Widow's Bay season 1 episode 4 reaction and review: Did Patricia lie about the boogeyman?

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Hey and welcome to Matt and Jess TV. I am Matt Rose >> and I'm Jessica Bun Bun.

[00:00:05]>> This is our reaction and review for Widows Bay season 1 episode 4. This show has done just this brilliant job of continuing to surprise all of us. And I don't just mean with the horror elements and the twists and all of that. I really thought after the first three episodes that every single time we watch this show, it would be all right. Let's see what sort of trouble Tom's gonna get into this week. And how much is he in this episode? Maybe a minute, if that.

[00:00:33]>> I was shocked that he wasn't really in this episode. But the thing that the show had been pulling me along with is that every episode there's some kind of explanation kind of for some of the supernatural stuff that's been going on.

[00:00:50]But this episode, I was just like, was it the punch? and everybody's having sort of the same visions. Like I did not I don't know what is going on now. It's starting to actually feel like there's something supernatural happening.

[00:01:05]>> Yeah, I am clinging for dear life on the edge of the cliff when it comes to this where I feel like there's a very good chance that is the case that this is supernatural. I'm going to try in this video guys to rationalize some things to the best of my ability. It is not going to be easy. We will throw that out there right from the jump.

[00:01:25]>> No, this episode makes it very hard for us non-believers where we think that it's the town that's all in on it or some of the town is in on it and some of the rest of the town's just kind of getting gassed up into thinking that all of this is true. Yeah. But this episode definitely made it a lot harder for me to look away from the idea that there could be something supernatural happening here. And honestly, I hope that there is. I mean, it's more fun when there's actually the boogeyman and all these different things happening than just it's a bunch of people doing it.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah, I think it's fun if it's supernatural, but there's still some rules to the supernatural where, you know, there have to be limits to what we see, how far the town we can go, because then there is a little bit more tension being added in. I also just love it when a show much like a clown has shown up on Widow's Bay already in these episodes. A clown has also showed up to pie me in the face because I was on here in these first three episodes chirping about this big brain tinfoil hat idea that Patricia may actually just be dead this entire time. But I I think that's officially off the books now, guys.

[00:02:35]>> I think it's off the books. And I mean, yeah, you definitely had a good idea. I thought I mean I went back and was looking I was like this could be a thing but after this episode it feels like this is not a thing.

[00:02:48]>> No. And that's okay. Like there's a lot of mystery still in here. Some really really dark content. Also a little bit of comedy that we'll get into at some point in this video. But before we go any further here, be sure to hit that subscribe button because we want you guys to be a part of our greater sunsets cocktails videos every single week. And unlike Patricia's party, we want everyone to be here having a good time and talking all about the show in the comments.

[00:03:15]>> Yeah, no punch is being served here with our cocktail hour. But also join our YouTube memberships over there right now. We have a theory video for Widows Bay talking all about Tom's wife and what really has happened to her. So be sure to join those memberships here on YouTube. It really helps Matt and I out a lot.

[00:03:35]>> Yeah, it really, really does. and we are very very much grateful for that.

[00:03:39]>> Okay, speaking of clowns, I really liked how this episode opened with Patrician her bookmobile and she's got a box and what's at the bottom of this box? A Stephen King book.

[00:03:51]>> They just have homages a top of homages on this show. I mean, we we've talked a little bit about that already. I mean, it makes sense. Coastal New England town.

[00:04:01]>> Yeah. Here's the thing, too. I actually started to believe that she was dead at the beginning of this episode. She's sitting by herself. She's being ignored.

[00:04:11]No one sees her. People passing her by.

[00:04:13]She picks up this book or this box and inside the Stephen King novel. And then a fly started like buzzing around her.

[00:04:21]And I was like, "She's dead. She's dead.

[00:04:23]This is it. This is confirmed." But yeah, I'm off that train now. Well, there there was another good reason to think that too because I mean books are I guess increasingly popular now because there's some corners of Tik Tok that are really embracing them. But at the same time, has anyone out there heard of a mobile library in 2026? Like the closest thing I can think of are like those take a book, leave a book things that >> take a book, leave a book.

[00:04:48]>> I know. Like they're so they're so adorable. But it's I've never experienced one of these in my life.

[00:04:52]We're in the era where you could just bring your Kindle everywhere. And so I was thinking, all right, is this a little bit outdated? But then again, it's Widow's Bay. Technology is not altogether rampant. Like it could make sense to have something like that in this community.

[00:05:05]>> There's something weird going on with time and this show. We in the, you know, the first episode everything with Shep.

[00:05:13]We had Tom looking at his chart and it said that he's 37. And then we had Wick say something about how time is moving differently here on the island. And then we had what I thought was just a passing joke between Tom and Patricia where she was telling her story about the boogeyman and what happened to her to Tom and Tom was like, "Oh, I've already heard this." And she's like, "Oh, man. I I still sleep with my dresser up against the door." And he's like, "Well, you know, this boogeyman was after teenagers. You're 40." And she reacted really badly to it. And at first I was like, "Oh, well, it's just a haha age joke." But with all the other age things that's going on, I'm like, what is the time in this? We in a flat circle.

[00:05:59]>> Okay, this is >> what's happening with time on this island.

[00:06:02]>> There's two different things that could be possibilities in my brain right now.

[00:06:06]One of them is that yeah, we're experiencing another sort of supernatural phenomena here where it is a true detective flat circle. Whether it is characters moving in a different sort of timeline, but it may also just be this weird sort of in joke where if you visited a lot of these island communities before, a lot of locals talk about this. There's this idea of, oh, we kind of live on island time where everything moves at a little bit of a different pace. Is this just a play on that? That feels a little bit too simple to say that though.

[00:06:36]>> Yeah. With how weird this show is and some of the things even that were going on in this episode where she finds this book and she's going to plan a party and when she is at this party that she's planned, she's dressed like she's still a teen. She's got a little crown on. I was just like something is really odd. I don't know if it's she's just kind of stuck in that way or if there's something else going on where maybe she actually is still a teen.

[00:07:07]>> Well, yeah, this is the thing. I I'm saying this as a frequent purveyor of hats here where at the same time, when was the last time any of us put on a crown that was not one at Burger King or two when you get those paper hats when you go to Crispy Cream and they're just on the tables everywhere? now or like a bachelorette party or something like that. It is something that made me feel like teenager.

[00:07:31]>> Everything in this episode basically from the moment that book arrives on it all felt off. And I think a great leadup question here is I want to know from everybody when did you first realize oh something is wrong with this book? Cuz to me it was you open that page and it says list the good things about yourself and then list the bad things about yourself and it's like six lines longer than the good things. I'm not saying I have like the greatest sense of selfworth in the universe here but I know well enough I've read some self-help books. The moment I saw that I would be like all right this book is not for me. It is intentionally making me hate myself.

[00:08:07]>> Okay. The moment that I realized something was definitely wrong with this book and it went by like a blink. If you blinked, you missed it. They were like scanning down these two pages where it's like, oh, how to host the perfect party.

[00:08:22]You got people having, you know, a drink and sharing some food. And then down in the corner is this woman sitting at a couch and there are these lines that are on the table. And if you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about. Why was that in that book? I couldn't believe I saw what I saw. I had to rewind. I was like, "Oh, I did see that. This isn't right. Something's not right.

[00:08:45]>> Can we preemptively nominate the propmaster on Widow's Bay for an Emmy?

[00:08:50]Because everything in this book was amazing. It was >> that was incredible. You also had this sketch of the human body that was a few pages in. I saw that and I WAS JUST LIKE, WHAT is this? Is weird.

[00:09:02]>> Am I in sixth grade when you're teaching you how everything works?

[00:09:06]>> Yes. And that again, this is where the whole like is she still a teenager? We had her wearing a crown, putting together a party that the popular kids didn't want to be at because they're having their own popular party where they're inviting everybody but her and somebody invites her as sort of just a in passing and she shows up to the cool kids party. Nobody wants her there. I was like, "This feels like I'm living in a high school." And I know that they're in a smaller community and they do finally get to the meat of it where this group of girls is like, "Listen, you have been telling people that you have had a runin with the boogeyman that you just hid under the bed and he totally didn't think to look for you there." But our friends actually got killed and they were hiding in places like the dryer, like places that they really were hiding that he really had to look for them. So, you're lying. So, let's talk about that.

[00:10:07]>> All right.

[00:10:08]>> Is Patricia lying about this or has something else happened?

[00:10:14]>> I don't think she's lying. I I think she's telling the truth. And this is where I've kind of wrapped my head around this a little bit. Like ironically, this is something that you've talked about in From and I don't want to spoil that show, but there's a character over on from who is left alive in the midst of this, you know, terrible circumstance and they were sort of left alive to tell the tale. And I would think if you are some sort of boogeyman or terrible entity, if you have been studying at least this community for some time, it feels like Patricia was probably an outsider at that point anyway. And as terrible as it is, this is sort of another fate similar to death where you leave her alive to explain what happened, but nobody's ever going to believe her. She's somebody who clearly cares a lot about validation and feeling supported and cared for by these other people in the town. Now, and if you want to say, and you know, like I said earlier, we both have our suspicions about time with this show.

[00:11:11]Even if you wanted to say that things were moving forward in real time here, what happened with this boogeyman clearly stunted Patricia in a way where she was never able to move forward, which is why she's still in this state versus some of the other people, I guess, her former classmates. They act more adult in some ways, but also not.

[00:11:31]They also still seem very immature and chatty and willing to talk bad about her when she's a few feet away.

[00:11:37]>> Yeah, they're really being nasty still.

[00:11:40]And I know that sometimes, you know, bad girls like that will grow up and be bad women and talk crap about people and they just will never stop and they'll just keep on pushing that person down all the way till the end of time. So, is it then that they're also sort of stunted in that way? I don't know. But for her, I do think that she saw the boogeyman. I do think that she was left alive to tell the tale that boogeymen really like the, you know, the fables and the lors. They're living off your fear, right? And they're living off your grief and and sorrow and all these bad things. That's why we've got this book, which I think is also tied to the boogeyman as well. I think that boogeyman left this book for her to just push her down that hole even further and further and further and further so that it can continue to have a hold on her because it feeds off of fear like Pennywise or any of these other sort of entities.

[00:12:45]>> Yeah. And I think what happened with this boogeyman, no matter what we want to explain it away as, that experience put Patricia in this mindset of all right, no one's ever going to love or appreciate me no matter how hard I work at it. Like, we see her going heads over just to be around Tom, try to support Tom, driving him around. Like, I do think we have a good explanation now as to why she's sort of like picking him up at the hotel and all this other stuff she really doesn't need to be doing.

[00:13:14]like she just really wants that adoration, that love, no matter what kind of love you want to classify that as. I I think she is so desperate for it that she will do anything.

[00:13:25]>> Absolutely anything. I mean, we learned in the last episode that maybe there's some sort of romantic feelings there for her as well. So, her being insecure, having feelings for him, Yeah. driving him around and wanting some sort of friendship or anything there. It, you know, really paid off in this episode a lot when she is wandering down the road and they stop the car and Tom gets out and it's like, "Hey, get in."

[00:13:50]>> It's so interesting how a show like this can draw emotion out of you from things that aren't even that scary. Like, I'll admit this. I'll do a brief story time here. I had a birthday party. I think I was 13 or 14. I was in this age of where I was thinking, "All right, I want to make some new friends. I want to get some new people at my birthday party." I had this birthday party. I invited seven people. Only one person came and they were 3 hours late. I was so like all of that. I just dug all that back up when we saw Patricia looking at that guest list and there were only a few people that were there. And then in the early going of this episode, yeah, it seems like Patricia may have done some very, very bad things. We will get to that a little bit later. But in the early going, I just think because I had that experience, I was so uncomfortable watching it and I just felt so terrible for her.

[00:14:37]>> I also had an experience like this. So when I was in grade school, there was a girl in my class that invited the entire class to a party except for me.

[00:14:47]>> That sucks.

[00:14:48]>> Oh, it sucked. I felt horrible. So, I was feeling in my feelings about this whole situation with Patricia as well that she had gone through so much. And like as the party was going on and people were showing up, as soon as the bachelorette party showed up, I still felt like everything was real and just kind of actually turning the tide for her because I was like, "Oh, of course there's a bachelor party here. A bachelor party. There's only two bars in town and so one's got some guy's party and one's got this going on." So, why wouldn't they just show up here and be like, "Yeah, we're having fun wherever we are. Cool. This is great."

[00:15:25]>> Yeah. This is another big question.

[00:15:27]Like, when did the wheels start to turn in everybody's head that something was off here? Because I I tried to play this out. I mean, in the early going, it definitely felt real leading up to my favorite laugh out loud part of the episode is when the tourists go up to the doctor and the doctor's like, "I'm off the clock." And then the woman next to the doctor starts like, "Well, I've got a story about my leg." It was so messed up and I could totally see somebody just wanting to talk about their various ailments. But at that point, I thought, "Okay, this is 100% real." I started having questions when Chris and the other like popular women started to show up where I was thinking, "Well, why do you guys even here?" But I guess they were there just because they wanted to make Patricia feel really bad about it.

[00:16:10]>> Yeah. And they were trying to and we had that confrontation and all that. So, I mean, that was all making sense for me.

[00:16:17]It all started to come together when the popular girls were starting to be really positive about Patricia all of a sudden and it was fast again. It was another thing that if you blink you miss it where every you they're kind of panning around the whole party and everyone's like dancing and having a great time and then in the mirror you see everybody just with their mouths open staring and it went by so fast again I had to rewind and I was like what is going on in that mirror? I don't understand. Is this what's actually happening? This is such a creep show.

[00:16:51]>> It is 100% a creep show. And I think this show, like we've tried to rationalize things as real, they're really putting us in the position of at times Tom this season where we're all starting to get sort of confused and paranoid. Like on paper, it feels like a lot of this comes down to the punch because you have this pivotal moment where she decides because of the book, oh now it's time for the punch. And in the aftermath of the punch, everything starts to really ramp up. People start going crazy. You know, there's a lot of like celebration. She's just on the dance floor dancing by herself.

[00:17:24]Everybody's got like this huge circle around her.

[00:17:27]>> Yeah. So, by the time they've all left and they're down at the water and all their mouths are open, they're all going in to whatever's going to happen to them. Nothing great. and she's, you know, trying to throw that book into the huge bonfire and finally she gets it there and everybody's released from this curse or spell or whatever is going on.

[00:17:47]Yeah.

[00:17:47]>> I was just like, could it still be just the punch? Like I know there's this moment where, you know, we have the sheriff come in, she's got these antlers on her head and all this alter all set up and everything and she I think was doing these things. But was it that or did she put something in the punch?

[00:18:07]>> This is very very difficult to rationalize. So here we go. We're going to try our best everybody. So a lot of Widow's Bay seems to be about unpacking what characters have gone through and sort of psychoanalyzing what they would be susceptible to. Like I think with Tom, we saw this a lot in episode three. He constantly wants to help people feel important. you know, we spend some time with this, you know, tourist who shows up and everything kind of ran. And so for Patricia, like she seems to be very, very much intent on, okay, I really need to get people to love me. And so this idea of having a book that exists in this town that would send her down this road where maybe what we are seeing in the book is not exactly what's in the book, but just sort of projections as to what, you know, what Patricia is seeing within that book. And it's causing her to act in this way that is completely unhinged and then that does lead to something with the punch where maybe she does put something in the punch. But okay, here we go everybody. It's time to talk about my f my my favorite character to talk about every single week. One, two, three.

[00:19:15]Dale. All right, so Dale just so happens to be at this party. And >> yes, he is.

[00:19:22]>> Our guy Jeff Pillar, who is never playing a good guy, we always have to be suspicious of him. And as hilarious as it was that he did not have the adfree plan for his music, I mean, that's a perfect way to kind of disarm all of us, he could have easily done something with this punch bowl. Like, he's easily very much around Patricia all the time at work. If there's somebody who would know the sort of things that would set her off, you've talked a lot about how there could be a lot of people in Widow's Bay who are working to kind of sabotage everything.

[00:19:52]>> Dale is one of them. He is high up on my list of the people that are all working together with Wick at the top of this. I don't think the whole town is in on it, but I do think that there's a core group of people that are all part of it and somebody has to be working in Tom's office that is part of it and it is Dale.

[00:20:14]>> How do you have Jeff Hiller on the show and you're not using him as much as you should be? It's Dale.

[00:20:19]>> Yeah. It just feels like Dale in one shape or form here is involved. Like it just it can't be a coincidence that like he is the person who was really around for the entire party. He never really despite having no knowledge or understanding of how to be a DJ. He doesn't really sherk at the responsibility here. He is just sort of like you know what I'll take it on. I'll do it no matter what. He's present for the whole ordeal. now as to why everyone is showing the same exact behavior patterns. Like if Dale is behind that, he would have to very very much know that, okay, this is something that almost guaranteed is going to impact everybody the same exact way or and this is a really really deep pull. We're going back into the Apple TV lore of a show that Jess and I and maybe 10 other people watched. It was called before. It starred Billy Crystal. There was this phenomenon on that show like do people have shared delusions? Like are they being connected in that sort of way? And because all these people have been at this town, they've all heard all these stories like could they all be susceptible to the same phenomenons because of that? And Dale knows.

[00:21:24]>> Absolutely. And I think that that's why Dale was part of everything that was going on down at the water. It makes it look like he's not involved, but he is involved. And I think part of it is sort of this shared delusion and part of it is what Patricia is seeing.

[00:21:43]>> There's still a few things that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around even with all of this. Like one of the big ones is we watched the sheriff basically look at Patricia at one point who's reading this book in all hours of the day and night. I don't know how to explain that. Like we've all gotten a book sometimes where we end up just reading it for seven or eight hours straight with maybe a tiny break. who is sitting out in the middle of the night reading a book. Like, it's weird. It's a hard thing to explain unless it's like somebody has fabricated with that footage somehow and is allowing the sheriff to see something that's different from what's real.

[00:22:17]>> Okay, we need to talk about Bryce. We are deep into this and we haven't even talked about Bryce yet. So, Bryce has called out and has left this like frantic message. We've got Wick and Tom after everything that happened with the sea witch that they have gotten into their truck. They are driving down to go help Bryce with this frantic message.

[00:22:37]They see Patricia. They pick her up. She seems to be actually just naturally feeling good that they they've seen her.

[00:22:44]They've offered her a ride and they've included her. All the things that she wanted all night long, she's gotten right here from Tom and Wick. So, they have all gone down there to see what Bryce is on about and he is dead.

[00:22:57]>> Not good. Not good, Bryce. But here's the thing, Bryce. I'm speaking to you from beyond the grave, which I know you are. You knew too much. We We saw Bryce in this past episode. Mosy on through the woods for reasons that are still not entirely clear. He's next to the well.

[00:23:13]Seems like he hears something. I'm I'm still standing by the tinfoil hat idea that whatever he heard is connected to the tunnels or the chair that we saw back in the premiere, somebody managed to figure out, okay, Bryce is there.

[00:23:28]This is, you know, a faith leader. This is someone who's in like we clearly cannot have this person around. And because whoever did this or group of people who did this, they all sort of know that everyone will believe all these superstitions. It's a lot easier to do something like this.

[00:23:43]>> That's the thing. Okay. So, one of my theories had been that whoever was the priest beforehand was in on it with the town and whenever they left or whatever's happened to them, they wrote this letter for the new priest that was going to be there who is not in on it.

[00:24:00]And I think that the part of the town that is in on it has been gassing up the people and feeding into their fears and feeding into the lore to keep everybody stable in fear where they will not leave the island, they will respect all the lore and they will all stay in line so that everything could just stay the same on the island. And I think because Bryce was he got the letter and he read it.

[00:24:27]Okay, if this happens, this happens.

[00:24:29]Okay, I hear the bell. I gotta go do this and this and this. I think he stumbled upon something kind of like you said and he started to know too much.

[00:24:38]And they were like, uhoh, he didn't end up uh eating all the fear that we've been feeding him. And now he knows too much and now he has to go.

[00:24:47]>> This is a great cliffhanger, especially because it just feels like Widow's Bay through four episodes has already been eight other shows. It has been Faulty Towers, Parks and Recreation. There's a little bit of from in here. There's a little bit of welcome to dairy. Now we're in Murder She Wrote where we're going into like a full-on murder mystery here with just like a small group of people. I think the real question mark I have moving forward is that all right, it seems like our little core now is Tom and Wick and Patricia. Can we really count and rely on these three to get along to actually share information?

[00:25:23]Because just like two episodes ago, Wick was screaming at Tom to high heaven.

[00:25:28]>> Absolutely. But I think after everything that just happened where Wick has made it look like he has saved Tom's life, whether he's made it look like that or he actually did save Tom's life, it doesn't matter because Tom feels that Wick has just saved his life. So, it feels like they've hit the curve and they've hit the curve together.

[00:25:49]>> I'm so excited for where everything goes. But we want to know, of course, from all of you, what did you think about Widow's Bay season 1, episode 4?

[00:25:56]Are you full? Team Supernatural, all these weird elements are not meant to be explained. Do you have a reasonable explanation? Let us know. Hit that subscribe button. And as just mentioned earlier, join our memberships. We have a new exclusive Widow's Bay video over there talking about Tom's life. It's really, really fun. We highly suggest you check that out. And we'll see you here next time.