‘Castle Rock’ Reaps A ‘Harvest’ Of Sorrow
By Chris Evangelista/Aug. 8, 2018 7:00 am EST
Welcome to our spoiler-filled Castle Rock reviews, in which we explore Hulu’s new Stephen King-inspired series. (If you’re looking for a spoiler-free review of the show, click here). This week we look at episode five, “Harvest.”
Harvest
Things have turned melancholy in Castle Rock – not that they were very cheery to begin with. But this week’s episode, “Harvest”, seems awash in regret and sorrow. Everyone here seems to be going through hell in their own specific ways, and to further the whole “going through hell” allusion, there’s a raging forest fire off in the distance that no one seems to be able to put out.As the fire burns on Black Mountain, the sky of Castle Rock takes on a sickly, orange tinge. You can practically smell the smoke in the air. Five days have passed since the shoot-out at Shawshank, and Henry – who was dead-set on getting the hell out of Castle Rock immediately – is still around.But before we see Henry in the present, we first visit him in the past. In 2016, precisely, where he’s in the midst of a check-up. He undergoes a series of tests, including a CT Scan, all in the hopes of finding out why he has a mysterious ringing sound in his ear. The tests reveal nothing.Now, here in Castle Rock, the ringing has returned. Of course, that ringing could be blamed on the shotgun that went off right next to Henry’s ear during the prison shootout, but still, there’s something amiss here. A ringing sound has plagued Henry in the past – so what could it all mean?The ear-ringing isn’t the only problem Henry is dealing with. His father’s recently unearthed casket – waiting for burial in a new grave – has begun leaking, due to the extremely pleasant sounding phenomenon “exploding casket syndrome” – which is very real; you can read all the grisly details about it here!Since Henry is sticking around longer, he’s set up security cameras all over his mother’s house to better keep track of her, and to make sure she doesn’t wander out of the house in a fit of dementia. (The security feed can be monitored via cell phone.)One thing Henry doesn’t have to worry about is going through with a hearing to get the Kid released. After the massacre at Shawshank, the Warden has had enough – she sets the Kid free, into Henry’s care. This is good news for the Kid, bad news for pretty much everyone in Castle Rock.Henry brings Kid to a doctor for a check-up, and assumes he can just casually leave the Kid at the doctor’s office. When that doesn’t work out, the doctor says she can probably get the Kid a bed in mental hospital Juniper Hill, but it’ll take a few days. Which means Henry has to stash the Kid somewhere. Enter Molly Strand. Molly’s office is inside a vast, abandoned shirt factory, so she has plenty of room. She offers to let the Kid crash there, which Henry seems a bit nervous about. And who can blame him? The Kid is, after all, kind of creepy.And dangerous.
Are You the Devil?
After leaving the hospital, Henry heads back to his mother’s home, and has phone conversation with someone we can assume is his wife before he gets there. Whether or not they’re still married remains to be seen. But during the course of the conversation, it becomes clear Henry has a son – Wendell. And he wants Wendell to head to Castle Rock to spend time with his grandmother before her mind goes completely.Entering Ruth’s house, Henry is surprised to find Molly there waiting for him. She tells him she entered using the key hidden on the porch – the same key she used years ago to sneak into this very same house and kill Henry’s father. Molly runs down the events of the day involving the Kid, and then stresses that the Kid “feels wrong.” She once again attempts to explain to Henry her extra-sensory abilities – something Henry not unkindly tries to shrug off.Here, Melanie Lynskey gets a chance to show why she’s such a talented performer. “Oh, you don’t believe me…,” she says, and you can feel the heartbreak in the way Lynskey delivers this. Heartbreak not just at Henry – the man she cares a great deal for – not believing her, but also at the fact that she once again is unable to convey her psychic abilities properly. The inflection in Lynskey’s voice is the inflection of someone who has said these very words dozens of times before, to dozens of people. People who refuse to believe.Rather than waste time arguing, Molly proceeds to list a bunch of facts that she’s seemingly plucking right from Henry’s mind – she knows his ear is ringing; she knows he feels guilt over the clients he couldn’t save, and over the fact that he’s neglected his son. And she knows that he hasn’t eaten all day.Henry is (understandably) stunned, and Molly caps things off with a warning: “I’m telling you, there is something wrong with that Kid.” As if on cue, the Kid enters the room, and Henry decides it would be best if he stayed here for the night rather than going back with Molly.While Henry is willing to let the Kid stay, he also is taking Molly’s warning seriously. So much so that rather than let the Kid sleep in the house, he directs him to sleep in the unattached garage out in the yard. A garage that happens to have an old piano – which the Kid inexplicably knows how to play. “I remember…,” the Kid says, and it’s clear from the way Bill Skarsgard delivers this line that piano playing isn’t the thing the Kid is remembering here. There’s something else. But what?Long after Henry has turned in for the night, the Kid remains awake. And he’s not alone. Out on the bridge, a drunken Alan pries off the plaque with his name on it and tosses it into the river. (Side-note: based on the dedication date on the plaque, we now have a confirmation of when this story is taking place – October, 2018.) After the plaque-tossing, Alan gets a notification on his phone. It’s the security camera footage from around Ruth’s house, which is displaying the Kid creeping around outside.As has been made clear in previous episodes, Alan knows who the Kid is, and he’s understandably not cool with this creepy menace skulking around. Rushing home, Alan encounters the Kid in the woods, and reveals something shocking: 27 years ago, when Alan was still sheriff, he pulled over Warden Lacy. This was the night Lacy first captured the Kid, and at the time, the Kid was in the trunk of Lacy’s car. Alan discovered this fact, and let Lacy go, because Lacy convinced him the Kid was an evil force that needed to be contained. Alan underlines this story with one final shocking fact: even though this event happened over two decades ago, the Kid hasn’t “aged one goddamn day.““Are you the devil?” Alan asks.“No,” the Kid replies after a beat.“Then what the fuck are you?” Alan demands, before breaking down into a story about how he spent his life trying to do the right thing, and it brought him nothing good. In fact, it only resulted in more misery – like the woman he loves slowly losing her mind.The Kid cuts him off, and claims that he can help Ruth. The episode closes with the Kid’s ominous, enigmatic words: “You have no idea what’s happening here, do you?“No, Alan doesn’t. And neither do I. Just what is your deal, Kid?
‘Castle Rock’ Reaps A ‘Harvest’ Of Sorrow
By Chris Evangelista/Aug. 8, 2018 7:00 am EST
Welcome to our spoiler-filled Castle Rock reviews, in which we explore Hulu’s new Stephen King-inspired series. (If you’re looking for a spoiler-free review of the show, click here). This week we look at episode five, “Harvest.”
Harvest
Things have turned melancholy in Castle Rock – not that they were very cheery to begin with. But this week’s episode, “Harvest”, seems awash in regret and sorrow. Everyone here seems to be going through hell in their own specific ways, and to further the whole “going through hell” allusion, there’s a raging forest fire off in the distance that no one seems to be able to put out.As the fire burns on Black Mountain, the sky of Castle Rock takes on a sickly, orange tinge. You can practically smell the smoke in the air. Five days have passed since the shoot-out at Shawshank, and Henry – who was dead-set on getting the hell out of Castle Rock immediately – is still around.But before we see Henry in the present, we first visit him in the past. In 2016, precisely, where he’s in the midst of a check-up. He undergoes a series of tests, including a CT Scan, all in the hopes of finding out why he has a mysterious ringing sound in his ear. The tests reveal nothing.Now, here in Castle Rock, the ringing has returned. Of course, that ringing could be blamed on the shotgun that went off right next to Henry’s ear during the prison shootout, but still, there’s something amiss here. A ringing sound has plagued Henry in the past – so what could it all mean?The ear-ringing isn’t the only problem Henry is dealing with. His father’s recently unearthed casket – waiting for burial in a new grave – has begun leaking, due to the extremely pleasant sounding phenomenon “exploding casket syndrome” – which is very real; you can read all the grisly details about it here!Since Henry is sticking around longer, he’s set up security cameras all over his mother’s house to better keep track of her, and to make sure she doesn’t wander out of the house in a fit of dementia. (The security feed can be monitored via cell phone.)One thing Henry doesn’t have to worry about is going through with a hearing to get the Kid released. After the massacre at Shawshank, the Warden has had enough – she sets the Kid free, into Henry’s care. This is good news for the Kid, bad news for pretty much everyone in Castle Rock.Henry brings Kid to a doctor for a check-up, and assumes he can just casually leave the Kid at the doctor’s office. When that doesn’t work out, the doctor says she can probably get the Kid a bed in mental hospital Juniper Hill, but it’ll take a few days. Which means Henry has to stash the Kid somewhere. Enter Molly Strand. Molly’s office is inside a vast, abandoned shirt factory, so she has plenty of room. She offers to let the Kid crash there, which Henry seems a bit nervous about. And who can blame him? The Kid is, after all, kind of creepy.And dangerous.
Pictures in a Book
Are You the Devil?
After leaving the hospital, Henry heads back to his mother’s home, and has phone conversation with someone we can assume is his wife before he gets there. Whether or not they’re still married remains to be seen. But during the course of the conversation, it becomes clear Henry has a son – Wendell. And he wants Wendell to head to Castle Rock to spend time with his grandmother before her mind goes completely.Entering Ruth’s house, Henry is surprised to find Molly there waiting for him. She tells him she entered using the key hidden on the porch – the same key she used years ago to sneak into this very same house and kill Henry’s father. Molly runs down the events of the day involving the Kid, and then stresses that the Kid “feels wrong.” She once again attempts to explain to Henry her extra-sensory abilities – something Henry not unkindly tries to shrug off.Here, Melanie Lynskey gets a chance to show why she’s such a talented performer. “Oh, you don’t believe me…,” she says, and you can feel the heartbreak in the way Lynskey delivers this. Heartbreak not just at Henry – the man she cares a great deal for – not believing her, but also at the fact that she once again is unable to convey her psychic abilities properly. The inflection in Lynskey’s voice is the inflection of someone who has said these very words dozens of times before, to dozens of people. People who refuse to believe.Rather than waste time arguing, Molly proceeds to list a bunch of facts that she’s seemingly plucking right from Henry’s mind – she knows his ear is ringing; she knows he feels guilt over the clients he couldn’t save, and over the fact that he’s neglected his son. And she knows that he hasn’t eaten all day.Henry is (understandably) stunned, and Molly caps things off with a warning: “I’m telling you, there is something wrong with that Kid.” As if on cue, the Kid enters the room, and Henry decides it would be best if he stayed here for the night rather than going back with Molly.While Henry is willing to let the Kid stay, he also is taking Molly’s warning seriously. So much so that rather than let the Kid sleep in the house, he directs him to sleep in the unattached garage out in the yard. A garage that happens to have an old piano – which the Kid inexplicably knows how to play. “I remember…,” the Kid says, and it’s clear from the way Bill Skarsgard delivers this line that piano playing isn’t the thing the Kid is remembering here. There’s something else. But what?Long after Henry has turned in for the night, the Kid remains awake. And he’s not alone. Out on the bridge, a drunken Alan pries off the plaque with his name on it and tosses it into the river. (Side-note: based on the dedication date on the plaque, we now have a confirmation of when this story is taking place – October, 2018.) After the plaque-tossing, Alan gets a notification on his phone. It’s the security camera footage from around Ruth’s house, which is displaying the Kid creeping around outside.As has been made clear in previous episodes, Alan knows who the Kid is, and he’s understandably not cool with this creepy menace skulking around. Rushing home, Alan encounters the Kid in the woods, and reveals something shocking: 27 years ago, when Alan was still sheriff, he pulled over Warden Lacy. This was the night Lacy first captured the Kid, and at the time, the Kid was in the trunk of Lacy’s car. Alan discovered this fact, and let Lacy go, because Lacy convinced him the Kid was an evil force that needed to be contained. Alan underlines this story with one final shocking fact: even though this event happened over two decades ago, the Kid hasn’t “aged one goddamn day.““Are you the devil?” Alan asks.“No,” the Kid replies after a beat.“Then what the fuck are you?” Alan demands, before breaking down into a story about how he spent his life trying to do the right thing, and it brought him nothing good. In fact, it only resulted in more misery – like the woman he loves slowly losing her mind.The Kid cuts him off, and claims that he can help Ruth. The episode closes with the Kid’s ominous, enigmatic words: “You have no idea what’s happening here, do you?“No, Alan doesn’t. And neither do I. Just what is your deal, Kid?
