Eight episodes deep and only two remaining, this mystery box remains frustratingly closed.
Back in episode 5 of Hulu’s “Castle Rock,“ actor Bill Skarsgård’s “The Kid” essentially created a “Castle Rock” internet meme when he said to Alan Pangborn, “You have no idea what’s happening here… do you?” For viewers, this line of dialogue has become a go-to reaction to the series’ many twists and turns, as Hulu insists on keeping us all as in the dark as possible while still making sure we’re tuning in each and every week in the hopes of getting some answers. Instead, however, new episodes mostly ask entirely new questions.
At this point, watching “Castle Rock” has become like trying to put together a puzzle but there are so many pieces missing and someone keeps tossing pieces from other puzzles onto the pile.
Mind you, much like “Lost” (also produced by J.J. Abrams), part of the fun of “Castle Rock” is speculating and theorizing on the various plot threads, and I’ve personally had a whole lot of fun doing just that these last two months. Hell, there was one point where I was convinced Skarsgård’s “The Kid” was actually King’s “IT,” and another point where you couldn’t convince me that Sissy Spacek’s Ruth Deaver *wasn’t* Carrie White. The internet has been flooded with various fan theories, including everything from time loops to alternate universes.
But at what point do the mysteries of “Castle Rock” go from compelling to frustrating? And at what point does the series fall into the same traps that “American Horror Story” seems to every season, where there’s so much going on and so little of it makes sense that you just stop caring about the whole damn thing? With only two episodes remaining for the series’ writers to wrap everything up and bring it all together, I ponder, have we reached that point?
This week’s episode, titled ‘Past Perfect,’ was particularly loaded up with more questions, yet again introducing new characters and storylines at a time when the series should probably be hyper focused on bringing clarity to the table; after all, there’s only going to be one season of this particular storyline, with subsequent seasons set to tell entirely different stories.
“Castle Rock” kicked off this week with a proper introduction to husband and wife Gordon and Lilith, two characters we briefly met earlier in the season. The duo, on rocky ground in the wake of Gordon finding out Lilith was cheating on him with a much younger colleague, has purchased Warden Lacy’s home and turned it into a bed and breakfast that plays up the sketchy, murderous side of the notorious town. As it turns out, Gordon and Lilith are a murder couple in their own right; Gordon kills a couple staying at their home, and Lilith is surprisingly chill about it. Later, when Henry Deaver arrives at the house in search of answers, Gordon and Lilith team up in an attempt to kill him – an attempt thwarted by an axe wielding Jackie Torrance.
In a fun little homage to Jackie’s familial ties to one of Stephen King’s most iconic stories (Jane Levy’s character is the niece of Jack Torrance), Jackie slams an axe down into the top of Gordon’s head while he’s on top of Henry. The series has told us precious little about Jackie, and it sure was nice to finally see Levy playing a role in a major storyline.
The crux of ‘Past Perfect’ was that “The Kid” is *seemingly* making people in the town do horrible things, as both Gordon and Jackie seem to be under his supernatural control when committing barbaric acts they otherwise probably would never have; in Jackie’s own words, “I wasn’t myself anymore.” Sounds a bit like her uncle Jack, doesn’t it?
Is “The Kid” responsible for everything evil that has ever happened in King’s stories…?
So what else happened in ‘Past Perfect’, an episode loaded with unnerving intrigue. Let’s see. Henry discovered what we already know when he learned through annual paintings from Warden Lacy that “The Kid” hasn’t aged a day in 27 years, and “The Kid” also revealed to him that it was he who saved Henry 27 years prior… from a basement, he says. “I waited for you… for 27 years,” Skarsgård’s character tells Henry, while “The Kid” reveals something even more bizarre to Molly Strand: she’s… uh… wait… is Molly actually dead?!
“The Kid” explains to Molly, who is tripping hardcore on pain killers (props to the episode’s score in the final moments, which reflects Molly’s drug-addled state of mind in incredibly effective ways), that he knows her and she knows him, as he was present during her childhood. He also tells Molly that she died out in the woods of Castle Rock… and then, as the series loves to do at the exact moment it drops some crazy shit on us, the episode smashes to black and forces us to wait another week for hopefully an explanation but probably more questions.
“I don’t think [Henry’s] ready yet,” he tells Molly. “But you can help me.”
It may sound like I’m hating on “Castle Rock,” but the truth is that I’m only frustrated because I’m so intrigued and have become so invested in the series these past eight weeks. I’m also worried. Worried that too many ideas are at play and there’s just not enough time to wrap everything up. I’ll say this much. If “Castle Rock” ends up coming together in an even remotely satisfying way these final two weeks, it’ll be a majorly impressive feat. I don’t need *all* the answers, but here’s hoping the long, slow journey was well worth it in the end.
Oh and more Jane Levy, please.
