Aaron Ploof
The following recap contains spoilers for Widow’s Bay S1E6, “Our History” (written by Alberto Roldán and directed by Ti West)
Episode 6 of Widow’s Bay completely abandons any sense of humor from the previous episodes and focuses entirely on pure, straight-up horror. By taking the audience back to 1702, the year of the plague on the island, “Our History” tells the backstory of Sarah Westcott Warren (Betty Gilpin) and Richard Warren (Hamish Linklater). The episode gives us hints at what is truly going on in the story, though it doesn’t fully explain what Richard is up to, or what the dangling cylinder on his neck truly contains.
It opens with Sarah writing in her journal. She’s an older lady, probably in her early 40s, so she feels exceptionally lucky to be getting the chance to marry at such an age. Although she is excited, paying close attention will tell us that she’s also quite curious about Richard’s character. She hears he is a great man, but she also wants him to be kind and handsome. She writes in her journal addressing God Himself, so we know she is of faith, as most people in the 1700s were.
When arriving at port, Sarah asks the man who helps her what Richard Warren is really like. The man replies that everyone there owes him a great debt, that the island was barren before he arrived, and he made it a livable place for everyone. Yet as she rolls into town, she sees that some citizens are not quite living well. There’s an ominous mood, and one of the house’s doors is wide open, revealing a man sitting on his bed, drenched with blood. The music tells us that something is clearly not right here.
Sarah is introduced to the priest of the church, Pastor Collins (David Dean Bottrell), who straight up lets her know that if she ever needs someone to listen when she feels alone, he’ll be there for her. One gets the sense that he may be telling her this in anticipation of some future event. Pastor Collins tells her that Richard himself wrote her wedding vows and that they are particularly “unique.” What’s unique about these wedding vows is that they are not read from the Bible. Instead, they open with “Love is stronger than death. Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the floods drown it.” But perhaps what stands out the most is that when Sarah says her “I do,” she doesn’t even get time to finish before the pastor focuses on her duties as a wife. She marries into this union primarily to be a servant. The pastor reads:
“For you, as his helpmeet, will be bound to him. You will agree to serve him as the Reeve Prime of the colony, the handmaiden to the Lord Island Protector.”
It was usual for women to have a more subservient role to the male in marriages of this time, but the focus on this passage calls to mind the thematic leanings of earlier episodes of Widows Bay. This is a marriage based on subservience, not one of equality, and Richard does not show any sentimentality towards his new wife, nor does he lovingly welcome her.
Case in point, when he introduces her to his children, he does so in a cold manner, standing them up in a line to meet her. When he gets to Frances (Lenora Severance), the only girl in the lineup, he mentions that a wagon wheel took her finger. We later learn that he was abusive towards his previous wife, and that he actually killed the children’s mother. Would it be too far-fetched to assume that Frances’s finger was not taken out by a wagon wheel, but was rather chopped off by her own father?
Richard is cold towards Sarah, not having sex with her on her wedding night, departing, as Sarah says in her journal, with neither “a caress or a kind word.” Sarah is disappointed by this, but she pushes herself to attempt to accept Richard as is. Yet, she stumbles across him after he takes those special mushrooms, his eyes white, tilted towards the ceiling. But when she sees him talking with a visitor who begs him to do something about the plague, asking about his necklace, she witnesses Richard smack him to death with his cane. The next morning, she uncovers it hidden underneath the floorboards in a secret passage.
Sarah runs to Pastor Collins in a frenzy. The pastor tells her the truth, informing her that “evil stalks the island” and villagers go missing. It’s his, as well as several others’ belief that Richard has made a deal with the devil. He has her leave the door unlocked so he can send someone in to do what needs to be done. But Richard disposes of him too, even after he’s taken several stabs to himself. He does not, however, know that Sarah planned this. Still, he bars the windows the following morning and locks the door down with a padlock. Sarah escapes through the tunnel underground, but not before she finds a hidden room with a chair and a hatch. The chair and hatch that were shown to us back in Episode 1.
As the pastor told her earlier, people have been missing. I assume that Richard has been throwing them into this chamber, perhaps torturing them, and then sending them down some chute to whatever lies below in the island’s depths as sacrifices for the island’s god.
Sarah explains what she saw to the pastor and his companions after she escapes, and they urge her to go back and poison Richard. Her attempt fails, as she must spit out the poison when Richard unknowingly feeds it to her from the cup. The eldest son saves her, and they and the rest of the children go towards the pier where a boat awaits to take them back to the mainland.
Abigail, a woman from earlier who swears she isn’t sick, arrives and begs to be let on board. From all appearances, she looks horrible, and Sarah refuses to let her on board no matter how much she begs. Sarah knocks her out with an oar, and she and the children leave.
But when the townspeople finally get a hold of Richard and begin the process of burying him alive, he begs them to stop Sarah. As the curse of the present day prevents island-born people from leaving alive, so does that of the past. The townspeople attempt to grab Richard’s necklace, but he warns them that “it” does not want them to open it. He claims that if he is let go, the “god” will forgive them, and he will carry their burden. They ignore his claims, and Richard screams as he is buried, calling out for his children.
I thought that before this all happened, it would have been an interesting twist to have Richard be misunderstood, and the villagers be in on the twist. But after thinking it over a bit, I realized that this would forgo the main thematic thrust of the series, ignoring all the signs that point us towards the damage men can do to women in controlling relationships.
Anyway, the finale of the episode comes as Wyck (Stephen Root) digs up Richard’s body, finally finding the necklace and the vial that comes with it. When this is opened (as it inevitably will be), what will happen to our heroes? Is there a spirit inside? I’m not sure. Surely, the island’s god will be unpleased when they do open it. I know that not all will be resolved in this season of Widow’s Bay, as I’m aware that another season has been approved, but it will be interesting to see where the last few episodes leave us. I know I do want to see Evan mix up the proceedings, and I’d like to learn more about The Boogeyman. With just four more episodes, I expect the plot to move fast.
One last thing worth noticing. This episode was directed by Ti West of X, Pearl, and Maxxxine fame. As an accomplished director, West definitely succeeded showing off his skills.
