We all know strange things happen all the time in Castle Rock. “The Word” is going to add to the confusion about Ace (Paul Sparks) and the group that he has formed. There was a lot of back and forth from the past to the present. Let’s start with what happens in the present, then go to the past, and back.
But First, Rita Green (Sara Gadon) found Annie (Lizzy Caplan) and Joy (Elsie Fisher). She tried to talk Joy into coming home with her, but Joy said no. Rita pulled a gun on Annie and led her to the woods to kill her. Joy actually decided to stay with Annie and went looking for her. That’s when she injected Rita with a sedative, causing her to drop her gun and the gun went off, shooting Rita. The cops showed up and Annie confessed to shooting Rita to protect Joy.
RELATED: Recap the Latest Episode of CASTLE ROCK “The Mother”
TAKE THE FALL
The police took Annie and Joy back to their cabin and separated them. The deputy talks to Annie, who confesses to killing Rita. She says Rita broke into her room with a gun, so Annie did what she had to do. The deputy finds Annie’s medication and takes them. Annie demands to see Joy, but the deputy isn’t saying anything about the girl.
The deputy asks for her story again. He questions her about the syringe and how Annie knew the deceased. Joy’s prints will be found on the syringe and Annie explains that it will have multiple prints because she’s a nurse. As for Rita, Annie says she didn’t know Rita. She just wants to see Joy.
They finally let Joy in the same room with Annie. Annie, excited to see Joy, hugs her tightly. She thanks Joy for saving her, but she wants the girl to remain quiet about what really happened. Annie says to let her do the saving now. The deputy returns and says they are taking both Annie and Joy to the station. Annie gets angry, telling them to leave Joy out of the situation because she’s a minor.
PREPARATIONS
When Annie tried to bury Ace at Abdi’s (Barkhad Abdi) construction site, she fell into a cave full of coffins. Ace’s body fell too, directly onto a coffin, exposing the corpse inside. He was covered in some kind of gooey substance. Annie left him there as he was. That was the moment that a French man named Augustin took over Ace’s body. He’s been killing others and putting them in the same gooey substance that helps to resurrect his friends. They live at the Marston mansion on the hill overlooking Abdi’s construction site.
Castle Rock has been preparing to celebrate it’s 400th Anniversary of being founded. Some of the followers have volunteered to help with the events. Whatever Ace/Augustin is planning will happen during the celebration.
Pop (Tim Robbins) is totally oblivious to Ace’s whereabouts and what he’s up to. He’s been preoccupied with Abdi and Nadia (Yusra Warsam). He decides to go up to Shawshank to visits his brother-in-law. John (John Henry Diehl) is Ace and Chris’ (Matthew Alan) father. He is also a military man like Pop. He killed Pop’s sister and has been in prison since. This is the reason Pop raised Ace and Chris. Pop is dying and tries to forgive John for killing his sister, but John doesn’t buy it. Too many strange things are happening.
John tells Pop that Ace came to see him, but he was different. And now Pop’s visit makes John even more suspicious that something strange is going on. Pop gets up to leave, but stops to ask a guard about Ace’s visit. The guard is hesitant at first to say anything, but comes clean that Ace paid him to show him the cage. Warden Lacy’s (Terry O’Quinn) cage in cell block F. The cage is still in the tank. Nobody ever goes down there. When the guard took Ace to the cage, they found the door was still locked, but no one was inside. Nothing but a pair of sweats was found. The guard says that Ace has been staying at the Marsten’s mansion. He thinks Ace is up to something.
MARSTEN MANSION
Pop goes to the mansion and sees a lot of people moving about. They are renovating the place and painting the walls. He sees the councilwoman, random townies from Castle Rock and Jerusalem’s Lot and Abdi’s friend Hasan (Faysal Ahmed). When Ace shows up, Pop demands to know what he’s doing. Ace has a prepared statement. They are a group of like-minded people fostering accord between Castle Rock and Salem’s Lot on the eve of the 400th anniversary. But that’s not what Pop really wants to know.
Ace says he’s had some revelations about his life and how he was living. He wasn’t the only person feeling that way. Pop thinks he’s lying and asks again what’s going on. He wants to know what Ace was looking for in Block F at Shawshank. Ace acts like he doesn’t know what Pop is talking about and asks him to leave.
Pop goes to see Abdi, but he’s upset that Nadia found out Pop’s secret and he’s paying for it. He doesn’t want to talk to Pop and asks him to leave. Pop wants to warn Abdi about Ace and his people, including Hasan. Pop knows there’s that group is up to something and says something bad is about to happen. Abdi doesn’t care and pulls a gun on Pop. He tells Pop to leave him alone.
THE VESSEL
Ace/Augustin gathers his people. They are making the final preparations to bring back the Prophet. Ace wants to resurrect the prophet at the church where most people will be gathered. They find out that the police have Annie. Ace/Augustin asks Sheriff Boucher/Patrice (Greg Grunberg) to get her out.
When Sheriff Boucher/Patrice returns, he tells Ace/Augustin that Annie is taking anti-psychotic pills. Heather/Helene (Georgia Lyman) took anti-psychotics and it almost messed up the resurrection process. They almost lost Helene. Patrice is worried that they could lose the Prophet. Ace/Augustin says it’s not a problem, they will just sober her up. Patrice doesn’t think they have enough time, but Augustin says Annie is the one who brought him back. She brought them all back. Augustin goes down to the cave and speaks to Amity’s coffin. In three days, she will return to him.
ORIGINS
Four hundred years ago, Amity Lambert (Mathilde Dehaye) came to this country from France with her family to find religious freedom. Instead they found nothing but sickness and death. Amity was the first to speak out about their failed colony. She says the place is cursed and the priest Augustin (David Alpay) agrees with her…maybe because he’s in love with her. She gets up to testify and has a seizure, but her father Marius Lambert (Thomas K. Belgrey) says she’s possessed. Amity and Augustin are banished from the village.
Amity and Augustin camped out in the woods. One night Amity heard a growl in the woods, but it wasn’t an animal growl. She followed the noise to a cliff overlooking a lake. A man in a hooded cloak approaches her. He removes his hood as the sun comes up and Amity smiles at him.
Amity returns to the village with food and tells Marius that she saw an Angel. She takes the people to her garden and they are excited that the land is finally producing food. Marius calls it witchcraft and Amity accuses him of wanting the people to starve. Augustin calls Amity a prophet and the people bow to her.
THE WORD
Amity burned her father and his followers for not believing in her Angel. She tells the people that Angel speaks through her. They will start a crusade and spread his word. All who accept him will be rewarded. And he will be merciless to those who oppose him. Amity paints their story on the church ceiling. They have removed the statue of Christ from the mantle.
One day the Angel told Amity to kill her people. She questions why and moths are sent to her. She tells the village about the Angel’s wishes and promises them that He has a great plan for them when they return. They don’t need to be afraid. They will wake up in four hundred years in new vessels and in a new world that they can conquer. The villagers dig out a cave and make coffins for themselves to rest in.
One by one, Amity feeds the villagers a moth and then cuts their throats. They are each placed in a coffin until its only Augustin and Amity left. She says he will be the first to wake up and she will be the last. She has faith in Augustin that he will find the Angel when he wakes up. Amity swallows the moth and Augustin kills her.
CELEBRATION
The anniversary celebration has come, starting with a parade. The parade blocks the main road in Castle Rock and leads to the church. Pop runs into the parade and decides to watch what happens.
Abdi didn’t go to the parade. Instead he started walking through the woods between his construction site and the Marsten house. He comes upon upside down crosses with the bodies of policemen burning. As he gets closer he sees Hasan…and Hasan looks right at him.
Once the parade stops, the Pastor (Aaron Staton) welcomes everyone and says they have a gift for the residents. Ace approaches the podium and Pop tries to stop him. The police grab Pop and push him back. He turns around to face the police to explain what he’s doing. At the same time, Ace removes the cover on a statue of the Angel. There is a strange, unnatural growl coming from the statue. The crowd freezes and stares. Pop can see the statue in the reflection of a balloon. He looks at everyone and realizes something is wrong. Pop runs away from the crowd.
That day that Amity met the Angel, she didn’t just meet any angel. When the cloaked man lowered his hood to reveal his face…it is the face of Henry Deavers…the Kid (Bill Skarsgård) in season one.
Ace addresses the crowd, wanting to tell them a story. He says it’s a story about starting over. Every good story ends where it begins and this story ends in Castle Rock.
RELATED: Catch up on CASTLE ROCK Season 2 Here
THOUGHTS
I’m totally confused. Does this mean The Kid really is the devil? I can’t think of any other reason he would be able to show up 400 years ago and then again in 2019. It’s mind blowing.And I can’t wait to find out…if they tell us…how this can and did happen. Wow…just…Wow!
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Recap: (S02E07) I Could Not Prevent It - June 24, 2024
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Recap: (S02E06) Like the Light by Which God Made the World Before He Made Light - June 17, 2024
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Recap: (S02E05) Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start The Tape - June 10, 2024
