Castle Rock

The recently dissolved rundown town of Castle Rock, Maine is controlled by the Shawshank State Prison. It's the town's main employer. The warden commits suicide and the new warden Porter reopens an abandoned wing of the prison. Guard Dennis Zalewski finds a mystery prisoner (Bill Skarsgård) locked in a bunker who refuses to give his name and only says Henry Matthew Deaver. Henry Matthew Deaver (André Holland) is a defense lawyer in Texas. He returns to Castle Rock after Dennis calls him and takes up the mystery boy's case. His adoptive mother Ruth Deaver (Sissy Spacek) suffers from dementia and he's wrongly suspected in the death of his adoptive father. Alan Pangborn (Scott Glenn) is the former sheriff who has been living with Ruth. Henry's childhood neighbor friend Molly Strand (Melanie Lynskey) suffers from her own mental issues and takes illicit drugs to alleviate the symptoms. She intents on using her inheritance to renew the town. In the second season, nurse Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) is on the run with her daughter Joy (Elsie Fisher) and they arrive in Castle Rock. Pop Merrill (Tim Robbins) is the head of his crime family and adoptive father to Somali siblings, Abdi Omar and Dr. Nadia Omar.

This is an intriguing series especially for Stephen King fans who recognize various Easter eggs scattered all around town. The first season creates a nice murkiness which permeates this town and this series. The narrative gets a bit muddy. I would prefer a clearer story telling but it is intriguing nevertheless. The second season comes with a whole new story. It's an anthology series and I really like Lizzy Caplan's Annie Wilkes. Overall, it's one of the better TV series in the Stephen King world and fully supports his darker sensibilities. As with many shows nowadays, it's canceled after two seasons for whatever reason. This is a show that could have mined the King library for more stories.

It's a great show. Season 2 is quality. All the references to Stephen king books and how they tie in to the series is just brilliant. Lizzy makes a superb Annie Wilkes.

I wasn't going to write a review, but after seeing the majority of people giving this 5 stars or less, I felt like I had to. Preface - I am not an avid reader of King's books, but I appreciate the films I have seen. This show was well written, acted, and had really beautiful cinematic moments. And yes - it's confusing, but it all gets explained in episode 9 and 10. Now, if you're not a fan of mystery or supernatural-ish/alternate realities, this is not for you. And if you want an answer to something right away, forget it. In my opinion, I disagree with those stating that it's poorly paced, slow, boring and written badly. There is a reason why the show flows the way it does. It kept my attention the entire time, so much so, that I didn't ever look at my phone (that's saying a lot).

Stephen King isn't my favourite kind of writer, even for adaptations, however one could expect original material by him to have at least some kind of recognizable, coherent structure. This feels distinctly different even to someone with only passing knowledge of Stephen King stories, as it is clearly not an original. This series is full of a sense brooding and doom, however without any coherence or anything to justify one's interest, instead it does what is the norm nowadays in TV writing: it simply assumes one's interest, takes it for granted, because watching stuff is practically a civil duty nowadays. What one is fed then is merely a pastiche of vague thematic references to Stephen King stories.

Aside from lacking any hooks, and generally a sense of believability, it also has these little signs of inferior writing: when a prison guard walks around in the semi-dark with a drawn gun, while the alarm is blaring, a colleague silently creeps up on him from behind to touch him on the shoulder, and because this moment of "surprise" formally ends the clichéd moment of fake-tension, it is supposedly the fault of the guard with the gun when he reacts hostilely, rather than the idiot's for not announcing himself (or saying the other's name) like an intelligent human being. People behave as demanded by the structure, not by any sort of logic or realism. This sense of banality defines all the proceedings and characters.

If you have read The Dark Tower series, Needful Things and The Talisman, chances are you will 'get' Castle Rock. If not, you will probably sympathize with - or be one of - the many reviewers here who are fond of words like Plotless, Aimless, Boring and Confusing. If you liked those particular novels I urge you to watch this series, and dare you not to be intrigued by it's cleverness, complexity and continuity. Of course feel free to reach the same conclusions as those unfortunately lacking in understanding who gave Castle Rock the thumbs down, though I very much doubt you will. If you are fluent in the King universe, you CAN'T.

First off, this is NOT another Stranger Things. Nor is it IT. It's not quick, but the tension builds steadily. It's not action packed, but it's rich in intrigue. It's not a conventional jump-scare horror story scattered with random King references as many seemingly expected it to be. Yes, there are many shallow references to names and places familiar to King readers, but these just make up a thin pretty layer of glitter sprinkled on top of a thick dark writhing rope of interconnecting themes and subplots that keep the viewer guessing right until the end. What it is, is a dark, devilishly smart, adult, contemporary psychological thriller accurately set in the King universe.

The main deep references in Castle Rock, the conceptual ones, are unmistakably End-World / The Territories influenced. Amazingly the writers have even tied these concepts in with the effects of dementia, providing a grounded analogy that explains King's familiar concept of multiple worlds and timelines through the experience of Spacek's character in a subplot. This genius achievement in itself is worthy of at least 5 stars to anyone with half a brain.

The plot is complex and many stranded, unexpectedly divergent at times, yet never loses it's continuity - every digression always finds it's way back to where you left off. And the twists are unexpected, you won't see them coming until they have sped past. I recall 4 major *gasp* moments throughout the series which caught me by surprise. Without giving anything away, it's fair to say the storyline itself is the biggest twist of all, a twist that winds through from start to finish like a steel cable - and one that asks the two biggest questions: IS he or ISN'T he? and: Who plays those Jerry Bledsoe changes daddy-o?

I don't need to tell you about the cast and crew, there are some big names and they all do their jobs very well, with King watching over the whole process. Cinematography, direction, sound, score and production - all exceptional for a TV series, it's all big budget movie quality. Season 2, as I understand it, will be a different story that has interplay with some of the same characters as in the first. Highly recommended to seasoned King readers and anyone who is thinking of picking up The Dark Tower or The Talisman for the first time.

Go then, there are other worlds than these.