The Boroughs and Widow’s Bay

I’ve recently watched two shows that reminded me why I enjoy television when it gets the balance right. A bit strange, a bit funny, a little emotional, and filled with characters you actually want to keep watching.

The first is The Boroughs.

And honestly, how refreshing is it to see older people at the centre of a supernatural mystery?

We are so used to seeing the younger ones running around in shows like Stranger Things, cycling through small towns, solving mysteries, being brave, being reckless, and somehow saving the world before dinner. So there was something deeply satisfying about watching older characters investigate what was happening in their own town.

The Boroughs follows a group of retirees in what should be a peaceful retirement community in the New Mexico desert. But, of course, peace never lasts long on television. Strange things begin to happen, and suddenly this group of older residents have to work together to figure out what is really going on.

I loved that.

The acting was genuinely lovely to watch too. Alfred Molina brings so much warmth and sadness to Sam Cooper, and Geena Davis is always a joy on screen. The whole cast made the story feel lived-in, not gimmicky. Even Mother.

And yes, I saw the ball drop on the kind of person the CEO might be. Because apparently no retirement community, however peaceful, is safe from a man with such impeccable grooming!

Then there is Widow’s Bay.

Gosh, where do I even start?

This one is great. Truly. I’m still not entirely sure whether it is horror with comedy in it, or comedy that wandered too far into horror and decided to stay there. Widow’s Bay is set in a strange New England island town where the mayor, Tom Loftis, played by Matthew Rhys, is trying to keep things together while the town’s curse, legends, and general weirdness keep making life difficult. It has monsters, slashers, old women who likes to sit on people’s faces, town gossip, grief, absurdity, strange rituals, and the kind of small-town energy where everyone seems to know too much and not enough at the same time. And the people also make really questionable choices!

The cast is so believable, which is important because the show itself is completely ridiculous in the best way. Matthew Rhys makes Tom feel tired, haunted, funny, and oddly sincere all at once. Stephen Root as Wyck is exactly the kind of person you expect to find in a cursed town. A man who seems like he has either lost the plot or knows the plot better than everyone else. Dale Dickey brings that wonderful sharp presence she always has. Hamish Linklater as Richard Warren, the founder of the island played the role as it should be. You know him from Gen V, Elsbeth and Midnight Mass. And then there is Kate O’Flynn as Patricia.

Patricia! What a character.

She is awkward, sharp, loyal, strange, funny, brave, and somehow completely believable in a world where nothing feels normal. She is such a badass, and I mean that in the most affectionate way. Every time she appears, the show becomes even better.

(And confession: every time someone says “Patricia,” my brain still does a small detour back to James McAvoy in Split, cycling through his wardrobe of alters, one of them a prim, watchful woman named Patricia. Completely different show, completely different register, but that’s the first Patricia who ever lodged herself in my head, and Kate O’Flynn’s Patricia has now very politely shoved her aside.)

And poor Ruth. I am still waiting to see what becomes of her. Poor sheriff Bechir too. There is something about the way the show balances funny moments with genuinely unsettling ones that keeps you curious. One minute you are laughing, the next minute you are thinking, “Wait, should I be worried?”

I also have to say, Widow’s Bay has made me curious enough to consider visiting a place like it. For one day. In daylight. With transport/ferry arranged. And absolutely no overnight stay!

Both shows worked for me because they gave me something I enjoy: characters who feel human even when the story around them is strange. The Boroughs gave me older people solving a mystery with warmth, charm and engineering. Widow’s Bay gave me horror, comedy, grief, chaos, and Patricia being Patricia.