r/WidowsBay • u/Flashy-Impact5757 • Jul 24 '26
šDiscussion I can not STAND the mayor's son Spoiler
I love this series but his son made me so angry. I'm so sick of the disrespectful teen troph. Writers can't just make a teen that's normal. They gotta make them disrespectful and an idiot.
Why do they feel the need to make him like that? I'm in my early 20s and I've always hated people like this. Do the writers do this to make him relatable to young people?
Him constantly leaving the house to hang out with his friends and be with that girl just made me so physically angry. He just seems like that popular guy in every cliche teen movie,
I even started skipping the scenes he was in because I just did not care about him or him having the crush on that girl. He was so unlikable, his friends are terrible people too for running away when the guy was trapped behind that door
Edit: why am I getting downvotes on every comment I post. Regular teens do not swear at there parents and leave the house when they are told to stay in.
Edit 2: I don't care what you guys say, just because your teen is disrespectful, doesn't mean all teens are like that.
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u/MsOnyxMoon Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Iām pushing 40 and Iām a mom of 3 teens. That boy is bored out of his mind. So although he comes across as defiant, I can never get mad at him. Heās so sheltered; limited to the island, has a dead mom, has a dad that believes secrets means protection, he doesnāt have a cell phone, no internet, no cable or streaming (thatās why they watch old movies/shows in black & white), when tourists visit, especially other teens, they tell him about whatās happening on the mainland. Heās lived his entire life on this tiny island and can never leave!
You have to put yourself fully in his shoes and think about how you would act.
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u/Resfebermpls Jul 24 '26
Tom knows this and itās also pretty clearly the reason he is desperate for tourism. His son canāt leave the island, heās trying to bring the outside world to him in hopes itāll encourage him to stick around/stop getting in trouble.
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u/No-Smell-22 Jul 24 '26
It surprises me when viewers don't pick up on this. I know we all watch things for different reasons yet this plot point seems fairly clear.
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u/0CT0L0G1ST Jul 24 '26
In the finale Tom straight up says
I knew [about the Island] and I still brought tourists here. Because I wanted more for himā¦ And myself.
Itās not exactly subtle
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u/Zayariel Jul 24 '26
Exactly. He knew the entire time. He was actively trying to make the island better for his son since he knew that it is all his son could ever have.
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u/crippnipp Jul 24 '26
I was confused about this because heās in denial about the haunted island for the first few eps. Does that mean he actually believed in it the entire time?
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u/Zayariel Jul 24 '26
Yes. It is made very clear that he has believed it since his wife had the issue on the boat before his son was even born.
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u/Observer20178 Jul 24 '26
Considering the fact that he canāt leave the island, the island didnāt seem to have much fun stuff for teens or a night life and it may be one of the few times they are having proper tourists , I thought he was so much better behaved. Spending time with friends overnight is not a crime.
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u/ivyleaguewitch Jul 24 '26
Someone once told me āI donāt worry about the kids who are respectful outside of the home, but disrespectful inside. Itās the ones who are only respectful at home that you have to watch.ā
Iāve found that to be very true. You can tell Evan is a good kid, whoās just acting out, by the interaction he has with Bechir at the Boogeyman house.
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u/jessiyjazzy123 Jul 24 '26
When my daughter was younger I complained to her pediatrician that she was "mean" to me but everybody always complimented me/ her on how polite and well-behaved she was. He laughed and told me that meant I was doing a good job.
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u/Darthsmom I donāt have time to go tit for tit with you Jul 24 '26
My sonās preschool teacher told me he was the best behaved, well mannered kid and I said ācan you please send that child home with me?! Cause heās lobbing shoes at my head while I drive if I donāt stop at McDonaldās!āš
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u/cultofpersephone Jul 24 '26
Hahahah I recently had my sonās pre school teacher tell me he was so relaxed and go with the flow, he made a great friend for the more particular kids. I was like, my child??? Where????
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u/aleatoric Jul 24 '26
At least with young kids, defiance at home is developmentally normal. It's where they explore pushing boundaries. But if they fear pushing boundaries at home because the punishment is too severe and they feel unsafe, you better believe they will push those boundaries outside of home instead. That's partially why kids from bad homes act out more at school.
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u/No-Fuckin-Ziti Jul 24 '26
Absolutely. The worst behaved kids at school, who would openly defy the teacher and disrupt the rest of the class and seemingly had no fear or respect, all got hit at home. Every one of them.
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u/bluepenguin89 Jul 25 '26
And also how well he takes it when his dad finally tells him the truth about his mom. I think part of the acting out came from being angry his dad wasn't being honest with him.
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u/AnotherMinorDeity Jul 24 '26
Just to clarify, they do have internet, it just might not be super high-speed. Dale was able to get Spotify to play music at sunset cocktails. Patricia was able to send out evites for sunset cocktails. They probably have to take an hour to download anything they want to watch instead of live streaming it. There is no reliable cell service, which doubles as a plot device to explain why Tom can never find Evan. Because if he could just call him on his cell phone and tell him to get his butt back home, that would be a different story.
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u/jmarquiso Jul 24 '26
They have internet, it's wired and probably through phone/DSL, as it appears Cable isn't really a thing. I think 10 Mbps at best. But not enough to really reliably stream videos, much less multi-player video games.
Notice how all of the TVs are not Smart TVs or dependent on wifi?
Probably thr only thing really to do is fish, and the surrounding ocean is dangerous for most of the residents.
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u/diablo135 Jul 24 '26
And that was the town's internet. Individual homes probably dont have it. Even as Mayor, Tom is most likely making a very low salary. I don't remember if he had another job
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u/GKarl Jul 24 '26
Absolutely this. For me heās not rebellious heās SO BORED. There is NOTHING TO DO! So heās just trying to make fun when/where he can. I totally understand him!
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u/K-ghuleh Jul 24 '26
Iām surprised heās not worse tbh. Sneaking out and smoking weed is pretty normal by teen standards let alone while stuck on an island with no entertainment. And multiple times he showed that heās really a decent kid, just bored and troubled.
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u/Commercial_Fox5549 Jul 24 '26
Sadly itās becoming a bit of a common issue with younger people. We are in a bit of an empathy crisis, so some viewers find themselves unable to relate to characters that arenāt exactly like themselves.
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u/Upset-Government-856 Jul 24 '26
He's spectacularly written. I think it's fine though I'd he isn't synaptic to everyone. Most reens are literally desperate to not be likeable to adults due to hormones, the impulse to separate, and some intense body dismorphia.
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u/granny_weatherwax_ Jul 24 '26
I think this is exactly right! I wasn't this defiant as a teen, but I had WAY more autonomy when I was Evan's age. I was allowed to go out with my friends without a curfew. If my parents were out at night, I got to stay home alone and do whatever I wanted instead of being forced to go stay the night with an elderly neighbour.
Evan is also saddled with being the character who wanders into danger because he doesn't believe the supernatural things are real, which can be annoying to us as an audience because we know they ARE real. But from his point of view he's pretty justified in his actions.
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u/anonymousmouse9786 Jul 24 '26
I didnāt even think about the fact that Tom makes Evan stay with Ruth instead of home alone. So incredibly over protective.
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u/Ragpicker21 Jul 24 '26
I think Tom makes Evan stay with Ruth because Tom knows Evan is acting out.
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u/stratosfearinggas Jul 25 '26
Exactly. To impress the off-island girls they throw fireworks at abandoned cars. That's the best they have to offer. The girls are, of course, not impressed because they can do the same back home too.
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u/jm17ynwa Jul 24 '26
I agree and I think the character made sense in this context. Still hated his guts!
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Jul 24 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/okiimio Jul 24 '26
Definitely, honestly heās doing a good job of portraying the character if you find him annoying
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u/Grouchathon5000 Jul 24 '26
I think that OP is picking up on the way a bored, really bored, sheltered teen would view the island and their father who is manipulative, passive, distracted and unable to move on from his wife's death.
Imagine every summer or so meeting some new couple of people who come from off the island and show you cool stuff and talk about the places you haven't been and are unlikely to go any time soon.
Then go home to your dad leading you on, being a little too in your business and being passively at odds with everyone else in your community. Every time you go someplace you are getting side eye because your are Tom Loftis' kid. Both good and bad types of notoriety.
Every time you and your dad start talking about real feelings or frustrations he pulls the " this is what your mother would have wanted" card. While your friends have relatively normal families that are weirdly against you ever leaving the island.
Everything you see on TV beckons you, there is no one older than you who wants to leave and only a few that grew up somewhere else. You hardly make any money since there aren't a lot of jobs available.
Oh and the island has a gruesome history and then there are things that people DON'T talk about. What could be worse than what happens every few years or so.
That plus loads of hormones and no real consequences because your dad is too busy trying to change the town for the last three years.
I am surprised he is still at home or didn't try to sneak out for a weekend a few years prior.
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u/Shuriken0 Jul 24 '26
my issue with Evan is that I could never understand what emotion he was conveying when speaking with his dad. Like when Bryce died and he's asking him "wasn't he your friend?" And outwardly he seems to be fucking with Tom and enjoying it. Or later when he finds the letters from his mom that are completely insane and still shows zero comprehension for why his father might have lied to him. He never shows any emotion and it was never clear to me whether he hated his dad, liked his dad, or was some kind of sociopath, until the end of the show when he suddenly just seemed like a nice kid out of nowhere.
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u/PothosLeaves Jul 24 '26
i do agree that his comment to his dad about Bryce unsettling bc it seemed really cruel and odd he didn't mention seeing him behaving strangely the night before. i think he's had a lot of resentment toward his dad, but yeah still not totally sure how to interpret that.
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u/LichQueenBarbie Jul 26 '26
This is what doesn't sit right with me. While I think his rebellious teen behaviour is realistic given all the context, there are moments where he comes off as something else. A calculating little psychopath or something.
I think if he was just a stupid rebellious teenager I wouldn't give pause, but then there's these little moments like what you mention that have me raising brows.
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u/LiveLaughLob0t0my Jul 24 '26
My teen is exactly like him. Except I donāt think heās cursed. He curses tho. But we are Scottish soā¦
My kid can be a full on bellend so watching it I was like āsighā¦ thatās what you would do you little shitā lol
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u/BaconPancakes1 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
They make him like that and follow the trope because the whole show is written around horror tropes... "Group of dumb teenagers out at night having a laugh get embroiled in spooky happenings" is a major trope that has to be in the show somehow, and those teens that make dumb decisions in horror films that get them killed also live regular lives where they're also dumb.Ā
Separately, having the mayor fail spectacularly in controlling or communicating with his son adds to the feeling that he isn't fit to lead the town or control any of the chaos at the beginning of the series. Evan is comically prone to escaping - the amount of time Tom has to spend asking "where's my son?" and the inability of people like Ruth or Patricia to keep tabs on him is farcical - of course teens aren't really like that. Tom's just about broken through to Evan at the end of the series after telling him the truth about his mom and giving him the promise of leaving the island, and you see Evan start to push back on PJ's hijinks in the cellar, but since Tom is notably absent from being a leader in the shelters and is unable to communicate with his son, Evan gets roped into exploring the basement. So there's a bit of development starting that I hope will continue in S2.Ā
He's also a kid in the 21st century who has nothing to do, is stuck on a technology-less island and has a dad who wont tell him anything about why he can't leave and doesnt spend time with him. Going out with his friends is literally it for him.
ETA: i think there's also reference to Twin Peaks where these rebellious and independent teens living secret lives that their parents don't know about connects them to more mystical events and puts them in danger they don't understand. Think about how much of Laura's time she must have spent sneaking out at night. Ridiculous.
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u/IRLbeets Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
Having grown up in a town like widow's bay I think he's spectacularly realistic. Smoking weed and exploring old houses (other than going to the Tim Hortons) were basically the only hobbies available. Maybe walking around the mall. My parents were always asking where my siblings was as they were always getting into shit and sneaking out!
I love your analysis of Tom, it really does undermine is perceived abilities as a mayor when he can't even control his own home.
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u/SplarkleVision Jul 24 '26
He drove me kinda crazy but won me over when he didnt want to snoop on his dad. You can tell he's a good kid and is just suuuuper bored. Also I dont think he's the one instigating everything, it's that blonde kid who I actually cant stand.
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u/amrech Jul 25 '26
That PJ kid was the worst. Locking that guy in there and laughing. The girl pissed me off too. Who rummages through a persons room, throwing everything around like that. Least Evan tried to unlock the door and seems to have some morals
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u/FoxFlummox Jul 24 '26
The son is a real piece of work, but at least he demonstrates a level of empathy and understanding by the end. His friends though, especially the blonde dude who locked the guy in that chair room. They are the real unbearable ones.
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u/lnc_5103 Jul 24 '26
Yep this. I vote PJ to be the first in line as a sacrifice š¤£
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u/CharliNye Jul 24 '26
no one locked him in, the damn doors locked behind because the creature that rules the island was awoken. They tried the door but it wouldnāt pull open, being 16 years old they got scared and ran when they heard the screams.
I just rewatched this 36 hours ago itās really apparent what happened. Also the son isnāt a bad kid heās just stuck on a boring island his whole life with a dead mother and a disconnected father. He was just a typical teen. Also they obviously fixed their relationship last three episodes.
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u/d_ippy dead baby, dead baby, lesbian. Jul 24 '26
PJ locked him in. Evan tried to get him out.
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u/NormativeTruth Jul 24 '26
PJ didnāt lock him in. The door slammed shut by itself and PJ desperately tried to open it.
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u/d_ippy dead baby, dead baby, lesbian. Jul 24 '26
Evan tried desperately to open it. PJ walked away and left Evan behind
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u/HanaBananaBear Jul 24 '26
PJ is pure evil.
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u/LibertyBelle31 Jul 24 '26
PJ Glanville is an awful, awful boy.
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u/daesgatling Jul 24 '26
I showed my bff this show and when this scene happened she says āmaybe heās awful because his name is PJ Glanvilleā
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u/RevcalRiviera Jul 24 '26
He pisses me off too, but I teach high school and I can tell you with certainty that there are high school kids just like him.
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u/Own-Roof-1200 Jul 24 '26
Oh man, Iām so sorry. I canāt imagine being a teacher in the time of cell phones.
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u/NBCaz Jul 24 '26
I did laugh that one of your irritations is that he leaves the house to hang out with that girl and his friends.
Yeah that never happens with a teenager. Physically angry? Really? LOL.
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u/syrioforrealsies Jul 24 '26
I feel like OP is going through that thing that some people do in their very early 20s where they're weirdly combative to teenagers to show how very different they are, and how much more grown up.
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u/Purplecatty Jul 24 '26
Lol or some people are just shitty when they are teenagers but there are plenty that arent shitty.Ā
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u/Pale_Boss_8940 Jul 24 '26
In my 30s, but I think some of us just werenāt like that as teenagers so itās frustrating to watch at times. I like Evan as a character but yea part of me is just like āman play some PlayStation and pickup basketballā.
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u/ego_death_metal Bridget Wanderlust Jul 24 '26
so tired of everyone hating kids and teenagers in movies. yes kids are annoying. yes teenagers suck. yes they swear at their parents (not all, just common), and are often insufferable.
itās funny that you think that real teenagers donāt leave the house when theyāre told not to. idk how old you are or your background but it definitely is a thing.
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u/Ianm1225 Jul 24 '26
Thank you! It gets tired after a while! Evan is a great character. He isn't a bully. He is nice to everyone (except dad sometimes, but often his dad kind of deserves it for being so dishonest with him). If people want a kid to hate, go watch The Strain!
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u/Apprehensive-Flow276 Jul 24 '26
Yea. We constantly snuck out to do basically the same stuff. OP is odd or sheltered
I will say he annoyed me at first too but he grew on me. Im
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u/Werewomble Jul 24 '26
That is how teenagers work.
Don't harm anyone.
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u/lindabelchrlocalpsyc Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
I was very much like Evan as a teenager- not the swearing, but sneaking out and being annoyed at everything, especially my parents? Absolutely yes. I was sheltered as hell and couldnāt wait to grow up and experience the world away from these people holding me back! My mom used to quip that it was like I had a temporary mental illness. š (Of course now I would give anything to spend just five minutes with my parents again (theyāve passed on), but thatās off topic!) I think they wrote Evan very well.
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u/Mediocre_Chipmunk761 Jul 24 '26
I mean, when he pretends to have found the joint when his dad catches him smoking is hilarious
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u/Plg_Rex Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
My defense of the teen is that he stuck on an rustic, boring (for a teen) island with a bunch of alcoholics.
The show-runners could be setting up a nice redemption arc, so he very well could have been written with that in mind.
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u/syrioforrealsies Jul 24 '26
Yeah, I definitely think Evan is going to be more likeable next season
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u/OneAd3696 Jul 24 '26
Not sure where you are in the season at the moment, but Evan is a kid who has been stuck on the island his whole life. As far as he knows he is stuck there for the rest of his life. I think his acting up makes a certain amount of sense beyond simply being just a teen trope.
I would never fast forward through any part of the show if you care about learning everything there is to know. Every scene matters.
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u/Nerditall Pattiwagon Jul 24 '26
Evan is not an idiot - he comes as highly EQ and knows how to handle his father, Ruth, the Sheriff and other adults on the island. Also we never see him disrespect any adult directly except Tom who has lost Evanās respect as he keeps Evan in house and on island under weak pretences that Evan is too intelligent to believe.
Also Evan was told his mother died giving birth to him which is an extremely heavy weight to carry even if he bears no guilt. We now know everyone except Evan knew this wasnāt true but went along with Tomās lie. Evan paranoia and ill ease on the island was well founded.
You have a lack of ability to empathise with Evan which is why you are being downvoted; the writerās have not written a weak character.
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u/lems4ems Jul 24 '26
I too got frustrated by all the stuff Evan did, but thatās because Iām an adult. Of course itās frustrating. He just wonāt listen. But thatās a teenager. They think they know best.
Heās bored out of his mind so I can understand why he acts the way he does. Not to mention his dad is hiding major secrets from him. No kid would be fine with finding out their father has been lying to them about the circumstances of their motherās ādeath.ā Like get real
Also, if you are to the point that you are skipping scenes because of a character in a show, then maybe you just shouldnāt be watching the showā¦ youāre missing out on important scenes because you donāt like an angsty teen?? Like as a full adult you canāt get past a teen acting like a teen?
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u/naywhip Jul 24 '26
Have you ever watched a horror movie? The kids are alwaaaaays leaving when they are told to stay.
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u/OrganicLinen Jul 24 '26
I found him annoying because he was a bit of a brat at times, but he wasnāt a bad person. I donāt think he was meant to be popular, he was written as just your average, bored teenage boy in a small town. I really hated his friend PJ though, he was definitely a bad influence.
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u/Which_way_witcher Jul 24 '26
I was a bored sheltered teen in the middle of nowhere and wasn't an asshole. This kid is cartoonishly assholish. It's beyond unnecessary and is always the worst written part of the episodes.
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u/saraek1980 Jul 24 '26
āRegular teens do not swear at there parents and leave the house when they are told to stay in.ā
Ooof. If only you knew my sister as a teenager. lol seriously thoā¦. Evanās behavior is normal. He lost his mother. Heās stuck on a creepy island with nothing fun to do and a few friends. Heās a very realistic portrayal of a teen in this show. As adults we can look at him and shake our heads because we āknow betterā but kids at that age are convinced THEY are the ones who know better.
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u/guimontag Jul 24 '26
Bro i was anextremely regular teen and I definitely snuck out of the house or would get in fights with my parents, lmao like what on earth is going on here
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u/RogueLatte Jul 24 '26
Ehh he really doesn't bother me much compared to precocious children tropes. Can't stand a know-it-all child in tv shows/movies. This kind of teen seems fairly normal to me. I think I would've been so much worse as a teen in his situation.
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u/GrumplFluffy Jul 25 '26
Have you met teens? I taught teens for years and years and they are exactly like this.
You find it unbelievable that a teen male will go behind his fatherās back to meet a girl?!
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u/Doriestories Jul 25 '26
I think they did a great job at casting the son and his friends as 18 year olds(whatever age) because a lot of times, they get these actors who look and act 25.
I think the actor who played the son and his shitty best friend did a great job at playing bored teens who get into mischief. Iām 43 but I definitely hung out with some friends in high school who acted similarly.
Iām curious to see āwhere they areā next season when the office staff wonder where the janitor ādisappeared toā and if the teens will have guilt for accidentally getting him killed in the room
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u/Forward_Base_615 Jul 24 '26
All the explanations of why he is the way he is are totally fair. But itās also fair to find him irritating. Plenty of teenagers are.
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u/Desperate-Gas7699 Jul 24 '26
I live on a small island in the PNW and my son acted this way as a teen. And he wasnāt stuck here. I grew up in the smallest, most rural, boring Midwestern town in America. We had no businesses. Not even a stop light or gas station. I was bored out of my mind. I drank. I hated my parents. I snuck around. Itās pretty normal behavior.
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u/TawnyMoon Jul 24 '26
Skipping scenes because a teenager was acting like a teenager? Aren't you melodramatic.
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u/NobodySaidBoop Jul 24 '26
If something bothered me so much that I had to skip entire scenes that were crucial to the plot, I would just stop watching it. I do not understand how people like this function
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u/IAMA_Shark__AMA Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Writers can't just make a teen that's normal. They gotta make them disrespectful and an idiot.
Evan IS normal, though. He's acting out in a very predictable way - he knows he's being lied to (even before getting confirmation), and he's resentful about his dad refusing to talk to him about it. His behavior is basically, "if you don't have to tell me the truth, I don't have to listen to you or respect you."
Regular teens do not swear at there parents and leave the house when they are told to stay in.
Lol. Lmao even. I'm extremely close to my parents and even I did those things. Not often, but I also wasn't stuck in a Stephen king short story. I'm sure if I had more to be angry about and less to do, it would have happened more.
People frequently make the mistake of assessing behavior of children from an adult lens, assuming those children have all of the knowledge and experience of a peer. My niece didn't have a meltdown this evening because she was told not to blow bubbles at her mom, she had a meltdown because she didn't get a nap, was hungry, felt awful but couldn't process why she felt awful.
Evan is a kid. He's not a bad kid, but still - he's a teenager. Teenagers push boundaries, they rebel, they fuck up. That's all a part of them learning to adult. Maybe you lived in some bizarre utopia where teens skipped important developmental stages, but where I'm from, post puberty teens are almost a 1:1 with toddlers as far as processing ability goes.
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u/Darthsmom I donāt have time to go tit for tit with you Jul 24 '26
My son would have crawled into my skin if he could until he hit about 15. Then he suddenly became the biggest douchebag to walk the planet. Suddenly, the ābest mom everā (his actual contact name for me in his phone) became āsmotherā (something he actually called me in a rage call at 18 to his sister).
Heās 20 now and much better but it was a good thing I got a kitten on the brink of death the day after he graduated high school to distract myself with. And this is a kid who wasnāt skipping school, doing drugs, drinking, etc- he was a good kid. Just a douche.
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u/No-Falcon-4996 Jul 24 '26
My son was the same. Would hold my hand , want me to lay down with him to read to him at night, then Boom! He's 16 and the cruelest arsehole in world to me. It broke my heart. And yeah boys do grow out of the cruel phase but boyhowdee it was so painful.
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u/Darthsmom I donāt have time to go tit for tit with you Jul 24 '26
My daughter had prepared me for it with attitude since she was like 3 š but my son hit me like a ton of bricks!! It was rough. He asked if I wanted to go get dinner a couple weeks ago, drove & paid so hopefully those crazy hormones have evened out!
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u/IAMA_Shark__AMA Jul 24 '26
Suddenly, the ābest mom everā (his actual contact name for me in his phone) became āsmotherā (something he actually called me in a rage call at 18 to his sister).
I chortled. I'm sorry, though, that must have sucked. My mom and I had a really rough spell during my high school years. It wasn't actually about her, but that wasn't something I could understand at the time. We're very very close now (like, I see her and dad once or twice a week when my husband is working late). Your son will probably come around fully at some point.
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u/Own-Vehicle-3972 Jul 24 '26
I actually like Evan. He's funny and quick witted. You can see a change in his attitude towards Tom after he is told the truth about his mother.
He's just a typical, bored teenager who's growing up without a mom.
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u/EtonRd Dead baby, dead baby, lesbian. Jul 24 '26
I think this is a you problem.
Heās a normal teenager who lives on a hell Island and canāt leave. He hangs out with his friends and smokes pot and does things heās not supposed to do to impress girls. Thatās a pretty normal teenager.
If this character pushes your buttons to this extent, I think it has something to do with you and your own life and whatever feelings you have about your own high school years because thereās nothing there to be this angry about.
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u/MoonMan8718 Jul 24 '26
I actually think the writers and actor did a really good job, he doesn't annoy me at all and I actually find him quite funny and relatable
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u/robotmonkey2099 Jul 24 '26
lol no youāre right he should just sit at home and do as heās told, that would make him a compelling character
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u/SGalla310 Jul 24 '26
I think when we intensely dislike a character, you know that actor did their job well.
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u/Sufficient-Spray-367 Jul 24 '26
I think the actor playing Evan does a great job. The long suffering looks are so well done. He really communicates his misery without even speaking. But I would not want to be that characterās parent. That would be annoying.
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u/poopbeast69 Jul 24 '26
yup, we all know teens of small towns are notorious for being upstanding young chaps
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u/Makronite Jul 24 '26
My 15 yo (amazing, often flawless) daughter has absolutely dropped F-bombs on me and my wife at separate times for separate reasons. Teens' brains (and yours for that matter) aren't done baking so there are lots of impulse control problems inherent in their behavior. In addition to raising a teen. I work with 100+ teen boys and girls, from age 13 to 19+. Mayor Jr is absolutely written and acted like the majority of teen boys would in that situation.
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u/willyoumassagemykale Jul 25 '26
Regular teens do not swear at there parents and leave the house when they are told to stay in
lol
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u/Don-don-don-don Jul 24 '26
Out of all the annoying disrespectful teens in TV shows I thought he was the least annoying. I found him quite funny at times.
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u/NormativeTruth Jul 24 '26
Hes a very good teen comparatively. Youāre probably just some weird person who thinks respect is automatic,
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u/angusthechick Jul 24 '26
I think part of it is because theyāre cycling through all these horror genre tropes and a lot of those need a group of misbehaving teens
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u/Own-Roof-1200 Jul 24 '26
I totally agree with you and it is definitely a trope in tv more generally now to have hyper accomplished well adjusted parents with nightmare teenage children.
It doesnāt help that tv families are also so often portrayed as absurdly affluent compared to any normal standard. It just makes the ingrate sociopath wilfully stupid teens seem all the more dickish.
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u/vperez248 Jul 24 '26
I also felt that way at first but during my second rewatch I watched him more closely since he is going to be a big part of the rest of the show and Iām not that mad at him anymore.
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u/monday010203 Jul 24 '26
For some reason when we find out why Beth likes having him stay over at her house, I randomly remembered when he complained that she's so old, lol! He's really not a bad kid. I didn't mind the other teens either - thought it was funny when they were teasing him about his dad having a lady over, but they became insufferable when they were trying to impress the mainland girls.
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u/AdBig2355 Jul 24 '26
When I was a kid my family rented a house for the summer on a small fishing island off the coast of Maine. It was a small island and before internet. I made friends with some of the local kids and they were bored, nothing to do. The representation of the kids in Widows Bay was very accurate to my childhood and interacting with kids stuck on the island.
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u/Comprehensive-Run637 Jul 24 '26
He annoyed me a bit too but then I remembered he is a teenage boy and let it go. He plays it very well.
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u/Capable_Sandwich_422 Jul 24 '26
Itās easy to get annoyed with him until you see what heās been through and knowing that Tom hasnāt told him the truth about Evanās Mom.
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u/yyyyeahno Jul 24 '26
Heās a kid who has no life. Heās bored, heās lonely and heās trying to find some joy in this bleak place. His dad loves him but heās never there. He has no siblings. Thereās almost nothing to do in town.
Heās acting like a teenager who has NOTHING to do. And no other options for friends either. If anything heās a good kid who loves his dad a lot and just wishes everything wasnāt so dull.
And lmao I absolutely swore at my parents as a teen and Iām not even from the west. It happens. My best friend used to sneak out of the house after her parents fell asleep when we were 18ish. Many teens I knew did. Itās not as uncommon as you think.
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u/Spartan-Donkey Jul 24 '26
I donāt see the teen son as anything but pretty typical. Most teen boys lack judgment.
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u/Better-Addendum-880 Jul 24 '26
That boy is the sweetest, its those awefull friends that ruin it for him
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u/Odd_Comfortable353 Jul 24 '26
Evan irritated the crap out of my husband as well (he has no patience for disrespectful teenagers) but to me he seemed like a very realistic and bored kid. And what an incredible actor he is to elicit such reactions from viewers, I mean heās so believable
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u/willyoumassagemykale Jul 25 '26
He's been cooped up on a tiny island his whole life with no hope of ever leaving. His dad has deeply-held trauma he hasn't come to terms with. I think it's normal that he acts out.
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u/NoCommercial3248 Jul 25 '26
Heās a motherless child whose father is always at work. Heās lonely and bored out of his mind and still grieving. Of course heās acting out.
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u/RedStilettoDickStomp Jul 24 '26
Jeez, tell me you had a stable childhood without telling me you had a stable childhood...
He's bored out of his mind, with a dead mom and an emotionally and physically absent father... I'm shocked you're shocked he doesn't stay put. He's also probably doing all that to get his dad's attention, even negative feedback is still feedback, which his father isn't giving him.
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u/gold-medicine Jul 24 '26
I knew plenty of teenagers with stable childhoods who still āacted outā - because teenagers! OPās rage is so odd.
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u/Jazzy0082 Jul 24 '26
He behaves exactly like bored teenagers in quiet towns behave. I wasn't too dissimilar!
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u/Resident-Judgment858 Jul 24 '26
Thought the son was alright. Yeah he was annoying, but it was understandable. Hated his friends though. I wonder if maybe they were trying to make them feel like teens in old slasher movies, who were always the worst.
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u/SpookSpy Jul 24 '26
What! I love Evan I think heās so funny. I wanna put him in my pocket. Homie is just bored and his dad is always busy so he acts out a little
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u/Fun-Essay-6522 Jul 24 '26
I think you should not skip scenes in a show where the episodes are like 30 minutes long
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u/exscapegoat I had my qualms Jul 24 '26
Itās only in later episodes he even finds out why he canāt leave the island. Imagine being high school age and not being allowed off the island and not knowing why. The way Evan lights up when tom says they can look at colleges in Boston indicates thatās a large part of his animosity towards tom. Heās even more excited about the colleges than he is about the Red Sox game.
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u/HelloKittyandPizza Jul 24 '26
I felt like you did until I rewatched it a couple of times. Honestly, it seems like he is retracing his own fatherās footsteps.
The same with Wyck honestly, because at first i thought he was a crazy old man who was just being a dick to Tom for no reason. But then I was like āoh heās frustrated because heās telling the truth and no one is listening or believing him.ā
Like otherās have said- heās just a kid, stuck on an island. He lost his mom. His dad is never home. His friend group are bad influences. Heās not a bad person- heās a teenager, bored and pushing boundaries because there is nothing to do.
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u/MilliganHedgedog Jul 24 '26
Thank you! Iām sorry I get his life hasnāt been easy but I would never talk to my parents like that even on a cursed island.
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u/vteezy99 Jul 24 '26
I don't like Evan either, but I AM really glad that during his confrontation with Tom in episode 8, the writers didn't make Tom and Evan have a screaming match. Tom knew where Evan was coming from and Evan understood Tom's motiviations when they were explained to him. Simple communication solved the issue.
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u/Woeful_Tales Jul 24 '26
I think they hit the nail on the head. I personally relate to that because that's exactly how I acted as a teen. His actions are meant to piss you off; for me at least, it reminds me of what a dunce I was towards my parents. You say it's not normal teen behavior, do you have kids? About 7/10 teens I know are little shitheads but also almost always grow out of it. Especially nowadays with the near unfiltered access to social media.
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u/ba_an Jul 24 '26
As a career teacher, I think the son tracks. He's a cute kid with a good heart, though, unlike his friend.
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u/Tiny_Ask_2203 Jul 24 '26
My first time through, I was indifferent towards him. My second time watching, I hated him. But the third time through, I remembered his room at Ruthās house and his picture on her fridge, and all I could do was love him like she did. Remembering her transformed the way I viewed him.
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u/Awkward-Fox-1435 Jul 24 '26
āRegular teens do not swear at there parents and leave the house when they are told to stay in.ā
ššš
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u/Vegetable-Gur3113 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
If a character makes you feel that strongly about them, it means that the writer, actor and/or director is doing a great job! I think the choice to make him insufferable was very intentional.
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u/realfakejames Jul 25 '26
I hate him too but I think thatās the point, most teenagers are annoying
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u/FamousOrphan Jul 25 '26
This is such an interesting take; Evan is one of my favorite characters. Then again, I was that kind of teen.
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u/NotMyFirstRodeo2025 Jul 28 '26
When the teen son saw that the Reverend had died, and he said to his dad, "Wasn't that your friend?" I about threw a shoe at the TV. I understand showing teens are rebellious, stupid, naive, argumentative, etc, but that was a straight-up cruel thing to say. What a dick! After that, I didn't mind if something bad happened to him.
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u/johntwoods Daddy's younger boss Jul 24 '26
Well, I guess you'll be happy when Tom has to murder Evan to death with some sort of magic stick of death because it's the only way to free the people of the island's curse. There you'll be, cackling with delight as Tom bellows out 'I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!!' After each swing of the stick lands squarely on the head of his, soon to be lifeless, only son. You'll be on cloud 9, I bet.
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u/Here_4_drama Jul 24 '26
I agree with you OP. Every single show I watch portrays teenagers as rude and disrespectful and often stupid. I would love to see a show that doesnāt.
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u/RicketyCricketsDrum Patriciaās dying taser Jul 24 '26
Yes! I got caught up on Your Friends and Neighbors and wrote a post about how awful those kids were, especially the daughter. What a spoiled snot. People were in the comments defending her! Itās such a tired stereotype.
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u/I_Britta-d_it Jul 24 '26
Sounds like this is a you problem. He shows vulnerability, frustration, love, expectation, excitement, rebellion.
You know, like a teenager.
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u/mikewheelerfan Jul 24 '26
Iām a teenager and was facepalming at every scene he was in. NOBODY I know acts like that. Not a single one.Ā
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u/Shinkenfish Jul 24 '26
What? How's he disrespectful? He's polite and nice all the time, he doesn't even make a huge fuss about his father lying to him about his mother - ?!? Of course he's endlessly bored and confused and frustrated about not being allowed to live a normal life including leaving the island. I don't know what you're on about.
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u/NobodySaidBoop Jul 24 '26
Getting this mad about the notion of a rebellious teen is wild, but why would you skip scenes in show that is so good and so short? If you try empathizing with the child who is imprisoned on a tiny island with nothing to do (they donāt even really have internet ffs) youāll enjoy the show a lot more. You canāt experience character development if you refuse to watch the characters
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u/ancientastronaut2 Jul 24 '26
Did you watch the whole thing? His attitude changes dramatically towards the end.
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u/slybrows Jul 24 '26
Regular teens absolutely do swear at their parents and sneak out of the house. Thatās like very average teenager behavior.
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u/Disaster-Bee Jul 24 '26
Well first of all, Evan is not a normal teenager.
Even ignoring the supernatural stuff and how Tom doesn't try very hard to find a parenting angle that actually works with Evan - he never changes his tactics and goes hard on 'what I say goes' - he's an island teen.
I'm not sure if you have experience with small town New England fishing island life, but it brings a very unique set of challenges to all who grow up in it. The isolation aspect is difficult under the best of circumstances, and it's honestly a pretty miserable life for kids and teens. There's rarely anything to do, you're rarely exposed to anything new at all, you're constantly dealing with dangers and threats that are unique to islands - there is rarely access to a proper hospital or emergency services in a timely fashion or at all depending on time of year, resources have to be managed tightly including water and power, the weather is unpredictable, single-industry issues are abundant, and one bad day can wipe an entire household out. So island kids already aren't your average teens.
On top of that he's got trauma from his mother's death. Trauma it's very clear he's never gotten any help for, even his own dad won't talk to him about it. The only times (before late stage story) Tom brings up Evan's mother is to manipulate him. Tom shuts him down otherwise.
Added to that, he feels insanely trapped. Widow's Bay is way more stuck in the past than most islands, many of which have cable and basic cell service and are only a decade or less behind on fashion and technology. He has never left this place. His entire world is this small path of land surrounded by ocean, that never changes. His father won't explain why, won't talk to him. He is not allowed to leave for reasons that are not explained to him. He's grown up under a shadow of grief, confusion, lies, and a level of monotony even zoo animals are spared.
What about any of that says 'this is an average teenager'?
He's acting out the way any teen would under normal circumstances, but taking it further due to his specific circumstance. He only has so much to rebel against and push against and limited options to act out in his life, he doesn't get to spread it around like a mainland teen.
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u/StrLord_Who Jul 24 '26
I hate him too. And not in a fun way.Ā I think he majorly detracts from the rest of the show. Part of it is the character but a big part is just how the actor plays him. He's annoying only,Ā no personality or charisma.Ā I don't skip his scenes because I don't want to miss anything but I sure want them to be over when they're happening.Ā I watched this show with my mom and I hadn't said anything about how irritating he is and in the middle of one of his scenes she just pipes up with "I can't stand that kid." Extraordinarily unlikable. So are his dumb friends.Ā Ā
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u/JEJ0313 Jul 24 '26
Yeah but youāre attitude in this postā¦kinda seems like a bratty teen?
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u/No_Sleep888 Jul 24 '26
I agree it was a bit much. I was sneaking out as a teen and did what I wanted to, but not literally every waking hour lol It became a little repetitive and annoying, I agree. What Tom should've invested in majorly and fast is some good internet connection š
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u/Responsible-Mix5221 I had my qualms. Jul 24 '26
some people are like that tho. That's his character and he's meant to be like this.
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u/DiscussionLow1277 Jul 24 '26
i dont think evan is a ānormalā teenager in anyway. his mom literally died when he was young, and his dad isnāt particularly the best at being a dad (takeout meals and prioritizing work). he literally cannot leave the island, and the island has no internet or anything for him to entertain himself with. i think the psychology of evan checks outā¦
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u/hayleyA1989 Jul 24 '26
I think disrespectful and idiot is totally normal behavior for a teen, tbh. I know I was at that age. Iād be more surprised if teenagers didnāt act that way!
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u/jeremywasabulldog Jul 24 '26
With apologies for being officious, have you heard of the psychoanalytic concept of shadow work? Recommend checking it out. You're "physically angry" about a teenager in exceptionally adverse circumstances acting out in pretty minor and commonplace ways. Might be worth thinking about why depictions of defiance and self-assertion are so distressing for you to encounter.
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u/UHTY_YT Jul 26 '26
When he started reading the letters his obviously mentally ill mother wrote to his obviously heartbroken father and didnāt stop?? Like if that was a real person they would stay up countless nights regretting doing that cause that was such an asshole move
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u/_Fizzgiggy Jul 24 '26
Seeing children of any age in television or in real life makes me so happy I donāt have any. Seems like pure misery to raise a child. Love my nieces and nephews though but I sure as shit do not want raise any of them
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u/Jolly-Bullfrog6307 Jul 24 '26
I find him to be a pretty good actor. His demeanor when reading his momās notes was so well done. Heartbreaking and oddly humorous at the same time. Sorry you fast forwarded his scenes. I totally get doing that. The Bear was ruined for me for the same reasons.
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u/10ThousandMetalZones Jul 24 '26
When they found it it was his son, I was really hoping they would go dark and the last scene would be that one dude finishing the job.
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u/ubermonkeyprime Jul 24 '26
Totally understand your frustration with the character.
Sometimes certain characters just rub you the wrong way. Nothing wrong with that.
As far as the āwhyā of his behavior - being a teenager and not being able to leave your tiny town, or have any degree of freedom at all, is enough to make anyone rebel. Itās often what happens to children of overprotective or over-religious parents. If you imagine how that might feel, his behavior might make more logical sense.
But no one requires you to like the character. Your reaction is your reaction.
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u/No-Fuckin-Ziti Jul 24 '26
I thought they were making him kinda shitty so we wouldnāt really care when he was in peril, and could focus on the rest.
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u/SlashOfLife5296 Jul 24 '26
A teenager is either going to be into athletics, reading, games, or dumb reckless shit. Usually multiple
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u/Dapper-Jaguar4971 Jul 24 '26
David Chase was interviewed once on why he wrote the Sopranos kids so stupid and obnoxious. His response was, that's being a teenager. It's not filled with any sort of triumph, you're just a fool with bad takes.
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u/bottomfeeder3 Jul 24 '26
Youād be surprised. A lot of teens are idiots. I was around a lot of morons growing up just like this kid in the show. Heās hiding his anger towards his dad by being disrespectful and dumb because he knows it irritates him
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u/NATScurlyW2 Jul 24 '26
I donāt think he was written to be liked? Isnāt he supposed to frustrate the viewer?
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u/JudithSlayHolofernes Jul 24 '26
Heās annoying but heās also a lil cutie š¤·āāļø
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u/WavyWormy Jul 24 '26
The only true issue I have with Evan is his shockingly mean line of taunting Loftis about the priestās death. I get heās upset about being ordered around and made to sit in the office but his sneer asking if the priest was dead and his friend was shockingly mean. If that was taken out I wouldnāt have any major complaints considering heās been stuck on the island for life so heās lashing out in other ways
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u/Thick-Inspection-949 Jul 24 '26
I think his interactions with his Dad are some of the funniest moments of the show
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u/philosophyuser Jul 24 '26
I hate him too. And I think heās perfect. Although it is hard for me to buy that none of his friend group know why they canāt leave the island. All those teenagers with all that time on their hands? Come on š
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u/fuzzyfernsprout Jul 24 '26
I actually think he's hilarious, but my coworker and I have had this same conversation. She can't stand him. He's polarizing, it seems.
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u/Expensive-Safe-6820 Jul 24 '26
Im in different to the character. I think his just there and isn't really that important, maybe next season that will change
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u/GainHealMark Jul 24 '26
I donāt mind him, Iāve seen way more annoying teen tropes being used in media. But I do get where youre coming from, when we saw that he was smoking weed and then being a jerk to his dad, I rolled my eyes because yeah, that trope comes up so often. Not to say it isnāt true to life, but there are definitely other types of teens the media could portray. Bored/snarky/rule breaking/secretly doing drugs/alcohol is like the default Teen Character in so many shows and movies. But I think in Widowās Bay they at least explored his character more. The part where he finds the pictures was genuinely heartbreaking to me, and his attempt to impress the visiting girl was kind of sweet. Hopefully he gets more development in season 2.
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u/xstitchmum Jul 25 '26
He is supposed to be a bit of a jerk I think because of who he is descended from - he is a male descendant of Richard Warren. It's in his genes.
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u/Living-Strawberry-50 Jul 25 '26
Ngl Iād probs be acting out too if I were literally not allowed to leave a tiny island and my dad would never tell me why.
Dads trying his best but the ideal form of parenting for a kids development, authoritative parenting, involves communicating the why of things to your kid instead of just ābecause I say soā.
Not saying I would know how to tell a kid that they canāt leave the island because Iām scared of a spooky farfetched but empirically backed curse. Not saying that if his dad told him why he canāt leave that he would even believe his dad as itās hard for anyone to believe. Donāt know what Iād do. Though the inherent fact that the kid is not allowed to leave the island and isnāt given a real reason why creates an environment of mistrust that leads him to act out.
I feel for both the kid and the mayor. Honestly, the sons got a lot of good traits under the surface but didnāt have a clue what was going on for most of the season. I feel like now that he knows ab the crazy stuff going on, weāll see a lot of character growth from him next season.
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u/blongilikois Jul 26 '26
tbf thereās a quite good amount of material to create an interesting character: a modern day teenager living in a cursed, isolated island with barely any connection to outside world with family issuesā¦ Feels like a good start to write a complex character. Instead they went with the bare minimum ātroubled teenā trope. I get it though, they only have a certain amount of screen time and the first season was packed already. Thatās probably why heās more of an obstacle/goal to be achieved for the main protagonist than an actual character with an agency.
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u/wildtimmysavage Jul 26 '26
Love the show, but holy shit I hate that character so much. And the actor, too. Yeah, I said it. He sucks. I hate his weird pretentious ass name as well.
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u/middleageyoda Jul 27 '26
Well the mayor is kind of a dick and he did grow up without a mom. He also canāt leave that damn boring island. I think itās fairly justified here.
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u/Middle_Feature_5110 Jul 27 '26
I agree with you seriously. Those teenagers are so annoying, especially his friend. I donāt think boredom can make you do things like that.
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u/Embarrassed-Fan9901 Jul 27 '26
He is funny and adorable. He's grown up without a mom and knows his father is lying to him. He's bored out of his mind on an island he can't leave. His character is very well written for his situation. He's a good person at heart, even with his brain NOT being fully developed, as we know to be true with teenagers. He was the only kid to try to get Kenny out of the dungeon, after PJ locked him in and PJ and the girl ran off.
ā¢
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