Did you watch this fakokta show?

I have a policy. If Felice wants to watch something, I will give it a shot, assuming the show has high Rotten Tomatoes ratings and is fully available.

“Widow’s Bay” has EXCELLENT Rotten Tomatoes ratings, 98/93, and you know I’ll watch anything that exceeds 80. And, it finished last night, the tenth episode aired June 17th.

God help you if you took two months to watch this show week by week. I’d be tearing my hair out, waiting for a big reveal… There is a bit of a buildup, but then, in classic non-American streaming style, there’s not complete resolution because they’re setting it up for a second season!

So what we’ve got here is Keri Russell’s husband, Matthew Rhys, as mayor of an island off the Maine coast, Widow’s Bay. Who would’a thunk that Felicity would turn into one of our finest actresses, starring in A-level product like “The Diplomat”? And she met Rhys doing another great series, “The Americans,” and now I pay attention to him too.

So the bottom line is Widow’s Bay is haunted.

So this is a horror show, right?

Well, that’s something you’re debating from square one, you’re flummoxed by the tone. Am I supposed to be scared or should I be laughing? Should I take this seriously?

Rhys wants to increase tourism, but many residents believe the island is haunted. Is it?

Well, it appears that it is. And they even go back hundreds of years, they spend an entire episode delineating the curse, with Betty Gilpin as a mail order bride and… It’s so whacked. Just coming up with this. I give the producers credit, but I’m not exactly sure how it all fits together.

And in many ways it doesn’t. But there are episodes.

Actually, there are two…

One involves Kate O’Flynn as Patricia Moyer, Rhys’s assistant. O’Flynn looks like a cross between Illeana Douglas and Shelley Duvall. She’s got a bit of a weak chin, and she’s not classically beautiful, but she’s dedicated to her job, you can count on her…

But she’s an outcast. The hip group of girls she grew up with on the island want nothing to do with her. This is such a great demonstration of this paradigm…

That’s how the world works. There are insiders and outsiders. And some of these outsiders are happy in their backwaters, but a lot of these outsiders just wish they could be in the inside group.

But they don’t understand the inside group dynamics. Which are based on groupthink, usually signaled by a leader. You fawn and get along, color outside the lines and you’re ostracized.

And then there are those who are aware they’re not in the hip group, but they just can’t understand why, like Patricia.

So she stumbles on a book that says if you throw a party you’ll be popular and… If you ever went to high school, you’ll wince. Assuming you were not one of the insiders.

And then there’s the episode with the shaman. This is utterly hysterical. I mean I couldn’t stop laughing (and at certain other times in this show too, when it wasn’t flat or I wasn’t scared or…) The mayor and Patricia and Wyck go to see Chris Fleming as Todd O’Connor, because they want to know about the mushrooms the pastor ate…

Oh, you’ve been there. But this is on an island! The guy with the long hair, with a drawer full of drugs, and the jargon…

This isn’t dark drug dealer. This guy isn’t about earning millions, but enlightenment. Just talk to someone who’s done ayahuasca. They describe a religious experience. And it’s all led by a shaman, like this guy. They take it so seriously, as if they have the answer and you don’t. But this is played for laughs, and I was more than chuckling, tears were nearly coming to my eyes.

And those episodes, #4 and #5, “Beach Reads” and “What to Expect on Your Trip,” are worth the price of your time. I thought they were a turn in the arc, that the series had hit its stride, sometimes it takes a few episodes to find the groove. But this was not the case.

So, if you start this show and it feels a bit dry, if it doesn’t strike your funny bone or maintain your interest or…

STOP!

I do not even recommend you start. Despite the hype, stay away from this show, you will want your time back.

And I’m scratching my head… Does everything on Apple get a pass? Is this the Emperor’s New Clothes? I mean the creators were taking some risks, but that does not mean the end result is worth it.

What did you think?