Castle Rock has a history of bad luck, but nothing has really happened in the past 27 years. That changed the night that Dennis Zalewski (Noel Fisher) shot all of the prison guards at Shawshank prison. Zalewski was killed, but the ripple effects will last for quite some time. So what happens to the Kid (Bill Skarsgård) now?
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After the shooting at the prison, Henry (André Holland) experiences a ringing in his ear. The thing is, the ringing has always been there. He says it bothers him from time to time. He even had it checked out in Texas, but the doctors couldn’t determine the cause.
A huge fire started in the Black mountains and the smoke lingers around Castle Rock. Henry is walking through town, trying to call the judge in the Kid’s court case. The case was pushed back a couple of weeks and no one will talk to him. Henry continues his work and ends up at the church. The pastor called him because his father’s casket is leaking. He explains what is actually happening to the casket, but Henry can’t hear him because of the ringing.
Warden Porter’s (Ann Cusack) boss was informed of everything going on at Shawshank and he’s not happy. He tells Porter release the Kid or he will throw her under the bus for everything.
Henry set up a security system at Ruth’s (Sissy Spacek) house. He wants to monitor her over his phone when he goes back to Texas. Of course, Alan (Scott Glenn) doesn’t like it. He suggests that Henry just put a chip in Ruth like a dog. Henry doesn’t respond because he gets a call that Shawshank. They are releasing the Kid. Henry picks him up and tries to start fresh by introducing himself again. The Kid doesn’t reply; not even to tell Henry his name.
Flashback: Dale Lacy (Terry O’Quinn) explains to the Kid how he built the cage. He says God told him where to find the Kid. He explains that the Kid dragged evil behind everywhere he went. Dale took the Kid because his faith was bigger than the child’s life. But after 27 years, he still doesn’t know if he did the right thing.

Henry takes the Kid to the doctor’s office for a full physical. The doctor detects some amnesia, but they need to do more testing. Henry assumes that the doctor will take the Kid in, but she says they are not an inpatient facility. She offers to get him a bed at the state hospital by Monday. However, Molly (Melanie Lynskey) has a loft above her office. She says he needs a place to stay, and she has one. Henry is a little apprehensive about it since they don’t know anything about the Kid. He tells the Kid to stay indoors. He hopes to have the Kid in the hospital as soon as possible.
Alan returns to Ruth’s and she thinks he is her deceased husband, Matthew. Alan tries to make her go to bed, but she says something terrible is about to happen. At the same time, The Kid stares out of the window overlooking Castle Rock. There is no one out on the streets. So he leaves Molly’s place and starts to walk. He hears children’s music playing from a house and goes to investigate. The Kid walks into the house and watches a couple sing happy birthday to their young son, Gordi. The father is holding a baby as they cut the cake and watch Gordi open his presents. The couple starts arguing, the baby starts crying, and the Kid makes his way upstairs. He sits on the roof listening to the fight downstairs.
The fire continues to spread across Castle Lake. Alan listens to the news and finds a box of chess pieces in Ruth’s room. He bought the set for her and Ruth loved it. She thinks he bought the set to help with her dementia. Ruth helps Alan get ready for a ceremony in his honor. The town has decided to name a bridge after him to commemorate his many years of service on the police force. Henry interrupts them to ask for the car. Ruth gives him the okay to take the car after Alan’s ceremony.
The ceremony begins with a moment of silence for the fallen guards at Shawshank. Henry thinks about Zalewski. He looks around at the crowd and sees a couple of men standing far away. Alan gets up to speak to the crowd and a dog starts barking. The barking bothers Ruth. Alan speaks over the dog and looks to Ruth for assurance. Ruth is not there. Henry sees her standing on the bridge. He calls out to her and Ruth jumps. Henry jumps in after her.

Jackie Torrance (Jane Levy) goes to Molly’s office. She hears the water running and goes upstairs to see who’s there. She finds a pair of sweatpants on an airbed and lays down. The Kid comes out of the bathroom, naked and stares at her.
Molly returns to the office, but the Kid is gone. Jackie took him for a drive. She tells him about some of the crazy things that have happened in Castle Rock. She mentions that she is a writer, but nothing good ever happens in Castle Rock…not like it did in the 80s. Jackie also mentions that her uncle tried to kill his wife and kid in Colorado. She took his name just to make her parents mad. Her real name is Diane. While she talks, the Kid is listening to the news on the radio. A helicopter exploded near Castle Lake, killing three people. The fires have killed five people and injured several others.
Alan and Henry wait for news about Ruth. Alan tells him that he asked Ruth to marry him in 1991, but she said it would be confusing for Henry. He moved away for years. And when he returned, someone called him because they heard gunshots from her house. When he got there, she begged him not to leave her.
A nurse lets them see Ruth. She tells them to go back to Alan’s reception. Ruth thought the barking dog was the return of a dead dog from long ago. She says she feels like she opened a book and all of the pages have been rearranged. She ask Henry if he knows how it feels to forget his own story.
Molly meets Jackie at a old factory. The Kid climbed up on the roof. He’s listening to screams, dogs barking and people talking. Molly checks on him, saying she was worried about him. The Kid says he shouldn’t be there. Molly disagrees. She tells him that Warden Lacy was sick and nothing he said was true. Molly can hear his thoughts and it’s chaotic.

Henry calls his ex wife and asks her to send their son to Castle Rock. He wants Wendall to spend some time with Ruth before the she forgets everything. He goes home and Molly is waiting for him. After she fills him in on the Kid’s adventures, she tells him there is something wrong about him. Molly explains that she can hear people’s thoughts. The Kid’s thoughts were filled with everything the people of Castle Rock were thinking and feeling. Henry doesn’t seem to believe her, so she tells him how he’s feeling. She says there is something seriously wrong with the Kid.
The Kid walks into the house and Henry tells him to stay with him. He takes the kid to the garage. There is a pull out bed in there. Henry says his dad used to spend a lot of time in there. The Kid finds a piano and starts playing.
Alan is drinking on his bridge. He pulls off the plaque with hs name on it and throws it in the river. His phone vibrates with a video message from Ruth’s house. The video shows the Kid at Ruth’s house. The Kid looks directly at the camera and walks away. Alan goes the house and finds the Kid in the woods. He stops him and asks if he remembers him. The night they met, Alan pulled Dale Lacy over for a traffic violation. He found the kid in the trunk of Lacy’s car, but Alan didn’t help the kid. Instead, he shut the trunk and let Lacy go.
Alan points out that the Kid hasn’t aged in 27 years. He asks the Kid if he’s the devil and the Kid replies that he is not. Alan doesn’t like it. He says he waited thirty years for the woman he loves and now she is slipping through his fingers. Alan pulls a gun on the kid and asks where the justice is in that. The Kid tells Alan that he can help Ruth. He asks Alan if he knows what is happening in Castle Rock, but Alan doesn’t answer.
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Thoughts
The mystery of the kid continues to build. He seems to have the same ability to hear people’s thoughts, like Molly. According to Alan, the Kid hasn’t aged since Dale Lacy took him. He says he’s not the devil. So is he an angel?
Henry frustrates me. I wouldn’t leave Castle Rock until I knew what happened to me. He started that journey and needs to continue it. It may the only way he can continue. Maybe that’s why Ruth’s condition is getting worse…to keep him there. At some point, he has to stop running.
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