Hulu’s “Castle Rock” Is Still the King of TV Chillers

Having just started its second season with a threeepisode premiere this anthology now stars Lizzy Caplan pictured at top and follows her character Annie and Annieamp8217s daughter Joy Elsie Fisher on their apparently neverending road trip across America at least until it comes to an abrupt stop in the titular town of Castle Rock Maine amp160At first Annie seems innocuous enough as the nurse with the very specific walk and the constant need to relocate but as time goes on she becomes less and less stable and her origins seem more and more sinister amp160Meanwhile Joy is trying her damnedest to just be a teenager who has some semblance of a social life amp160It becomes very easy to see Annie as the bad guy at first and many times I myself thought amp8220That poor girl Joy having to deal with that bs from her mother all the timeamp8221 amp160However by first episodeamp8217s end it becomes clear that however cuckoo Annie might actually be this is still a world of Stephen Kingamp8217s making which means Annieamp8217s going to end up being the least of everyoneamp8217s worriesThe coolest thing about Castle Rock is that connection to the Kingamp8217s lore amp160Even for those not as wellversed in his work as a hardcore King fan might be there are enough references and connections for even the most average of viewers to catch his horror novel vibe amp160Couple this with the influence of JJ Abramsamp8217 amp8220raise many questions but ration out the answersamp8221 style of storytelling and suddenly Castle Rock becomes a bevy of supernatural horror possibilities amp160And Annie amp160She may possibly be the unexpected hero of the series complex as she may be but weamp8217ll come back to thatThe aforementioned connections are literally all over the place stretching beyond the spooky borders of Castle Rock and into the even spookier territory of Jerusalemamp8217s Lot another town in Kingamp8217s universe amp160Along with another nearby town by the name of Derry both Jerusalemamp8217s Lot aka Salemamp8217s Lot and Castle Rock are part of a trio of fictional towns that serve as the main settings for a number of Kingamp8217s works amp160Castle Rock however serves as the fictional home for way more of the horror novelistamp8217s IP which includes but isnamp8217t limited to The Dead Zone Cujo amp8220Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemptionamp8221 and Needful ThingsAnnie herself is a connection as well as her last name is Wilkes making her the spiritual reincarnation of Annie Wilkes from the 1990 film Misery brought to awardwinning life by Kathy Bates amp160Both are nurses who I think itamp8217s safe to say hadhave serious mental problems amp160The difference is Caplanamp8217s Annie comes across as a wellintentioned mother with a dark past and a penchant for ending up in shitty scenarios looney as she may actually be while Batemanamp8217s Annie was a straight up kidnappermurderer whose intentions were wholly selfish amp160Plus she didnamp8217t have a daughter amp160This story is similar in nature to the previous season in which Jane Levy played Jackie Torrance the granddaughter of Jack Nicholsonamp8217s Jack Torrance character from The Shining another classic film based on one of Kingamp8217s iconic works amp160Additionally much of last seasonamp8217s plot revolved around Shawshank prison another wellknown location in the Stephen King multiverseSpeaking of Shawshank Tim Robbins who played Andy Dufresne in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption also stars in this season of Castle Rock as Reginald amp8220Popamp8221 Merrill whoamp8217s basically the unofficial leader of the town of Castle Rock amp160Most of his storyline revolves around the conflict between his son amp8220Aceamp8221 Merrill Paul Sparks and his Somali foster son Abdi Barkhad Abdi both of whom are adultsI think what works for Castle Rock besides all it references is the fact that it kind of uses what we think we know against us amp160My initial impression even before making the Misery connection was that Caplanamp8217s character was ultimately going to end up being the classic horror movie mom that her daughter Joy would ultimately have to rebel againstescape from amp160Now Iamp8217m not saying that this wonamp8217t be the case weamp8217re only four episodes in right into the second season at this point but spoiler alert people are dying and coming back to life and not in a fun way so even though she does lie a lot and seems crazy as hell sometimes Annieamp8217s intentions seem legitimately good which drops her a few notches on my amp8220terrifying things or people to be worried aboutamp8221 listThat subversion of what I expected based on the familiar characters and themes I was able to recognize gave the writers an opportunity to flip the proverbial script on usamp160 I39m happy to say that they took that opportunity and ran with itSo besides the excellent writing great pacing and ominous soundtrack the committed performances of the actors involved really put this one over the topamp160 Lizzy Caplan is captivating as hell and Tim Robbins amp160Well heamp8217s Tim frikkinamp8217 Robbins amp160Heamp8217s barely breaking a sweatAll I know is much like a great horror novel Iamp8217m in no rush to put this one down though I canamp8217t wait to see how it endsamp160 Waiting between each episode Hulustyle is half the funamp160 Had the dropped it all at once my fullseason Castle Rock binge would already be in my rearview mirror and where would that leave meClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Hulu’s “Castle Rock” Is Still the King of TV Chillers

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Ainsley Andrade

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Hulu’s “Castle Rock” Is Still the King of TV Chillers

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Ainsley Andrade

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

Cookies