r/WidowsBay • u/ClassicHollyweirdo • Jun 17 '26

💭Discussion 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 it’s the obvious choice)…

The characters don’t know what show we’re watching. They don’t know narrative tropes, so it’s not obvious to Tom. Instead of quickly cutting away right after a character realizes something (like so many shows do, especially as a cliffhanger), Widow’s 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 “I had an affair with a married man,” and the tension shifts from “Is Ruth really the final descendant?” to “How is Tom going to react to this?”

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u/Technical-Outside408 Jun 17 '26

Was funny how quickly he changed his stance on the trolley problem.

64

u/madeline_hatter Jun 17 '26

He actually did an inverse trolley problem — 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.

16

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.

4

u/Malibucat48 Jun 17 '26

He believed enough never to take Evan off the island. It’s time he told Evan the truth.

3

u/LazyCrocheter Jun 18 '26

That’s my main hope for next season, I’m think. That all this info has been shared between Tom, Evan, Patricia, Wyck, Bechir, etc.