The Cult of the Kid (Bill Skarsgård) has taken over Castle Rock. Who? What? And how? I don’t know, but it happened. Ace’s (Paul Sparks) new host, Augustin has all of his ducks in a row. They’ve got two days until the resurrection of Amity Lambert (Mathilde Dehaye). Augustin has chosen Annie (Lizzy Caplan) as Amity’s vessel because it was Annie who woke him up. Until then, Augustin has captivated the town with the statue of the Angel that appeared to Amity four hundred years ago.
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When the Angel’s statue was revealed, the residents of Castle Rock were captivated. They didn’t say a word, they just stared. Ace’s followers start moving the Angel and the town follows. As the parade goes through town, anyone who sees the statue drops what they are doing and join the crowd. The parade goes through town, Jerusalem’s Lot and down the road with dozens of people following.
THE MANSION
Ace/Augustin has the cops under his spell. They take Annie and Joy (Elsie Fisher) to the Marsten Mansion where Ace/Augustin is waiting to greet them. Annie is confused. First by the house, then by the fact that she’s there. Ace/Augustin says if they can fix the house, they can fix anything or anyone.
As for why Annie is there, well, Ace/Augustin never says. The deputy gave him Annie’s medications. He replaced the pills with placebos. Ace/Augustin that she and Joy have sanctuary in his home. Annie doesn’t think they should stay, but Ace/Augustin says she will have to deal with the State and Child Protective Services if she goes. He asks her to stay the night or until it’s safe for her and Joy to leave.
Annie is in a daze thinking about Ace/Augustin’s invitation. She and Joy are put in a room with multiple beds. She hears Joy crying and tries to console her. Annie wishes could make things better for Joy, but she doesn’t know how. All she knows is that they can’t stay there. Annie hears her name and Joy notices. Annie swears she took her medicine.
THE DOCTOR
Valerie (Alison Wright) informs Chris/Bertrand (Matthew Alan) that Amity’s vessel is in the house and says it’s time to take the doctor. Augustin is leaving it up to Chris/Bertrand to get her. Chris/Bertrand immediately goes to Nadia’s (Yusra Warsam) house. He starts to flirt with Nadia, saying he they can put some virtue back into situation.
Chris/Bertrand walks up behind her while she’s washing dishes and puts his hands around Nadia’s neck. He starts choking her. Nadia is able to elbow him in the face and they start fighting. Chris/Bertrand says she won’t get away, but Nadia throws her stethoscope around his neck and starts pulling. She chokes Chris/Bertrand until he passes out.
At the mansion, Hasan (Faysal Ahmed) sends people out to cut off the power and telephone lines, including the cell towers. He tells his men to kill anyone who is left behind. Back at Nadia’s, she tries to call Abdi (Barkhad Abdi) but can’t get a signal. Nadia takes Chris/Bertrand to the clinic and the place is empty. She tries to call Abdi again, but still no services. There’s no power and their phones are dead too.
THE VESSEL
Annie takes her fake pills and sees that Joy is fast asleep. She leaves the room to go explore the house. There is another open door to the room and Valerie is standing in it. She sees drawings on the bed next to Joy. The drawing reminds Valerie of Amity’s drawing. She takes the drawing to show Ace/Augustin. They both realize that Joy is the vessel they were searching for.
Ace goes to Joy’s room and looks at her. Then he goes to Amity’s coffin to tell her about the drawings. He says he has a new vessel for her, a clean vessel, untouched by their poisons. And her name is Joy.
Ace returns to the main house through a secret door that leads to the cave. Annie has been through there, but Ace/Augustin doesn’t know that. She sees him walk through. He has Joy’s drawing so he asks Annie if Joy has always been an artist. Annie says she’s always had a steady hand. Ace/Augustin offers to provide Joy with anything she needs, art supplies, clothes, favorite foods, or medications. Annie says Joy isn’t like her, so she doesn’t have any medications.
Ace/Augustin starts to leave and Annie stops him. She asks what’s behind that door. He says it the basement. They are renovating it and he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, so he locks the door. Ace walks away and Annie hears someone whisper her name again.
THE POISON
Nadia strapped Chris to a bed and injected him with medicine. She hears banging down the hall and there is one patient left. She tells Nadia that everyone left to watch the parade go by and never came back. The woman says she heard a strange noise though as the parade went by.
Nadia hears Chris scream and goes back to check on him. It’s actually Chris fighting to take control of the vessel. Nadia tells him that he tried to attack her and he says someone else is in his body with him. She says she injected him with anti psychotic medication. Chris is struggling to gain control. He says they are coming for her. They’re coming for everyone.
Back at the mansion, Annie is reading when she hears her mother’s voice. Crysilda (Robin Weigert) is telling her that the place is dirty. Annie gave Joy to them and she can’t see what’s going on. Annie starts freaking out, grabs her pills and runs to the bathroom. She takes a pill and looks in the mirror. A gush of water spills out and Crysilda is yelling at Annie, saying they put filth in them and to get Joy out of there.
THE GUILT
Joy wakes up and sees that Annie is gone. She pulls her hair back and puts on her shoes. She finds a little bit of blood on her shoestrings. As soon as she walks out, she runs into Ace. He’s trying to be polite and ask how she’s doing. Joy is suspicious and says he wasn’t that nice when they first met him. Ace says some people change. That appalling man was in a funny place and his time was up. He suggests that Joy might like to change too, especially after what she’s just been through.
Annie calms down and goes back to the room. Joy is gone so Annie goes looking for her. When she gets downstairs, she sees someone come out of the secret door and they didn’t lock it. Annie decides to see what’s behind that door. She goes downstairs and finds a lot of dead bodies. She starts to scream and stops herself. Annie runs back upstairs.
Ace says it’s a terrible thing to watch someone die and know that you are responsible. Joy gets upset. She says Rita’s (Sara Gadon) death was an accident and starts crying. Ace says everything happens for a reason. She did a terrible thing and now she’s an empty shell. Joy tries to run, but Hasan catches her. Ace says she won’t be empty for long.
THE STRUGGLE
Chris and Bertrand fight for possession of the vessel. The only thing giving Chris the upper hand are the anti psychotics that Nadia injected into him. He’s having a hard time maintaining control, so Chris asks Nadia to give him another dose. Nadia leaves to get more medicine and hears two men talking about killing anyone in the clinic. She returns to Chris, but the medicine wears off and Bertrand takes control.
Bertrand starts yelling for help, so Nadia stuffed his mouth with gauze. She rolls him down the hall, trying to get past the men before they hear him. The men find them and start shooting at Nadia. She starts running with the hospital bed, crashing into a cart near the pharmacy closet. Nadia has the only key to the door…that shouldn’t work because the power is out…but it does. She pushes Chris’ body inside the closet and closes the door. When the two men get there, they are locked out.
Nadia gives Chris another dose of anti psychotic medicine and waits for Chris to return. The men return about the same time with the last patient in the clinic. They hold a gun to her head and tell her to open the door. Chris returns and tells her not to open it. Nadia doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. The men hear a crash and Nadia scream.
Chris/Bertrand opens the door. He thanks the men and tells them to come inside to get the doctor. As soon as the first man walks in, Nadia hits him with a fire extinguisher. The second man starts shooting at her, but Chris pushes his arms down. The two men fight for the gun, as Nadia grabs the other gun. She shoots the second man in the head and pushes him off of Chris. Chris was shot in the abdomen during the scuffle. Nadia freaks out a little and Chris tells her it’s going to be okay. He tells her to stop them. Chris knows he’s about to die. He tries to tell her one last thing, but dies before he can.
THE ROOM
Annie overhears people talking and hides. They are looking for her. Valerie tells them to search the grounds. They locked up Joy in a room. Valerie says no one can get in until the next day at sunset. When the people scatter, Annie hears water dripping. She turns around and her mother is there. Crysilda tells her to get Joy, get her clean and out of this dirty world. Annie goes to the kitchen and grabs a large knife.
When Annie gets upstairs, she sees Helene (Georgia Lyman) in a room alone. Helene hears someone moving around and walks towards the door to look in the next room. Annie pushes the door at Helene, hitting her in the head and knocking her backwards. She holds the knife to Helene’s neck and asks where Joy is. Helene won’t talk at first, but Annie presses just a little harder and Helene points to a set of stairs.
Annie looks at the stairs and Helene grabs for the knife. She pushes it to the side and on the floor, breaking it. Helene grabs the tip of the knife and stabs Annie in the shoulder. Annie still has part of the knife and uses the broken end to slash Helene’s neck three times.
DIRTY
Annie goes to the stairs and peeks over the top. Hasan is guarding the door. Annie looks around and sees a sledgehammer. Hasan hears a scream. He knows Helene is downstairs and calls out to her. He goes downstairs and finds Helene on the floor face down. Hasan hears metal drag across the floor and looks up. Annie hits him on the side of the head with the sledgehammer, putting a large hole on the side of his head.
Annie takes Hasan’s keys and runs up the stairs to unlock the door. Joy is waiting on the other side with a large board with nails sticking out. She scares Annie when she hits the door with the board. Knowing it’s Annie and not Hasan, Joy puts the board down. She asks what’s going on and Annie says they are leaving.
Crysilda shows up again. She talks to Annie at the same time that Joy is talking to her. Annie tries to listen to both, but her mother is louder. Crysilda tells Annie that she needs to save Joy the same way that she tried to save Annie all those years ago. There’s only way out of this dirty world. She says Annie has to kill Joy to make her clean.
Annie starts to remember the first time she tried to kill Joy as a baby and Joy laughed. Joy finally gets her attention and asks if they can go. Annie tells her to hang onto her and be very quiet. She grabs a hammer as they leave the room.
THE STATUE
There are still people moving around the house looking for Annie. There are so many rooms and corners for Annie and Joy to hide in that they are able to get past everyone and make it out the door. When they get out, the people of Castle Rock and Jerusalem’s Lot are standing in the yard, staring at the Angel.
Annie and Joy hold hands and make their way through the crowd. They don’t actually look at what the people are staring at. They are doing their best to get through the crowd before Ace’s people notices that they’re gone. Valerie comes to the door and whistles, alerting the guards that Annie and Joy are getting away.
Annie and Joy get to the end of the crowd and see guards walking toward them. When they turn around and Annie drops the hammer. She lets go of Joy’s hand to pick it up and loses her. The deputy grabs Annie as she calls out to Joy. Joy looked up. She saw the Angel. Now she’s walking with the rest of the crowd following the statue.
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THOUGHTS
This is a very compelling season. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, they throw another twist at you. We really should have seen that art connection between Joy and Amity. Now that I look back, I feel like I missed a lot of signs. Although it’s clear now that Nadia has an important part to play and Ace will use Abdi to get her. Let’s hope Pop can save them both, but I doubt it.
Great homage to Misery when Annie found the sledgehammer. The thought of that movie scene with the sledgehammer still gives me chills. Lizzy Caplan is doing such an amazing job as Annie in Castle Rock. Kathy Bates won an Oscar for that role. I’m certain Caplan can win an Emmy for the same character. She’s amazing.
I would like to see how the Kid got from the present to the past and what kind of power he has that is captivating the towns. But I really don’t expect the writers to tell us.
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.
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