Castle Rock: Season Two
January 11, 2020 2:04 PM - Season 2 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Season two of Hulu's horror anthology building on characters and settings created by Stephen King. A feud between warring clans comes to a boil when nurse and budding psychopath Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) gets waylaid in Castle Rock.
Oh good, a thread. Yeah, I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than I did the first season which sort of lost its path halfway through and oh hey there's a schisma and that's where the Kid is from and a temporally displaced grandma and none of it really quite managed to hold together or stick the landing.
This? Yeah, it had a bunch of plot threads, yeah there were a few minor storylines that didn't really resolve and some major storylines that were left sufficiently vague as to allow another season, but in general I sort of could tell you a consistent narrative about the season and what happened and manage to hit all the important bits.
At least 2 completely standout episodes, though, both focusing on Annie Wilkes' character, and Lizzy Caplan just completely nailed it.
I had to chuckle about Tim Robbins going back to Shawshank, and the Merrill end of the story was sort of obvious and annoying until the Marstenite story overwhelmed it, so it was kind of clear that the Merrills were just sort of placeholders until the second half of the season.
posted by Kyol at 9:04 AM on January 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
This? Yeah, it had a bunch of plot threads, yeah there were a few minor storylines that didn't really resolve and some major storylines that were left sufficiently vague as to allow another season, but in general I sort of could tell you a consistent narrative about the season and what happened and manage to hit all the important bits.
At least 2 completely standout episodes, though, both focusing on Annie Wilkes' character, and Lizzy Caplan just completely nailed it.
I had to chuckle about Tim Robbins going back to Shawshank, and the Merrill end of the story was sort of obvious and annoying until the Marstenite story overwhelmed it, so it was kind of clear that the Merrills were just sort of placeholders until the second half of the season.
posted by Kyol at 9:04 AM on January 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm on episode four now and it is substantially improved. I don't even mind the accumulating craziness, because this time, it's being parceled out bit by bit, instead of being dumped out like the contents of an overstuffed bag.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:25 AM on January 13, 2020
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:25 AM on January 13, 2020
I thought it was a great season, a real improvement over the first. Not going to spoil it, but they nail the ending in my opinion.
posted by Catblack at 11:39 AM on January 13, 2020
posted by Catblack at 11:39 AM on January 13, 2020
Will this season make sense for folks who haven’t watched the first one?
posted by skycrashesdown at 12:17 PM on January 13, 2020
posted by skycrashesdown at 12:17 PM on January 13, 2020
I appreciate ya, but you can spoil it. Them's the rules in FanFare! I wouldn't be here if I didn't accept that risk.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:58 PM on January 13, 2020
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:58 PM on January 13, 2020
Will this season make sense for folks who haven’t watched the first one?
Absolutely! New stories focused in different characters in the Stephen King universe.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:58 PM on January 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Will this season make sense for folks who haven’t watched the first one?
Absolutely! New stories focused in different characters in the Stephen King universe.
That's true up until the point where it isn't. Season one does end up getting tied into this story, but I think the overall story should still work for anyone who hasn't seen S1.
posted by Uncle Ira at 3:10 PM on January 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
Absolutely! New stories focused in different characters in the Stephen King universe.
That's true up until the point where it isn't. Season one does end up getting tied into this story, but I think the overall story should still work for anyone who hasn't seen S1.
posted by Uncle Ira at 3:10 PM on January 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
So since this _is_ FanFare and spoilers aren't forbidden, lemme see if I got this straight at a high level:
In season 1 it's revealed that the wardens at Shawshank had been keeping the Kid prisoner off the books in a deep dark cage off in a disused wing. Henry Deaver is called in to town (slash stays in town after visiting his dear old mother, his motivation here isn't super important) to legally represent the Kid once he is discovered after the old warden (Terry O'Quinn) kills himself. There's a whole bunch of supernatural happenings with Henry's mother and stepfather (the sheriff) trying to explain how Henry's dad disappeared and at the end of the season it sort of is explained that the Kid is supernatural and crosses universes and blah blah schisma whatever. There was a lot of story there, but not a lot of it really seemed to resolve very well. But at the root of it there's this creepy Kid in the middle of all the plot threads, although honestly he just sort of _exists_ rather than instigates anything.
(specific episode season 2 spoilers follow)
Season 2 episode 7, there's a flashback to a French colony that is struggling and ultimately blames a young woman and her lover (the priest?) for their troubles, they get kicked out of the settlement and meet an angel who is revealed to be The Kid who gives them a bounty and makes their fields fertile, blah blah blah. Having won over the colonists, they burn the village elders at the stake, evict the non-believers, and live la vida cultista for a while until the woman decides that what The Kid wants is a mass sacrifice so they can return in a better time 400 years later, "now".
(higher level season 2 spoilers follow)
Jump forward to the current era and there's some back and forth with the resurrected colonists / body snatching Marstenites trying to take over Pop Merrill who purchased the sheriff and warden's letters when they died so the cultists can be reconnected with their Angel, The Kid. Eventually they find out where their angel is trapped and cart him through town and Supernatural Happenings Occur.
Only the bit in the middle where Pop Merrill is investigating the warden's letters and goes down to the cage _really_ ties back to the first season, all the rest of it is fairly self contained to the second season and I'm not sure really needs background from the first season to make sense?
I mean, I'm not sure I'd blame anyone for not wanting to watch the first season, despite their best efforts it sort of dodged any responsibility for answering the questions they'd set up. The second season did a much better job of following through although some of the surprises were so well telegraphed that they probably only resolved them out of some sense of obligation.
But I totally didn't expect the last 5 minutes of the season. *pow* that got me. 100% Lizzy Caplan selling that, too.
posted by Kyol at 7:57 AM on January 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
In season 1 it's revealed that the wardens at Shawshank had been keeping the Kid prisoner off the books in a deep dark cage off in a disused wing. Henry Deaver is called in to town (slash stays in town after visiting his dear old mother, his motivation here isn't super important) to legally represent the Kid once he is discovered after the old warden (Terry O'Quinn) kills himself. There's a whole bunch of supernatural happenings with Henry's mother and stepfather (the sheriff) trying to explain how Henry's dad disappeared and at the end of the season it sort of is explained that the Kid is supernatural and crosses universes and blah blah schisma whatever. There was a lot of story there, but not a lot of it really seemed to resolve very well. But at the root of it there's this creepy Kid in the middle of all the plot threads, although honestly he just sort of _exists_ rather than instigates anything.
(specific episode season 2 spoilers follow)
Season 2 episode 7, there's a flashback to a French colony that is struggling and ultimately blames a young woman and her lover (the priest?) for their troubles, they get kicked out of the settlement and meet an angel who is revealed to be The Kid who gives them a bounty and makes their fields fertile, blah blah blah. Having won over the colonists, they burn the village elders at the stake, evict the non-believers, and live la vida cultista for a while until the woman decides that what The Kid wants is a mass sacrifice so they can return in a better time 400 years later, "now".
(higher level season 2 spoilers follow)
Jump forward to the current era and there's some back and forth with the resurrected colonists / body snatching Marstenites trying to take over Pop Merrill who purchased the sheriff and warden's letters when they died so the cultists can be reconnected with their Angel, The Kid. Eventually they find out where their angel is trapped and cart him through town and Supernatural Happenings Occur.
Only the bit in the middle where Pop Merrill is investigating the warden's letters and goes down to the cage _really_ ties back to the first season, all the rest of it is fairly self contained to the second season and I'm not sure really needs background from the first season to make sense?
I mean, I'm not sure I'd blame anyone for not wanting to watch the first season, despite their best efforts it sort of dodged any responsibility for answering the questions they'd set up. The second season did a much better job of following through although some of the surprises were so well telegraphed that they probably only resolved them out of some sense of obligation.
But I totally didn't expect the last 5 minutes of the season. *pow* that got me. 100% Lizzy Caplan selling that, too.
posted by Kyol at 7:57 AM on January 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
"How'd you get out of Marsten?"
"I killed some people."
"How'd you get all the way over here?"
"I killed some more people."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:45 PM on January 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
"I killed some people."
"How'd you get all the way over here?"
"I killed some more people."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:45 PM on January 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
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And Lizzy Caplan is just nailing Annie Wilkes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:09 AM on January 12, 2020 [2 favorites]