Castle Rock: Season 2 Review
8.5/10. A darkly haunting amalgamation of further aspects from King’s universe *MINOR SPOILERS*
Castle Rock season 1 ended with wildfires close by - much like the final events in the book ‘Salem’s Lot – now, in season 2, here we are at the Lot…
As an anthology series, season 2 moves events to ‘Salem’s Lot intertwined with the origin story of the formidable Annie Wilkes of Misery fame (here in her 30s, so pre-Paul Sheldon), in a genius move. It’s not quite as strong as season 1, with a less mysterious edge, but is still a darkly haunting amalgamation of aspects from King’s universe.
Season 2 commences with Annie and her daughter, Joy, living on the lam for many years. After an accident they find themselves in Castle Rock and neighbouring ‘Salem’s Lot, where Annie finds work as a nurse to enable her to steal medication needed to muffle her spiralling hallucinations. An unfortunate incident with an ice cream scoop leads to Annie unwittingly awakening evil, and something is happening at the nearby Marsten House…
Annie is brought to life in a nuanced performance by Lizzy Caplan. Kathy Bates left big shoes to fill, but Lizzy does so admirably - she has her walk, mannerisms, and phrases down perfectly. We delve into Annie’s backstory as a child, which gives a different meaning to the famous phrase from the original Misery book - “I’m your No. 1 fan.”
Annie and Joy’s story merges with other inhabitants of the town, including Pop Merrill, his nephews, Chris and Ace Merrill, and pop’s two adopted Somalian orphan refugees, now adults and the complex relationship therein. Yusra Warsama as Nadia and Barkhad Abdi as Abdi (excellent in Captain Philips) are well cast as the Somalian siblings, and we learn about their childhood, how they met Pop and casualties of war.
Castle Rock once again combines elements from King’s universe into this dark web with characters and settings from Salem’s Lot, Needful things, Misery, etc (The Mellow Tiger, The Marsten House, the Emporium Galorium), and delves further into King lore. Great casting of Tim Robbins as Pop, who was escapee extraordinaire Andy in The Shawshank Redemption.
The story relates back to season 1 in a few ways, Annie mentions to Joy that she’s heard kids have vanished into thin air, sees a poster for missing Henry Deaver, and Joy’s friends mention the warden of Shawshank killed himself at the lake. There is also a major revelation about ‘the kid’ (a creepy turn from Bill Skarsgard) from season 1 and his connection and influence on this season, told in flashbacks - very far back - and linking to the present.
The book ‘Salem’s Lot, is a major focus and the short story prequel, Jerusalem’s Lot, reveals a cult of witches founded the town, and was abandoned for the first time in 1789. Flashbacks in the show go back even further to give us the town’s cult beginning in 1619 …
A visit to ‘the kid’s’ previous cell at Shawshank prison raises questions related to season one’s ending. What we see here may be because this season is not following on from season 1, but actually set before?
Elsie Fisher gives a strong performance as Joy, struggling with her life as she approaches adulthood and stuck on the run with Annie, who is now on the slippery slope to being Paul Sheldon’s biggest fan, following the discovery of a ‘Misery’s Quest’ book at a motel after leaving Castle Rock …
The New Jerusalem.