Aahana Swrup
‘Widow’s Bay’ episode 3 finds the protagonist, Tom Loftis, the mayor of the titular town, still in deep denial about the apparent supernatural reality of his town. He all but puts the spooky encounters with the fog and the killer clown in the back of his head as he barrels toward a new chapter in his town’s history: one full of tourists. In fact, this newfound traffic in the Bay proves to be beneficial for Tom’s personal life as well, as his paths cross with a woman named Marissa. However, around the same time, he also has a less-pleasant encounter with an elderly woman, who may or may not be a haunting spirit known as the Sea Hag. Thus, caught between his own denial and the undeniable evidence of the ghostly target on his back, Tom has no choice but to seek help from Wyck, the town’s resident conspiracy theorist. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Tom Loftis Meets a Lost Tourist and a Lost Soul
After Tom’s interview with the New York Times travel writer, Widow’s Bay effectively gets put on the map as a scenic summer-y town to vacation at. As a result, many new faces become patrons to the town’s various establishments, even its historical society, which houses all the weird history surrounding the seaside community. During his morning commute to work, the mayor runs into one of these tourists, who is a little lost thanks to the spotty phone signal and vandalized street signs around. Naturally, Tom offers her a ride, which she accepts after some hesitation. The tourist, Marissa, is in town for a bachelorette party, and after some small talk, showcases interest in possibly seeing the mayor again.
Likewise, Tom is equally interested in getting to know the woman better. Still, he’s less-than-eager to let his nosy colleagues catch whiff of the same. Yet, he’s no good at keeping such secrets, and even his son manages to figure him out once he returns home. Thus, when he announces his plans to visit the local dive bar, where he and Marissa have tentative plans of running into each other, Evan remains suspicious. However, in the end, the night proves to be a disappointment when Tom arrives at the bar and finds himself alone. Worse yet, on his drive back home, he spots an elderly woman. Yet, unlike Marissa, this woman proves to be much more hostile and even scratches the mayor’s arm before he manages to escape.
Tom Learns About the Sea Hag, Killer of Sailors
The next day, Tom shares his bizarre encounter with the town Sheriff Bechir as well as his colleagues, none of whom take him much seriously. That is, except for Rosemary, who tells the mayor about another one of the scary folktales embedded in the town’s history. The Sea Hag is believed to target men, usually lonely sailors. According to the legend, she marks them via scratch. Once she has the target’s skin under her fingernails, she can track him down and eventually kill him. Tom, ever the skeptic, refuses to believe this version. In fact, when the local doctor advises him against going in the water with the cut, he even decides to disregard that advice.
The inaugural swim is simply too important an affair for Tom. The swim is a unique tradition of the Bay, where the mayor takes the first swim of the season in the ocean to prove to everyone that the weather is safe. The public’s general mistrust of the ocean comes from the town’s varied history with different types of disasters. Given their new tourism numbers, Tom wants to ensure that the inauguration goes seamlessly. Of course, that isn’t the case, given the town’s love affair with technological issues. Yet, Tom’s biggest problem finds him in the ocean, where he spies the likeness of the Sea Hag. Although the mayor makes it back to the shore in one piece, without any of the onlookers noticing anything out of the ordinary, the encounter spooks Tom out for good.
Tom’s Dinner With Marissa Ends on a Sobering Note
After the encounter with the Sea Hag in the ocean, Tom finds himself in an entirely unexpected position: asking Wyck for help. Now that the spirit has come after him twice, he cannot deny its presence. For the same reason, he needs expert help on the topic. Yet, this ends up being too eccentric. Once Wyck realizes what is happening, he tells the mayor the story about the Sea Hag. Nonetheless, Tom loses all patience when the other man gets to the part about how the spirit kills sailors by sitting on their faces. Still, before he storms out, Wyck manages to tell him about one solution. The Hag’s target can lock himself in a chest to wait out the curse since she won’t be able to track him anymore after the cut heals.
Back home, Evan tells Tom about a phone call from Marissa in which she invited his father to dinner at the Driftwood. The mayor ends up going and has a great time with the tourist. Yet, once the night begins to come to an end, he has to decline her offer of moving the evening to his house. Although he uses Patricia’s sunset cocktail event as an excuse, it’s clear that the Hag’s curse is the real reason behind his hesitation. In fact, later, once Marissa finds herself outside Tom’s door, as a final nudge from her friends, the mayor refuses to open the door. As it turns out, he has convinced himself that Marissa isn’t actually real and is instead just a manifestation of the Hag.
In the end, Marissa, who had genuinely been interested in Tom, leaves, while the latter stays out in his own home, expecting a visit from the Hag. Eventually, when the visit comes, he’s entirely too unprepared to put up much of a fight. Fortunately, he had listened to some of Wyck’s advice and created an enclosure for himself in the bathtub. Nonetheless, he can only remain hidden from the hag for so long. Still, before she can get her claws in him, help arrives in the form of Wyck with a shotgun. Ultimately, the Hag is blown up into smithereens, and Tom’s life is saved. However, as an ominous police alert arrives about a disaster at Patricia’s cocktail event, it seems danger isn’t entirely off the horizon.
Read More: Is Widow’s Bay Based on a True Story?
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