Aaron Ploof
The following recap contains spoilers for Widow’s Bay S1E7, “Seasickness” (written by Dave Harris and directed by Sam Donovan)
In Episode 7 of Widow’s Bay, we return to the present day to catch up with Tom (Matthew Rhys), Wyck (Stephen Root), and Patricia (Kate O’ Flynn) as they attempt to open the cylinder container around Richard Warren’s (Hamish Linklater) neck. The comedy from the previous episodes returns, and the suspense remains high as Tom and Wyck go out to sea to put the curse of Widow’s Bay to rest. With a surprise guest on board and everyone fighting for their lives, the question is truly asked: who will be the last man?
Tom awakens with his head on the toilet, having been out of commission for the past 24 hours. A call from the other members of the team summons him to the museum, where a big bomb is dropped on him. Wyck and Patricia have dug up Richard Warren. Further still, the man is still alive and is upstairs, waiting for the “Lord Island Protector.”
Warren’s “living” status caught me off guard, though I had no reason to be so surprised. It all makes sense, as he was stabbed multiple times with a knife by the man Sarah let into their house, and he still came out alive. He’s been sustained by an evil force, the very same force that made a deal with him when he ate the mushrooms. He signed his soul away on the piece of paper that was hidden in the cylinder, with ink made from his blood, feces, and semen.
Matthew Rhys makes a fantastic acting choice here, by the way. Instead of pitching the paper to the ground and hurriedly wiping his hands, he lays it down gingerly and swipes his hands over his pants. Honestly, Rhys’s entire performance in this scene is fantastic and is some of the best work I’ve seen from him in the show yet. You can see him contemplating every word, gauging the possible ramifications and impact his speech will have on Richard.
For his part, Hamish Linklater gives an excellent performance, too. Richard still speaks little, but you can tell he’s been all but defeated and is ready to give up his lease on life. Being buried for hundreds of years in a dirt-filled coffin will do that to you. He’s been thinking of his children every moment (he sees their belongings in the museum), and he still harbors anger towards Sarah, enough to push the eyes of her statue through with his thumbs.
Warren tells Tom and Wyck that if they bring him past the limits of the island’s curse, he’ll truly die, and the whole horrible affair will be over. Wyck is at first reluctant to do this, because nothing is guaranteed, but Tom tells Wyck of the horrible presence he felt at the end of his drug trip during Episode 5 and Wyck relents. With one caveat, though: Warren has to stay in a coffin. Tom lies to Warren to get him to agree, telling him he’ll open up the coffin when they’re on the boat.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Clemmons comes calling at the office, and Patricia distracts him by driving his car away. When he finally catches up with her, he decides not to arrest her, but instead attempts to get her to tell him what’s been going on, as unbelievable as it may be. She manages to inform him about the grimoire’s effects on her before he declares he’s had enough. It’s difficult to tell exactly what he believes, but one thing’s for sure: he’s done with his job as sheriff. He instructs Patricia to submit his notice to Tom and lets her go. I was surprised to see this reaction from Sheriff Bechir, as I expected him to join up with the main team and help them out somehow. But who knows what future episodes hold.
Back at Tom’s home, Evan is sitting doing not much of anything with Kelly (Kylie McNeill), one of the girls from off the island. To ease the awkwardness, he suggests smoking some weed, but she shoots the idea down. Instead, she encourages him to go snooping in his dad’s room, to discover the secrets that Tom is obviously lying about. What they find there is a huge revelation. Inside a locked box, there are pictures of Evan as a baby, playing with his mother, Lauren (Meredith Casey).
Tom’s story that Lauren died in childbirth is now revealed as a lie. In my thinking, Tom wanted to spare Evan from the awful truth that his mom may have gone insane from trying to leave the island. We saw her reaction to crossing the border in a flashback in Episode 5. We could see in that scene that something inside of her had broken, leaving her mentally shattered. Perhaps she never regained her sanity. And, of course, Tom has kept Evan from leaving the island to make sure he avoids the same fate.
Speaking of Tom, off on the bounds of the sea, he’s making his way towards the boundary when he has a conversation with Richard, who’s currently locked in the coffin. He begs to be let out, and the conversation eventually devolves into “f*ck you” being thrown back and forth. Wyck begs with Tom not to let Richard out and even tells a story about his own experience with death. As a child, he came close to being eaten by a sea monster but kicked his friend off his leg just to save himself. His argument is that a desperate man will do anything to live.
Once again, we get fantastic acting here. This is Stephen Root’s best scene in the whole show so far. Emotionally substituting actual images or horrific events from one’s life is certainly a way to act this scene. I’m not sure Root used this method to play Wyck’s moments here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. This is top shelf acting.
Stupidly, Tom has already let Richard out of the coffin, and the rest of the ride to the borderline carries an extremely tense atmosphere. Richard sings a sea shanty with lyrics asking, “Who will be the last man?”
Indeed, as soon as they get near the border, Richard makes a desperate attempt to save his life. After some tussles, both Wyck and Tom manage to lock Richard in the coffin once again. With the border coming up quickly, and Wyck’s life at risk, Tom thinks fast and pushes him off the boat with a life preserver in hand. Once he crosses the border, Tom checks the coffin. Sure enough, Richard’s bones are all that’s left of him.
Tom panics, calling for Wyck, but there’s no answer. He’s resigned to the fact that his buddy has drowned. At the last second, Wyck crawls on board. Wyck congratulates Tom on a job well done. Back at home, Evan stares with clear anger and anguish at he and his mother’s picture. We can expect a full-on confrontation with this truth before the season ends.
The last scene of the episode shows a guest yelling at Kurt (Neil Casey) for “kicking” his luggage down the inn’s stairway. The man leaves in a huff, but the camera zooms in. It lingers on a picture of a girl flailing helplessly in the sea with a boat struggling to stay upright. This clearly symbolizes future events. With three episodes left to go, something will clearly go wrong. The curse is not yet over.
I’ve been thinking of what could be left to explore, but honestly, I’m stumped. I’d love to hear what everyone thought was coming if they’ve made it to the series end already.
No spoilers though!
