This Episode of Stephen King's 'Castle Rock' Proves Why It's The Best Show You're Not Watching
Castle Rock is the latest Stephen King property to make it to our screens.
More than 70 film and TV adaptations based on Stephen King works have been produced since 1976’s Carrie, and that isn’t even including the sequels. Sure, there more than a few that have been total garbage, but we’re just going to forget about those for now.
It takes place in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine.
Technically, Castle Rock is a “recently dissolved municipality,” which essentially means that the city couldn’t afford to continue operating as an actual city, and so it stopped being one. That should really tell you everything you need to know about the story’s location. Well, that and…
The nearest (and pretty much only) place of employment is Shawshank Prison.
Sound familiar? That’s because it is, in fact, the same Shawshank Prison that Andy Dufresne escaped from in 1966. And let us be clear about one thing here: Shawshank hasn’t exactly improved its operational practices in the last 50 years.
You see, Castle Rock exists in the same universe as all of King’s other stories.
Yes, all. Much like Quentin Tarantino or M.Night Shyamalan, Stephen King operates in a world that is entirely his own. Of course, the locations in which his stories take place are very much based in reality. And that means that we will 100% never be traveling to Maine.
And the show certainly pays a bit of service to fans of King’s work.
Easter eggs abound on Castle Rock. In fact, the show’s opening title sequence is littered with newspaper headlines outlining stories from King’s other novels. And real King fans will take note of one-liners that reference films like Stand By Me or Pet Sematary.
But you shouldn’t be watching Castle Rock just for the Easter Eggs.
Actually, King suggests you do exactly the opposite. Because regardless of however many tie-ins Castle Rock may have to King’s other stories, the fact of the matter is that the show is an entity all its own.
You should be watching Castle Rock because it’s the best goddam show on TV right now.
And this isn’t at all an exaggeration, even if it is coming from a pretty die-hard King fan over here. Truth is, Castle Rock has everything going for it that could be going for it in the TV production world.
It’s from Hulu, which is just killing the game.
The streaming service’s newest series is in good company. The Looming Tower and I Love You, America have both been nominated for Emmys this year. And The Handmaid’s Tale? The critically acclaimed series nabbed a whopping 20 nominations alone.
And it’s the second collaboration between Hulu, King, and J.J. Abrams.
The first was 11.22.63, a sci-fi thriller about the JFK assassination and the consequences of time travel. No Emmys, but the miniseries did take home a Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation and currently holds an 80% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It has a ridiculously talented cast.
André Holland has co-starred in a number of award winning films, like 2014’s Selma and 2016’s Moonlight, while Sissy Spacek, who plays his adopted mother, has pretty much lived her life in front of a camera (including King’s first film, 1976’s Carrie). There’s also Scott Glenn, Frances Conroy, and of course, Pennywise himself, Bill Skarsgård.
And the writing is outstanding.
It’s a show centered on mysteries, the majority of which the audience doesn’t even realize is a mystery until they’re given the answer. Instead, there’s a lot of, “Huh. That’s kinda weird,” moments. Moments that will almost immediately be forgotten until two weeks later, when something monumental happens that’s directly related.
So far, the show’s been pretty vague.
But carefully so. There’s a general sense of dread in Castle Rock, which everyone seems to recognize, but no one can quite put a finger on why things are the way they are. So they all just go through the motions of everyday life and downplay monumental tragedies, like all those murders and suicides that seem to plague the town.
And some serious questions have been raised.
Like why would ex-warden Dale Lacy have just offed himself when he’s been keeping some kid locked in a cage in an abandoned portion of his prison? And who is that kid, anyways? Why is it the only things he can seem to say are cryptic bible passages?
There are people in the town whose secrets will make you yell at your TV screen.
Again, like the kid in the cage. Or Molly Strand, who’s got some sort of psychic touch and is also quite probably a goddam murderer. Or Ex-Sheriff Alan Pangborn, who seems to know exactly what’s going on but won’t actually do anything about it.
But mostly, there's Henry Deaver.
Henry Deaver is a criminal defense attorney who returns to Shawshank after receiving a call from Dennis Zalewski, a guard at Shawshank who’s one of maybe three people in the entire town with an actual moral compass. Remember that name. We’ll come back to him.
There’s a reason Henry Deaver hasn’t been back to Castle Rock in so many years.
Everyone in town — including Pangborn — blames him for his adopted father’s death. And his mother suffers from some sort of dementia that Henry only takes a passive (read: financial) interest in, so it’s quite probable he carries a sense of guilt related to family — how much guilt, though, we’ve yet to uncover.
But Henry’s got secrets of his own.
Like the fact that he went missing for 11 days as a child and can’t remember anything prior to his rescue. Nothing. And while the show’s fourth episode, “The Box,” seems to provide a few answers, it only raises even more questions in return.
Like, what the actual f— is going on with the Desjardins?
Vince Desjardins is the only lead Henry’s got to go on regarding his childhood disappearance, so of course he decides to take a stroll around the family property. What he finds is a home straight out of a nightmare: crashed piano in the middle of the kitchen, clothing and paperwork — including Henry’s missing case file — strewn about haphazardly. And a locked cage in the yard that feels awfully familiar.
It’s here that Castle Rock starts to prove its mastery of true creepiness.
The interaction Henry has with Vince Desjardins’ brother, Joseph, carries the kind of tension that puts your stomach into actual knots. It’s that waiting for the other shoe to drop sensation, only it never happens. Joseph acts the genial host, never mind the fact that a stranger is snooping around his house, uninvited. It’s terrifying in its normality.
For what it’s worth, "The Box" could have ended at the Desjardins.'
And it would have still been one of the best episodes of TV we’ve seen. It’s the first time The Kid says more than a few words, and the words he chooses are straight out of Revelations. It’s also a turning point for Henry and Alan’s strained pseudo-father/son relationship, when an exasperated Alan admits he “knows” that Henry killed his father.
But what The Box does as its finale is every reason you should be watching Castle Rock.
There’s already a lot that happens in the episode’s first 40 minutes. But it’s the final sequence that makes for really f—ing good TV. It’s the culmination of a battle that one man has (reluctantly) taken up arms for and lost, the moment that brings you to the edge of your seat in shocked silence.
Remember Dennis Zalewski?
Back in episode one, Dennis had a vision. On the Shawshank security cameras, what he saw was death. And it filled every corridor. It turned out to be a moment of temporary insanity, or so we were led to believe…
Well, Dennis’ vision sort of… actualizes.
The realization that the abuses suffered at the hands of Shawshank guards will continue to go unpunished proves to be too much for poor Dennis. And he goes on a killing spree. Cell block by cell block, he mows down every guard in his path, leaving a trail of bodies that eerily mimics his earlier vision.
And it’s done masterfully.
Set to Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” Dennis’ shooting spree is shown from the very same perspective that he’s been forced to witness every prison abuse so far: through Shawshank’s security camera system. In and out of frame, from one camera to the next.
But now we’re left with so many questions.
Was Dennis’ shooting spree a result of his interaction with the Kid? Or had he just reached a psychological breaking point? What else can the Kid do? And will Henry be able (or even willing) to provide a proper defense?
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