This season started out very strong, but devolved into a mess in the second half in my opinion. I think what was successful about the first season is that, although somewhat supernatural, it felt as if everything that happened was at least somewhat grounded in the realm of believability, which made it all the more unnerving to watch unfold. The moment season 2 of Castle Rock went astray was when the resurrections started to happen, and the compelling story of Annie Wilkes and her daughter was lost in the muddled plotline of a 1600's cult possessing the entire town. I binged the first five episodes excitedly, and then found myself groaning at where the story was heading as entire plot was derailed to fit in this bizarre cult angle. Somehow they manage to take over the entirety of Castle Rock, and the characters that we have been following are thrown into this chaos that leaves all of their stories half-resolved. Even worse, all of this is swept under the rug early on in the last episode, and the season drags out in the aftermath between Annie and Joy--a relationship which could have played out in the exact same way without the cult resurrection plotline having happened. In the end I was left wondering why we followed Merrill family at all, given Nadja, Abdi, even Chance were completely overlooked in the resolution and were basically only there to blow up the cult in the end.
Perhaps it was a problem with source material and the writers would have been better off using a different King story to blend with Annie Wilkes, one that was less outlandish and out of left field. As it stands, while there are plenty of riveting moments scattered throughout, Castle Rock season 2 is a muddled, confused story that lost it's direction halfway through. 6/10
Review by MaxBlockedParentSpoilers2021-09-09T03:26:03Z
-SPOILERS-
This season started out very strong, but devolved into a mess in the second half in my opinion. I think what was successful about the first season is that, although somewhat supernatural, it felt as if everything that happened was at least somewhat grounded in the realm of believability, which made it all the more unnerving to watch unfold. The moment season 2 of Castle Rock went astray was when the resurrections started to happen, and the compelling story of Annie Wilkes and her daughter was lost in the muddled plotline of a 1600's cult possessing the entire town. I binged the first five episodes excitedly, and then found myself groaning at where the story was heading as entire plot was derailed to fit in this bizarre cult angle. Somehow they manage to take over the entirety of Castle Rock, and the characters that we have been following are thrown into this chaos that leaves all of their stories half-resolved. Even worse, all of this is swept under the rug early on in the last episode, and the season drags out in the aftermath between Annie and Joy--a relationship which could have played out in the exact same way without the cult resurrection plotline having happened. In the end I was left wondering why we followed Merrill family at all, given Nadja, Abdi, even Chance were completely overlooked in the resolution and were basically only there to blow up the cult in the end.
Perhaps it was a problem with source material and the writers would have been better off using a different King story to blend with Annie Wilkes, one that was less outlandish and out of left field. As it stands, while there are plenty of riveting moments scattered throughout, Castle Rock season 2 is a muddled, confused story that lost it's direction halfway through. 6/10