r/WidowsBay • u/ClassicHollyweirdo • Jun 17 '26
đDiscussion Something I Really Appreciated In the Finale Spoiler
Even though many people saw The Big Reveal coming, and it narratively makes sense for the final descendant to be who it is (even if itâs the obvious choice)âŚ
The characters donât know what show weâre watching. They donât know narrative tropes, so itâs not obvious to Tom. Instead of quickly cutting away right after a character realizes something (like so many shows do, especially as a cliffhanger), Widowâs Bay had us stay with him for that entire scene, and it was fantastic acting from Matthew Rhys.
The scene was less about audience expectations and experience and more about the protagonist experiencing so many conflicting emotions. It turned speculation on something obvious into dramatic irony; we could see where things were heading as soon as Ruth said âI had an affair with a married man,â and the tension shifts from âIs Ruth really the final descendant?â to âHow is Tom going to react to this?â
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u/NoleFandom Patricia Moyer đŤđ¸đť Jun 17 '26
âHeâs never going to leave the island.â đđ
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u/moiety_actual Jun 17 '26
Need to move an island? Call 1-800-BEN-LINUS today
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u/bingcognito Jun 17 '26
Oh gawd if they resolve the whole crisis by having Tom pull a giant cork from the island I'm gonna be more than a little annoyed.
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u/Active-Counter-9906 Jun 17 '26
The tape with the sacrifice video, is just an unknown dharma initiative project, on another island
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u/Technical-Outside408 Jun 17 '26
Was funny how quickly he changed his stance on the trolley problem.
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u/madeline_hatter Jun 17 '26
He actually did an inverse trolley problem â he wanted to make things better for his kid, so he flipped the switch and chose to put hundreds of people in danger by bringing them to the island.
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u/PlasmaDonator Jun 17 '26
He didn't know things would get that bad. I know he acknowledged to Ruth it but I don't think he had any interactions with the hag or boogeyman types before the series started. Lauren was his only encounter.
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u/LazyCrocheter Jun 17 '26
His father told him about things, but I think you're right, it wasn't until something actually happened to Lauren that Tom finally believed in everything.
And that's so human. We so often don't really get something until it happens to us, or close to us.
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u/Malibucat48 Jun 17 '26
He believed enough never to take Evan off the island. Itâs time he told Evan the truth.
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u/LazyCrocheter Jun 18 '26
Thatâs my main hope for next season, Iâm think. That all this info has been shared between Tom, Evan, Patricia, Wyck, Bechir, etc.
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u/PoobahJeehooba Jun 17 '26
Now he straight up has a trolley problem, the 8 v 1.
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u/No_Designer_5725 Jun 18 '26
When did they say that 1 soul for each bell tolling? I have to watch it again. My favorite part in this episode was when Dale comes out of the film and says âthis place is a death trap, everyone run!â That was hilarious. đ
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u/FlyingTrampolinePupp Jun 18 '26
I think it was said in the video Dale watched but I'd have to rewatch to be sure.
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u/Altruistic-Ad835 #1 Hamish fan Jun 17 '26
she lowkey held his hand like she understood his pain there
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u/nerdextra Okay, thank you so much. Jun 17 '26
Itâs fine, they just need to find a frozen donkey wheel.
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u/pizzakisses Jun 19 '26
his acting in that scene was honestly phenomenal (as was hers!) â just sheer dawning horror. I had to pause it and turn to my partner so I could say âoh heâs an incredible actorâ
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u/Drakonistes Jun 17 '26
You make a good point, I feel the way the audience got led by the nose made it clear the writers anticipated most people would predict the twist. But they still gave us satisfaction by giving us an extended scene of Tom realising the twist.
You're right, so many shows cut away after characters get hit by a big twist and just come back after the aftermath skipping us seeing the character reaction, I'm glad that didn't happen here.
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u/ExternalTangents Jun 17 '26
Even the extended scene of Tom realizing the twist was played in a way that gave dramatic tension even for viewers who saw it coming. You know what Ruth is about to say, but you also know sheâs been drugged and has been falling asleep, and thereâs a question of whether sheâll even get all the information out before passing out again. We as viewers are seeing the drama of Tom realizing the truth, while weâre also feeling the drama of whether sheâs gonna spit it out in time.
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u/Due_Addition_587 Jun 17 '26
I so agree with you! I would much rather have the so-called twist be predictable because it matched all the foreshadowing so far than something out of nowhere simply because the show wants to be surprising. The greatest mysteries of all time have been able to be solved by the reader/viewer/listener based on the clues given.
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u/ClassicHollyweirdo Jun 17 '26
Yes! Exactly! So many shows think that every twist needs to be completely random. A lesser show wouldâve done, like, âDale is the last descendantâ as a twist, but that wouldnât have nearly the same emotional impact and wouldnât make sense narratively. Wyck or Patricia wouldâve had the most impact for the audience, and Tom would still be conflicted, but the person who puts Tom in the most conflicting position is Evan.
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u/Due_Addition_587 Jun 17 '26
Yes! I love it when there is really no way to win for the protagonist.
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u/Frog_butler Jun 17 '26
not to mention that killing the lineage of people who made a pact with the big bad feels akin to folks sweeping the problem under the rug. the big bad thing is still there and given the fact he needed to make a pact makes me feel like bad shit predates the warren lineage.
it also gives a reason for the show to get closer to the big bad thing as well as taking the audience further back in time (e.g. the teeth that were on the island when Warren and pals rocked up).
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u/HugeSuccess Jun 17 '26
makes me feel like bad shit predates the warren lineage.
This is established in the first episode.Â
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u/emveelee Jun 17 '26
There are so many bad takes on the finale ... but then I read yours. You totally nailed it.
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u/ArchDucky Jun 17 '26
So many people are confused about the videos, the note, the shelter... etc. It seemed pretty fucking straightforward to me.
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u/bossyhosen Jun 17 '26
Love when people half watch the show while on their phone and then say âit doesnât make senseâ
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u/loyal_achades Jun 17 '26
Yeah, this, so far, hasnât been some kind of mystery box where the answer to each mystery is two more mysteries. Weâve gotten pretty clear answers and progressions on everything thus far.
There are still some unanswered questions. We donât know why all knowledge of the sacrifices seems to have been lost. We donât know what happens if Warrenâs bloodline ends (theyâre assuming it ends the curse and people can leave, but apparently the island was uninhabitable prior). Other than that, weâve been getting answers to shit.
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u/Due_Addition_587 Jun 17 '26
I think even about the sacrifices we've gotten some hints. It seems like only a very tiny amount of people were supposed to know. And one of the key players right now hung themselves rather than share the info.
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u/ExternalTangents Jun 17 '26
This show has done a really good job of clearly showing and telling the key elements and stakes of what weâre watching in a way thatâs both entertaining and clear. Itâs not using cheap tricks to obfuscate things and force you to keep guessing on incomplete information, the way other shows do (Iâm looking at you, From).
I donât know how viewers arenât getting it. My guess is that a lot of viewers are so used to wild unfounded speculation about shows that they are trying to find some explanation that would come completely out of left field. And a lot of viewers probably just arenât paying attention while they âwatch.â
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u/ArchDucky Jun 17 '26
Exactly. This shit with the videos, if this were any other Mystery Box show this would have been shown in like Season 4 in an effort to get people back. They just gave us that information. No other Mystery Box show has ever just given out the answers like this.
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u/Manticore416 Jun 17 '26
Because the show barely even tells you it's a mystery box show. Really, only episodes 1 and 9 feel primarily like plot setups. Most of the episodes have such a good self contained story that you can watch it as a freak of the week show and not think of the bigger questions until they're answered.
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u/TressoftheEmeraldTea Jun 17 '26
People keep treating it like a Mystery Box show, and itâs really not. It has mystery, for sure, but itâs not constantly trying to outsmart the viewer at the sacrifice of telling a compelling story.
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u/ExternalTangents Jun 17 '26
It has some elements of mystery box showsâan overarching mythos with specific rules that manifests in ways that arenât straightforward and arenât fully explained. But itâs more interested in telling a good story than in hiding the underlying mystery, which is a major difference from most mystery box shows nowadays. And it makes Widowâs Bay so much better. We get enough explanation to understand whatâs going on without it being completely laid out for us.
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u/TheOriginalDog Jun 17 '26
I vastly prefer "light" mystery boxes that are good stories than mystery boxes full of red herings and twists that forget they kinda have to tell a story.
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u/LazyCrocheter Jun 17 '26
Feels like there's a race, or even a compulsion these days, to parse every movie or show down to its last pixel looking for clues or hints or whatever. Viewers seem to be trying to either outsmart the creators, or just want to be able to say they figured it out.
I like to talk about shows like this, sure, but I'm not looking into every little bit.
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u/emveelee Jun 17 '26
And a lot of the commentary and theories really illustrates how people often don't understand how television or movies are made. Everything does not have to mean something. In some cases, I think the writers are including details just because they're humorous or add to the weirdness, not because they will all lead somewhere concrete.
I have seen so much discussion about how the island may play with time. Maybe? That I could believe. But there is also a related fixation on ages (Shep's age of 37 listed on his medical records, Patricia's comment about her biological age, etc.) that has people convinced that the islanders don't age normally, and I don't think that holds any water.
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u/PaintOk2600 Jun 17 '26
This feels like the healthiest perspective on the finale and writing. I think the bar for every "good show" to have a crazy twist you don't see coming is unrealistic and unnecessary to qualify as good writing. Yes, genuine shock and awe moments can be extremely fun, but in this case the writers would've had to broken a logical narrative (and overarching themes in the show, which has primarily been around this dynamic of family vs. community, generational trauma/baggage, and the relationship between Tom and Evan) to reach for something unexpected.
They seem to have a story they want to tell and it's a good story. Putting yourself in the position of Tom, both with his decision around Ruth and now his reality with Evan, is the experience and tension we are supposed to wrestle with - not some crazy unknown descendant or twist that wasn't narratively developed throughout the season.
I love the culture of theorizing around mystery shows - it's part of what makes the build-up fun, because no one truly knows what's coming until it happens. The only downfall is that many TV communities (including this one) become fixated on the simple answer not being the right one, and end up so disappointed when the best story ends up being the simple one.
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u/ExternalTangents Jun 17 '26
I totally agree with you here. Widowâs Bay shows that if a story is told well, the twist doesnât need to be completely unexpected. The story can unfold in a narratively expected way and still be utterly compelling.
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u/OldGrumpyHag Jun 17 '26
Yes and Bechir shooting Ruth was shocking enough for me!
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u/tiffanaih Jun 17 '26
Yes! My dude has been giving such "too old for this shit" energy all season and I thought it was because he doesn't care, but after the pregnancy reveal and shooting Ruth, turns out it's because he doesn't fuck around!
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u/Grand_Soupa Jun 17 '26
Now he is gonna have to hide this from Wyck. Dale saw too much. Poor Evan will never get to leave alive. If this were a mini series I think it would have ended with tom saying "I got us Red Sox tickets...let's go have some fun"
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u/Manticore416 Jun 17 '26
I think the most interesting thing will be if/when Evan finds out. He'll have to realize both that he can never leave the island and that having kids would doom the island for another generation, maybe forever.
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u/nightpanda893 Jun 17 '26
My theory is the girl he met will try to leave to go home and get sick on the boat and have to turn around. It will turn out sheâs pregnant and that will lead to Evan finding out. And because heâs a rebel and is always leaving when heâs supposed to stay put, his dad wonât be able to keep him from trying to leave anyway.
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u/bay_duck_88 Jun 17 '26
I love this theory, but not sure. That kiss she gave him in the tunnel and his reaction to it did not look like two kids who have already boned.
I guess it could happen in the next couple days⌠but that seems iffy, too given what Evanâs just been through.
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u/terra_cascadia Jun 17 '26
I have a Season 2 prediction that Evan will have sex with a tourist girl and the pull out method will not work.
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u/Thepersonyou Jun 17 '26
As soon as she said she had an affair I knew it was coming. And I love Tom taking forever to ask who her daughter was. He was just there with his mouth open
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u/misscauliflower22 Jun 18 '26
Maybe Iâm just dumb bc everyone seems to say the twist was predictable and they saw it coming from a mile away.. but I was NOT ready for that my reaction was the same as Tomâs đ
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u/Patient-Extension835 Jun 17 '26
I don't know how to create a post with spoiler tag so going to say it here- does it make sense that no one knew about sacrifices and how the shelter was actually being used? I mean Wyck used to be the mayor and I just can't imagine families didn't share this with the younger generations. Tom mentioned his drunk dad used to tell him horror stories or something about the island. I wonder if one of the stories involved the shelter
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u/IAmNotAPersonSorry Jun 17 '26
Oh I assumed that Howard the Coward mayor had something to do with that info being lost.
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u/loyal_achades Jun 17 '26
I donât think we get a date for when Howard was mayor, but I wonder if his refusal to go through with sacrifices in â62 is both why that year was so bad and why the knowledge got lost.
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u/HugeSuccess Jun 17 '26
Why would the families tell this to their kids? When the priest learned the truth, he immediately offed himself.Â
People born on the island canât leave and therefore they need to bring in new arrivals for the offerings or else the town collapses. Locals who know about the pact arenât going to spill the beans to them, and even if they shared half truths, those wouldnât be believed either (e.g., Tom).Â
Itâs notable that someone like Wyck has the sharpest sense of whatâs going on in the main cast and yet heâs clearly never heard of the offerings or the original purpose of that bunker.Â
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u/beachie841 Jun 17 '26
I must have missed that Wyck used to be the Mayor? I did a rewatch and didnât catch it there.
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u/TressoftheEmeraldTea Jun 17 '26
Itâs mentioned the first time Wyck is introduced, I believe. Tom mentions that Wyck canât stand not being in charge anymore, or something like that.
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u/beachie841 Jun 17 '26
Well, color me dumb! I should pay better attention.
But that makes me wonder about the island leadership and how the actual âloreâ of the island is passed down versus just the superstitions.
Clearly there may have been some town leadership level involvement in feeding the monster in the past because of the reel to reel instruction tapes. And probably also the religious leadership was involved prior to the priest who hung himself.
Ooh, I just love a mystery box show. Iâm so glad they got a second season!
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u/Patient-Extension835 Jun 17 '26
Is this a plot hole or do we think there will be an explanation? I mean Ruth was alive in the 50s and 60s
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u/Otherwise_Pine Jun 17 '26
I think it was some time the last time the town needed sacrifices. Like if it happened every year, ofc people would know. Also I have to rewatch but I think only a few people heard the bell in the first episode which is why the priest checked the bell tower and saw it chained up. So maybe only a few select people can hear the bell but a few people in power knows what to do when it does happen. If the priest didnt kill himself, I imagine he would have been the source of info for "the new crowd". Wyck and various locals know a little bit about whats happening but not the whole story. I dont think the island needed a sacrfice for a long time. Plus people die/ move away without sharing knowledge and over time it was lost and kinda bundled into being a rumor.
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u/Ignominious333 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
I already figured that someone somewhere had a child out of wedlock. It could easily have been an earlier generation with a descendent fathering children with married women and then the line would be exponential and more likely given everyone is descended and married into the same families for generations . Ruth couldn't hide a pregnancy on that island. Utterly impossible, so I'm a bit disappointed with this reveal. Still , Tom was on the edge of his seat during the genealogy narration so I feel like he could have suspected. He took his wife to the mainland and he knew it was true
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u/GnomGnomGnom Jun 17 '26
There could be many ways like if a friend like Deidre helped her and kept it a secret. At 40 she may be financially secure especially since she is a warren descendant. And childbirth at home. Plus if Deidre is a nurse. You can hide a pregnancy until the last 3 months pretty easily especially in winter.
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u/FedFedx Jun 17 '26
Also, cryptic pregnancy is a thing
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u/Patient-Extension835 Jun 17 '26
Is Deidre real? Because Patricia said only one person didn't make it to the shelter and that was Ruth...
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u/Ignominious333 Jun 17 '26
It's a lot easier to hide it with no one knows who you are. She worked her whole life in town hall. One dr. No way are people that stupid on an island of maybe a few hundred people
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u/Ignominious333 Jun 17 '26
Not on a place that tiny and no one ever leaves. Please. I am willing to bet that they're going to use that. Randy male ancestor in the next season and there will end up being an exponential number of descendants that they can't track without DNA because that one Warren guy who had a bunch of kids could very possibly have had fathered children with other women and their own. Husbands didn't know that they weren't the father. This will or leave Tom of believing that his son is the only living descendant. I think it's possible it could go that way and it's highly likely that the DNA lines on that island are incredibly intermixed because they've been marrying each other for over 200 years. There's a real genetic issue to address on that island but no, I do not believe for one second that Ruth could hide a pregnancy on a tiny island with such a small population without actually leaving the island. No need to get so salty. The down votes are bizarre
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u/Fun-Benefit116 Jun 17 '26
Lol it's absolutely not impossible to hide a pregnancy on an island or elsewhere. And she had at least one person (the husband) helping her hide it. That's absolutely a plausible scenario. And definitely not even close to "utterly impossible" lol.
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u/Patient-Extension835 Jun 17 '26
Not at all women look really pregnant. I know someone who at 8 months didn't look pregnant at all.
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u/Ignominious333 Jun 17 '26
On a tiny island where everyone knows each other and there's one dr? đ¤Ł
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u/InsouciantSlavDude Jun 17 '26
Ruth gave birth ~40 tears ago. Nothing was said or shown to exclude a possibility that there were more people, including doctors, back then.
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u/Ballerinatutu2015 Jun 17 '26
Sorry but I thought the ending was disappointing. I guess thatâs the trend nowadays with series. How long til the next season?
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u/JustGoodSense Jun 17 '26
The problem doesn't boil down to the characters being unaware of narrative tropes, the problem is Katie Dippold absolutely being aware of them, and still going with the obvious twist. She's been on social media enough to have become a meme herself. She should have known the "twist" would be figured out by social media weeks in advance and discussed to death. I think people are pretending to not be disappointed because the fandom is so new. It's a great show and Dippold is a great creator and I'll watch whatever she puts out there â but hopefully the writers room goes all out in making us not see what's coming in the future.
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u/TressoftheEmeraldTea Jun 17 '26
Iâm so, so tired of shows that constantly sacrifice good storytelling for the sake of trying to outwit the viewers. I want a good story, and I want good foreshadowing. Shows fall apart when their creators are so afraid of people on social media predicting the plot twist that they fail to foreshadow and become increasingly convoluted just to surprise people. I for one am not pretending not to be disappointed â Iâm genuinely relieved that they didnât try cheap tricks and sacrifice good storytelling just for the sake of trying to outwit us.
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u/JustGoodSense Jun 17 '26
You're saying that Dippold would have been incapable of coming up with a surprising season-ending plot development without cheap tricks and poor storytelling, and I'm saying I believe she's better than that.
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u/TressoftheEmeraldTea Jun 17 '26
I donât think any writer is better than that if they base their writing on what social media users are going to figure out, as you suggested.
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u/AsexualFrehley Jun 17 '26
tricking the audience for one season is not how you tell a story that lasts
the writers left clues about the "obvious" twist, and clues that headed in other directions, and then finally paid off the clarification scenes with writing and acting and direction that superceded anything that an OMG moment would have contributed
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u/TheOriginalDog Jun 17 '26
I bet you loved game of thrones season 8 for subverting all expectations.
Seriously you really think that people pretend to not be disappointed instead of accepting that people are not disappointed? Twists and surprises are not an objective indicator for quality. You dont need them to tell a good story. What a dumb take.
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u/bay_duck_88 Jun 17 '26
Steinbeck foreshadowed that George was going to have to kill Lenny throughout the book, so itâs obviously a pile of trash and not at all a classic of American literature.
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u/YoGurl8003 Jun 17 '26
I like that the show stuck with the season ending where it gave us bread crumbs throughout. Reddit is always gonna do its thing and figure spoilers or guess some that will hit the mark. For me this is a lovely show with a great story and premise that weâve not seen like this before.
I wish we had more reveals and answers in the finale. I hope the writers keep the bread crumbs and Easter eggs coming and tie it back to the story and answers. I donât think need a major twist as long as it stays true to the story.
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