[7.3/10] I’m colder on Twin Peaks than most, but one of the things I always admired about the show was how good it was at being unnerving. I didn’t necessarily love every character or every scene or every bit of the tone of that show, but when it wanted to scare you, to give you that sense of foreboding, to chill you, it 100% knew how to do it.
I’m coming to feel the same way about Castle Rock. It is a wildly uneven show, with performances, writing, and scenes that vary widely in quality. But most of the time, it knows how to do a scare, to creep you out, and even disturb you without getting too gory with it, which is impressive.
The anchor for that thus far has been “The Kid”, who’s already been a sort of harbinger of evil thus far, but who, after being let out of prison, is left to roam freely about town and (maybe inadvertently, maybe purposefully) sows chaos where he goes. The scene where he stalks his way into a quiet family home and watches a kid’s birthday party is creepy and unnerving in and of itself. But when his very presence seems to spark a change in them, leading to something legitimately deadly that the audience only experiences in audio, the episode becomes truly disturbing and truly haunting.
That’s been the benefit of Bill Skaarsgard on this show. While some of his performance is makeup, he has this fey, but weird stillness in his performance that makes The Kid a little off from minute one. Much of this episode is about his misadventures and the problems his presence causes once he’s let out of prison, and the way his slow-spun, flat affect terror is allowed to be unfurled across Castle Rock is intriguing.
What’s more, while the show doesn't come out and explain everything, it drops some serious hints as to what’s going on in Castle Rock, and potentially with Henry. Most of this is still speculation, but there’s strong suggestions The Kid is a literal embodiment of evil, one potentially affiliated with the devil, whose presence literally caused the “bad old days” of Castle Rock. There’s a suggestion that some combination of Warden Lacey and Father Deaver realized this and locked him away in order to try to save the town from such misery and spare others the same. And there’s the hint, based on The Kid’s piano playing recognition that accords with the doctor’s call for familiarity, that Father Deaver had The Kid locked up in the family garage, and that maybe it was Henry’s proximity to him that caused him to do whatever it is he did back in 1991.
That’s a lot (and again, a lot of it is speculation), but it’s nice to see the show having the ability to move forward and not play hide the ball now that more of what’s going is far clearer. I wouldn’t say that the central mystery of the show is solved, and lord knows there will be more twists and big reveals to come, but this at least puts enough major details into focus to make it feel like the show won’t be teasing us for ten episodes, and that it can capitalize on things it had to hide under a bushel previously.
I also liked the episode’s quiet parallels between The Kid and Ruth Deaver. The idea that these are two people who can’t control the consequences of their actions, who throw their caretakers into knots trying to keep up with them, is an intriguing one. Sissy Spacek and Scott Glenn continue to be powerhouses, and seeing them play off one another is a consistent highlight, especially their little “getting ready for the ceremony” moment.
Its disruption is a little corny, but also, again, unnerving in a good way. I’m not a huge fan of this episode’s decision to make Henry’s tinnitus suddenly a thing out of nowhere, but I appreciate the suggestion of some disruption hitting Castle Rock, either a literal one in the form of The Kid’s psychic effects, or a more figurative one in two of its residents and one former resident dealing with the pain of an illness in the family, and the sound design used to convey that (another Twin Peaks signature).
There’s still some less-than-great stuff here. Jackie Torrence explaining how she’s connected to The Shining is cornball as hell, and there’s still some dull or overwritten scenes packed in here and there. But the combination of this episode going full horror, the interesting parallels between Ruth and The Kid, and nailing down both the literal and metaphorical sides of the dark past Castle Rock is trying to outrun give it a real boost.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-08-24T20:33:38Z
[7.3/10] I’m colder on Twin Peaks than most, but one of the things I always admired about the show was how good it was at being unnerving. I didn’t necessarily love every character or every scene or every bit of the tone of that show, but when it wanted to scare you, to give you that sense of foreboding, to chill you, it 100% knew how to do it.
I’m coming to feel the same way about Castle Rock. It is a wildly uneven show, with performances, writing, and scenes that vary widely in quality. But most of the time, it knows how to do a scare, to creep you out, and even disturb you without getting too gory with it, which is impressive.
The anchor for that thus far has been “The Kid”, who’s already been a sort of harbinger of evil thus far, but who, after being let out of prison, is left to roam freely about town and (maybe inadvertently, maybe purposefully) sows chaos where he goes. The scene where he stalks his way into a quiet family home and watches a kid’s birthday party is creepy and unnerving in and of itself. But when his very presence seems to spark a change in them, leading to something legitimately deadly that the audience only experiences in audio, the episode becomes truly disturbing and truly haunting.
That’s been the benefit of Bill Skaarsgard on this show. While some of his performance is makeup, he has this fey, but weird stillness in his performance that makes The Kid a little off from minute one. Much of this episode is about his misadventures and the problems his presence causes once he’s let out of prison, and the way his slow-spun, flat affect terror is allowed to be unfurled across Castle Rock is intriguing.
What’s more, while the show doesn't come out and explain everything, it drops some serious hints as to what’s going on in Castle Rock, and potentially with Henry. Most of this is still speculation, but there’s strong suggestions The Kid is a literal embodiment of evil, one potentially affiliated with the devil, whose presence literally caused the “bad old days” of Castle Rock. There’s a suggestion that some combination of Warden Lacey and Father Deaver realized this and locked him away in order to try to save the town from such misery and spare others the same. And there’s the hint, based on The Kid’s piano playing recognition that accords with the doctor’s call for familiarity, that Father Deaver had The Kid locked up in the family garage, and that maybe it was Henry’s proximity to him that caused him to do whatever it is he did back in 1991.
That’s a lot (and again, a lot of it is speculation), but it’s nice to see the show having the ability to move forward and not play hide the ball now that more of what’s going is far clearer. I wouldn’t say that the central mystery of the show is solved, and lord knows there will be more twists and big reveals to come, but this at least puts enough major details into focus to make it feel like the show won’t be teasing us for ten episodes, and that it can capitalize on things it had to hide under a bushel previously.
I also liked the episode’s quiet parallels between The Kid and Ruth Deaver. The idea that these are two people who can’t control the consequences of their actions, who throw their caretakers into knots trying to keep up with them, is an intriguing one. Sissy Spacek and Scott Glenn continue to be powerhouses, and seeing them play off one another is a consistent highlight, especially their little “getting ready for the ceremony” moment.
Its disruption is a little corny, but also, again, unnerving in a good way. I’m not a huge fan of this episode’s decision to make Henry’s tinnitus suddenly a thing out of nowhere, but I appreciate the suggestion of some disruption hitting Castle Rock, either a literal one in the form of The Kid’s psychic effects, or a more figurative one in two of its residents and one former resident dealing with the pain of an illness in the family, and the sound design used to convey that (another Twin Peaks signature).
There’s still some less-than-great stuff here. Jackie Torrence explaining how she’s connected to The Shining is cornball as hell, and there’s still some dull or overwritten scenes packed in here and there. But the combination of this episode going full horror, the interesting parallels between Ruth and The Kid, and nailing down both the literal and metaphorical sides of the dark past Castle Rock is trying to outrun give it a real boost.