goes down. Hardly anyone is showing up, and those who do are reluctant to stay. Dale (Jeff Hiller) is having trouble with the equipment, and Rosemary (Dale Dickey) is giving unneeded negativity, commenting on Patricia’s tiara. The popular women from the other night show up, and Kris, the one who’s fed up with Patricia’s so-called “lies” about the Boogeyman, berates her for once again drawing attention to herself.
I fully believe that Patricia is not lying about the Boogeyman, but as Kris (Lauren Bittner) points out, it is strange that in her story, she is spared for simply hiding under her bed. In any case, Kris doesn’t believe her story anyway. Though, now, it’s easy to see from Kris’s point of view, just how frustrated she must be with Patricia. But Kris’s tune soon changes, as does that of the rest of the party attendees. After Patricia serves punch (at the book’s prompting), they all start getting jiggy with it! Or do they?
As the camera revolves around them dancing, a quick shot reveals that the whole party is just standing still, their mouths gaping, hanging wide open. Patricia is the only one who’s actually having fun, as she gives her best performance in the middle of the crowd. When the book instructs her to give her speech, she reads from its pages, delivering one hell of a toast. The guests leave to happily celebrate at the bonfire. Only the mirror still shows that her new “friends” have been hypnotized.
All except for Rosemary, who confronts Patricia in the kitchen, telling her she didn’t understand a word of the speech. That she has tried to be supportive, but she still has her qualms. The sheriff arrives soon after and wakes Patricia from her spell. Suddenly the truth is revealed. Patricia’s tiara is a witch’s crown. The punch that everyone was drinking is actually made from the blood of dead birds. And worst of all, the self-help book is a grimoire in disguise.
Patricia flips through its pages once again. Every page is now filled with dark, disturbing images, People are being led to drown in the water, next to a bonfire. It’s clear where she needs to go. She hightails it out of the restaurant and runs to the beach, where the image in the book is replicated in live action. Her guests proceed on a death march into the water in an effort to drown themselves. Sherriff Clemmons, who followed her there, makes his call from last episode, and Patricia burns the book, bringing the spell to a halt.
The guests awaken, only to come to the conclusion that they’ve been drugged by Patricia with the punch. It’s hard to believe that anyone would drink dead bird’s blood, but maybe just entering the Salty Whale’s doors led to enchantment. Patricia stumbles homeward, only to be picked up by Wyck and Tom, who go to the church to find Reverend Bryce’s body hanging on the back of the office door, apparently from suicide. All three of our characters look on in horror.
The series continues to lean into its creep factor, while also subtly changing the tone of the humor. It’s gone from mostly lighthearted (yet still sometimes dark humor) to something more biting and savage. The book in particular brings that humor to the forefront in this episode, as do Patricia’s efforts to build the perfect party. When horror can perfectly blend ironic dark humor with satirical commentary on the effects of isolation and bullying, it’s doing something right. Overall, this was a large improvement on the previous episode, which I struggled to connect to.
Narratively, I think this episode also asks some questions. Was the book feeding on Patricia’s feelings of possible resentment towards the popular crowd? Does she have any latent witch-like abilities? And why was she spared from the Boogeyman? I know one thing: Patricia will be a major player from here on out. I also suspect most of my questions will be answered as Widow’s Bay continues.
