CASTLE ROCK Recap: (S01E09) Henry Deaver

Noetta Harjo

With all of the strange things happening on Castle Rock, it’s hard to pin down what is really going on. There is an obvious connection between Henry Deaver (André Holland) and the Kid (Bill Skarsgård).  The Kid knows a lot about the Deaver family.  Everyone he touches, dies. He tells Molly (Melanie Lynskey) that she’s ready. Ready for what? What does this have to do with the ringing in Henry’s ears?  

Odin (Charles Jones) spoke to Henry about something called the schism. He said the schism is the sound of the universe trying to reconcile all possible pasts and presents. So what would happened if another past or present crossed into ours?  

RELATED: Recap the Latest Episode of CASTLE ROCK, “Past Perfect”

Evil Place

Dale Lacy (Terry O’Quinn) said that enough bad things have happened in Castle Rock to make people think that God has abandoned the town. Matthew Deaver (Adam Rothenberg) agrees.  He says he feels like God is punishing them for their sins like Sodom and Gomorrah. When bad things happen, the people blame the town.  Matthew says they are right.

Matthew was born to a single mother.  One night, as Matthew cried in his crib, his mother took a coat hanger and choked the child to silence him. Matthew died.  He says the devil took hold of her. The silence didn’t last long because God saved him, bringing him back to life. And ever since then Matthew dedicated his life to God.  Matthew waited for years for instructions on how to fight the great evil of Castle Rock.  Then one day, God answered. Matthew began building a cage in his basement.

Turning On The Lights

A man, resembling the Kid is living a normal life in Boston.  He has a wife, a nice home and makes a pretty good living as  doctor. His conducts research on Alzheimer’s Disease.  He meets with a group of people describing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s: higher motor functions become challenging; reason and judgement erode; can’t manage finances or drive a car; planning and problem solving are gone; and confusion with time and space.  

Castle Rock
Castle Rock — “Henry Deaver” – Episode 109 – A world beyond these walls. Bill Skarsgard, shown. (Photo by: Dana Starbard/Hulu)

He has been testing an implant in cat…named Puck. Puck the cat suffers from feline cognitive dysfunction with symptoms that resemble Alzheimer’s. The implant has helped Puck to function like any other cat.  The man says Alzheimer’s jumbles your story, turns off the lights.  His implant will turn the lights back on.

Later that day, he walks with his wife, telling her about his meeting.  He changes to the subject, asking her if today is the day.  They are interrupted by a phone call from Alan Pangborn (Scott Glenn) .  The mans asks if everything is okay with his mom. Alan says Ruth (Sissy Spacek) is fine. Alan calling with news about the man’s dad. 

Castle Rock 2.0

The man travels to Castle Rock, but it’s different.  The town is alive with activity. The townspeople are heading to the annual Fall Fest in the town square.  He gets out of the taxi to walk through the town.  He passes by Matthew Deaver’s church and straight to the Deaver house. The place is a mess  There are papers everywhere; left over food and dirty dishes in the sink.  He goes into the living room and sits in a chair, probably his father’s favorite.  He hears Matthew’s voice in his head, talking about grief.  The man starts to cry but shakes it off and goes to one of the bedrooms.

He looks out the window at the Strand house. He remembers seeing a flash light blinking in the window. And a girl waving at him.  The man goes to the house to say hello.  Bridget Strand (Allison Tolman) meets him outside. She thinks he’s a buyer interested in the Deaver house. Bridget tells him there are two other interested buyers. She also tells him that Matthew actually shot himself out on the lake and not in the house. He tells her that he’s not a buyer. Molly walks outside and sees him. He smiles at her and says hello, calling her by name.  She is shocked to see him and immediately recognizes the man as Henry Deaver.

This Molly is different. She is the town council chair and a social butterfly.  She asks about Ruth.   Henry says she lives with Alan.  Alan successfully convinced Ruth to leave Matthew. Ruth and Henry moved to Boston, with Alan following a few days after they left.  He tells Molly about Ruth Alzheimer’s saying she’s is the reason he became a doctor and started his research. Molly says Ruth did the right thing getting him out of Castle Rock.

Castle Rock
Castle Rock — “Henry Deaver” – Episode 109 – A world beyond these walls. Molly Strand (Melanie Lynskey), shown. (Photo by: Dana Starbard/Hulu)

Henry asks if Molly ever talked to Matthew.  He’s trying to understand why his dad would kill himself.  Molly says after he left the church, Matthew didn’t really talk to anyone. They reminisce about their childhood. Henry says Molly always knew when he was awake. She always knew a lot of things.  Molly says it’s because she’s a busy body. 

Discovery

Henry returns to the Deaver house and calls his wife. While he’s on the phone, the power goes out. He takes a flashlight and heads to the basement to find the breaker box. Along the way, he asks if it’s the day, but she says it hasn’t come yet.  Henry encourages her to take a pregnancy test.  He finds the breaker box and turns the power back on. When he turns to walk back to the stairs, he is startled by a pair of eyes looking back at him. 

Henry calls the police to report a boy locked in a cage in his father’s basement.  The EMTs check him out. The police try to talk to the boy, but he only says the name ‘Henry Deaver.’  Officer Dennis Zalewski (Noel Fisher) asks Henry if his father ever touched him. Henry says his father was messed up, but not like that.  His dad thought he heard the voice of God and would take Henry into the woods to listen, but never heard it.  Sound familiar?   They watch the EMTs examine the boy, who appears to be in a daze.  The boy jumps out of the ambulance and starts running. The police catch him, taking him back to the ambulance. 

Careful What You Wish For

The next morning, Henry finds an audio recorder in his father things.  Matthew talks about strange occurrences that happened in Castle Rock.  He believes the bad things started happening when French settlers came to Castle Rock. A lot of them starved and froze to death. The only survivor, a young girl, cut up and ate the corpses of her family to survive. 

Henry finds the tape of Matthew talking about how he wanted to hear God tell him how to end the bad things. But he didn’t hear him.  Instead he heard someone at his back door.  When he opened it, the boy was standing there.  Matthew thought about calling the police, until the boy called Matthew “Dad.”  He said he heard the voice and it was really loud.  He said he was in the woods with Matthew, but Matthew disappeared.  He woke up in the forest and then walked into town, but everything was different and no one knew him. 

Castle Rock
Castle Rock — “Henry Deaver” – Episode 109 – A world beyond these walls. Molly Strand (Melanie Lynskey) and Bill Skarsgard, shown. (Photo by: Dana Starbard/Hulu)

The boy claims to be Matthew’s adopted son, Henry. He says they went into Castle Woods to pray and listen. He says he hears it without his mother’s trickery and deceit.  That’s when Matthew knew what he was saying was real.  Only his son would know that Ruth tried to trick him.  Matthew asked him a bunch of questions that only his son would know. The boy knew everything.  At first Matthew felt redeemed.  He felt like his son had been returned to him. And then it hit him. He wished, not prayed for this to happen.  Who gives you what you wish for when you need it the most?  Matthew believed the boy to be the devil.  So Matthew drugged the boy and put him in a cage in the basement. 

While Henry listens to the tape, he goes into the woods to look around. He finds a box…a filter, much smaller than the one Odin built. Then he goes back to the basement to look around.  He examines the cage and finds toy cars and a soap carving.  Henry sits inside the cage and has flashes of the boy sitting in the cage, playing with the cars.

The Kid

Henry invites Molly over and plays the tape for her.  He admits that his mother told him to lie to his father about hearing the voice in the woods to get him off his back.  They are confused. The events Matthew talked about happened decades ago.  the events go back to the 1400s. The tape was made several years ago, but the boy can’t be older than twelve. 

Henry plays the tape again. Matthew says the boy didn’t age over the time he was in the cage.  He almost gave into the idea that the boy was his son.  He almost set him free.  Matthew says as long as the devil walks the streets of Castle Rock, bad things will happen.  Molly says she can find out where they took the boy. 

Henry and Molly drive out of town and a fire truck passes them.  They drive up to Juniper Hill Psychiatric Hospital. There are several emergency vehicles and news crews outside.  Molly talks to a couple of police officers to find out what happened.  Seven people died in the fire and ten are still missing.  They took the boy away, thinking he started the fire.

Henry Deaver

They go to the Castle Rock police station.  Molly speaks with the chief of police, requesting to talk with the boy. The first question they ask is the boys name.  Henry Matthew Deaver. The lights hurt the boy’s eyes, so Molly gives him her sunglasses.  Molly asks if he started the fire. He nods, saying the boy next to him was getting too close to him. The boy hears ringing in his ears. He says they have to go to the woods and they are running out of time.  Molly reaches out and holds the boy’s hand. When they touch, she sees her life in the other reality with this boy. A police officer comes in and takes the boy away.

Castle Rock
Castle Rock — “Henry Deaver” – Episode 109 – A world beyond these walls. Molly Strand (Melanie Lynskey) from left, Bill Skarsgard and Wendell Deaver (Chosen Jacobs), shown. (Photo by: Dana Starbard/Hulu)

Molly goes back to the chief, urging him to let her take the boy home. She says they just pulled him from one cage, they can’t put him in another. The chief gives him, releasing the boy in Molly and Henry’s care.  Officer Zalewski is assigned to watch them to make sure the boy doesn’t run again.  

Into the Woods

They leave the station and stop at the flashing lights at the train tracks.  Molly says they have to help the boy by taking him into the woods.  Henry is confused, but Molly steps on the gas just before the train passes, leaving Zalewski behind to wait for it to pass.  She pulls over near the woods and the kid jumps out of the car. Henry and Molly run after him. Zalewski catches up and calls in the escape. They are headed for Castle Lake.

Henry, the boy stops in the middle of the woods, where he sees another world.  It’s the same woods, but illuminated.  Molly steps next to him and into the other world.  They sees a girl standing in front of them with a knife in her hand.  It’s the surviving girl from Matthew’s story about the French settlers.  A bunch of birds fly over the area and the girl runs away.  Henry, the boy and Molly run after her.

At the same time, Zalewski catches up and points his gun at them, telling them to get on the ground. Henry, the man complies and tells Zalewski to take it easy.  Zalewski sess Molly and the boy run away. He shoots one shot into the air as a warning.  Henry, the man and Zalewski start running after them. 

In the other world, Henry the boy continues to run after the girl. Molly stumbles and stops to catch her breath.  She hears Zalewski yelling at them to stop. She is hit with the bullet that he shot into the air and falls to the ground.  Henry, the man and Zalewski find her.  She tells Henry to help the boy and then dies. 

Do You Believe Me?

One minute, Henry is sitting on the ground, holding Molly’s body. The next, he’s sitting inside the other world, looking at the boy.  He looks around and sees two prisoners run past him.  Then a girl stands next to a tree, committing suicide. The French girl appears and looks back at him.   They all look up and see a bunch of birds fly over.  Henry is transported back to the woods, but there is snow on the ground.  He gets up and walks toward the lake.  He hears a man call out his name and sees younger Alan Pangborn run to the middle of the lake.  This is the day that Alan found Henry back in 1991.

Fast forward to the night the Kid and Molly are in her old bedroom. He tells her who he is and where he came from.   This is how he ended up in the space and this time.  He wandered for days around Castle rock until Dale Lacy found him and took him to Shawshank.  Lacy said he heard the call. He said Henry, the man was the devil.  Henry looks at Molly and asks if she believes him. 

RELATED: Recap the Entire Season of CASTLE ROCK before the Season One Finale

Thoughts

In another world, Matthew and Ruth Deaver were able to have a child of their own and they named him Henry.  So does the mean in another world, they are a happy family? Or does the schisma affect every version of Matthew and Henry?

There were so many fan theories about the Kid and Henry.  Henry 2.0 knew so much about the Deaver family.   So everyone assumed that he was Matthew reincarnated.  It really should have been obvious when Henry 1.0 met Odin and Willie.  They talked so much about different realities and the schisma keeping these different realities in check.  I guess the question now is, why did this happen?  Can it be corrected?  And how does Molly’s ability actually fit into the schisma?  

I do have to say, it was nice to see and hear Bill Skarsgård play a regular character for once. 

 
 

Noetta Harjo
Follow me

Leave a Comment