In Widow’s Bay Episode 4, Patricia (Kate O’Flynn) throws the island a party to remember. But after the fun, dancing, and punch drinking come to a horrific halt, “Beach Reads” ends with a deadly, jaw-dropping twist that sets up the rest of Season 1.
Widow’s Bay Episode 4 spoilers ahead.
For those who need a refresher, Widow’s Bay Episode 3 ended with Bechir (Kevin Carroll) calling for help. “All available fire and rescue to Patricia’s cocktails! I don’t know what the fuck is going on,” he said over his radio. But before we learned the nature of the emergency Widow’s Bay rewound four days to show exactly how Patricia’s Sunset Cocktails mess unfolded.
The episode kicks off by revealing that in her spare time, Patricia runs the Pattiwagon, a mobile library full of free books. While shelving donations at the end of her shift, she finds an intriguing self-help book titled, “Your Turn: Out With The Old In With The You.” After she tries and fails to bond with her former classmates during a girls’ night gone wrong, she cracks open the book and reads all about how throwing one perfect party could change her life.
Since Tom (Matthew Rhys) already put her in charge of running the Sunset Cocktails event after his inaugural mayoral swim, she sets out to plan an elegant, exciting affair that will have the whole town talking and change her reputation. Spoiler alert: The big bash does both of those things, but unfortunately, the party doesn’t go according to plan…
Patricia’s night gets off to a slow start, but once the Bachelorette party floods in, the music blares, and the dance floor starts to fill it seems as though things are looking up. Unfortunately, Patricia hits a snag when her former classmate Kris (Lauren Bittner) accuses her of playing the victim and lying about her run-in with the Boogeyman. But after a cathartic cry in the kitchen, Patricia rallies, serves the special party punch, and everyone — Kris included — starts to celebrate. As Patricia and her new pals dance the night away, Bechir gets a noise complaint and heads to the Salty Whale to investigate. When the party guests head outside to admire the bonfire, Patricia goes to the kitchen to get more punch, which is where Bechir finds her. That’s when the episode takes a turn…
A cursed twist! An unexpected death! And a whole lot of questions! Need Widow’s Bay Episode 4 ending explained? We’re breaking down the final minutes of this incredible installment and sharing comments from our interview with O’Flynn.
Widow’s Bay “Beach Reads” Recap: Widow’s Bay Episode 4 Ending Explained
As Patricia dances in the middle of her guests, then gives an emotional speech before the group, Widow’s Bay shows flashes of her guests with their mouths eerily hanging open. When they leave for the bonfire, everyone looks OK, but when Patricia heads to the kitchen to make more punch and Bechir enters, his face falls and it’s clear something’s not right.
“Patricia…What the fuck are you doing?” a nervous Bechir asks as he approaches her punch-making station. Before the party started, we saw the counter full of strawberries, oranges, apples, lemons, and ginger. Patricia was chopping ingredients and tossing them in her punch bowl, which featured a red-tinted liquid we know was at least partially rum. When Rosemary (Dale Dickey) entered the kitchen earlier, she also looked incredibly concerned. If you recall, she said, “Listen, I’m a little worried you’re putting too much into this thing. I didn’t even understand half the stuff on that supply list. And might I suggest a different headpiece?” It’s not until Bechir confronts Patricia towards the end of the episode the we fully understand Rosemary’s comments…
After Bechir questions Patricia in the kitchen, her face falls and she looks down at the punch-making station in front of her. Instead of various fruits, her cutting board contains a decapitated crow, a bloody knife and saw, a meat cleaver, a nest full of dead birds, twigs, and other concerning items, or rather, punch ingredients. That’s right, folks! Patricia was never serving fruity party punch. Everyone spent the night drinking animal blood, which put them under a spell. And when Patricia’s eyes wander up to the mirror, she sees she’s been wearing a headpiece made of antlers and twigs, not a dainty crown. A terrified Patricia races into the restaurant and finds glasses of blood punch everywhere before realizing she was never reading a self-help book. Instead, a cursed book of spells had been guiding her the past four days and taught her to poison her party guests.
“When I read the script, I was like, OK, there’s Carrie in there totally,” O’Flynn told DECIDER over Zoom, referencing the 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel. “I remember that feeling of watching Carrie and the pain of that, and the pig’s blood, and the social anxiety of that. And when I read the reveal of the tiara, I thought it was the funniest thing. I was crying after because I didn’t see it coming, and then watching it back it’s sort of heartbreaking in a way.”
“I remember that feeling of watching Carrie, and the pain of that, and the pig’s blood, and the social anxiety of that. And when I read the reveal of the tiara, I thought it was the funniest thing.”
Kate O’Flynn, Widow’s Bay
Upon realizing everyone is in danger, Patricia and Bechir race out to the bonfire, where all the open-mouthed guests are moaning and walking straight into the nearby body of water as the fire raged on nearby. In order to break the spell, Patrica takes the cursed book and holds it close to the fire until it melts out of her hands. She tosses it in the flames, and as the book burns and the bonfire collapses, the people finally snap out of their trances. For a moment Patricia is relieved, until Kris shouts, “Oh my god. It was her punch. It was her goddamn punch! She drugged us!”
“When I read [the script], it felt important to not shy away from the pain of it. That party at the beginning is so uncomfortable. And it felt uncomfortable to do. And it felt like that was really important to get in there, for the audience to understand Patricia’s behavior in the previous three episodes,” O’Flynn told Decider. “And even though there’s a lot of collateral damage afterwards, she’s poisoned everyone, but it’s still the best night of her life. She’s cursed, and she’s under a spell, and she’s almost killed everyone. But still.”
After the disastrous (and personally fulfilling!) evening, Patricia walks home alone when Wyck and Tom pull behind her in a truck. Fresh from their Sea Hag debacle, they race to the chapel to check on Reverend Bryce (Toby Huss) who sounded scared when he called Tom earlier.
The trio walks in to find Bryce’s office completely trashed. A small fire is burning, papers are scattered everywhere, and when Patricia closes the door they find Bryce hanging from it. Dead.
After Reverend Bryce learned church bells rang despite being locked up, Episode 2 saw him deeply distressed, reading a letter that partially said, “Should the bell toll, there are steps you must take. On the north side of the rectory there is a chamber where you will find…”
“He’s kind of the key, Reverend Bryce, to what the hell is going on, and he’s killed himself. So it opens up a whole can of worms, trying to figure out what it was, the information he knew, and where that’s taking us.”
Kate O’Flynn, Widow’s Bay
So what did Bryce know? And why did he say “There is evil here” when coming out of the woods in Episode 3? We’ll have to keep watching for answers, but O’Flynn told Decider, “He’s kind of the key, Reverend Bryce, to what the hell is going on, and he’s killed himself. So it opens up a whole can of worms, trying to figure out what it was, the information he knew, and where that’s taking us.”
“I just hope viewers keep their seatbelts on and get ready for the roller coaster ride that’s coming. because it’s going to go in all different directions,” she teased. Tune in next week to see the trio’s next steps and stay tuned for more Widow’s Bay coverage from Decider!
New episodes of Widow’s Bay premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV.
