So … that’s it ? I heard season 2 follows a different direction with different characters , that means the story of two Henrys ends with season 1 ? The ending was creepy in a good way , though .

There's this movie that came out today on Max and it's very similar to Castle rock. I'd almost be willing to bet that the creators had to watch the show. I won't spoil it but it's very similar and worth checking out if you wanna see something that gives off a similar feel to the show.

I won't now but after viewing I'm sure I'll be diving into this dub. I've know it's from 2018. I know nothing about it other than it's description. So Going in blind but I am curious about a few things. Any feedback is appreciated.

Is it one continuous storyline like the Mist or a common thread but different stories like the X Files or an anthology like Creepshow?

How recognizable are the characters and locations? I think I've watched every movie, miniseries and tv show, but I've only read a few books.

I read it was cancelled with the EB moving towards Max " even though there was room for growth." Were you okay with the conclusion or do you feel that was a mistake?

I just finished S1 and heard S2 goes in a different direction, so there are a handful of questions from S1 that are left unanswered. One repeating trend I have seen on this thread is that S2 seems to answer that Bill Skarsgard's character as "the Kid" is a 400 year old fallen angel of sorts. Based on the information I could gather from various threads and Youtube explanations, it seems like the way the Kid works their magic is by manipulating town folk through their fears, desires, insecurities, and so on. I am not much of a reader, so forgive me for not having some of the King history of the ties that go into all the lore here, but based on what we are shown throughout the show, could Molly also be a form of angel, or ancient evil?

Stick with me...

Based on the storyline that we are given, Molly is shown sort of stalking Henry Deaver's character from the first time he appears back in Castle Rock. When Henry and Molly speak for the first time, the voices are so loud that she can't really hear Henry and pushes him away. She is later seen on Local Color, calling out the town for wrongfully prisoning someone at Shawshank (something she shouldn't have any idea of). It is revealed through flashbacks that Molly was the one that pulled the tubes from Pastor Deaver's neck during his recovery. We also see later in the show that she frees Henry from the silent room on Willie's RV. When asked where the men are, Molly responds "I don't know" as the camera pans to the deaf man with what appears to be an icepick or screwdriver through the deaf man's eye. Later, Willie is seen in the police station, identifying Henry as the man responsible for the killing of the deaf man played by CJ Jones. Dialing back to episode 9, the Kid is retelling his origin story to Molly, which has been explained as the fallen angel's way of manipulating Molly to believe the story. If this is true, and there aren't alternate realities, then isn't Molly directly responsible for the same level of manipulation when talking Ruth off the edge of the bridge and telling her there is a story where her and Alan are together? Hypothetically speaking, if the Kid is a fallen angel and is referencing a history with Molly, isn't it possible that they are both fallen angels that do know each other and are operating with different motives?

The motives Molly has would be less sinister considering she hasn't been locked in a cage for 27 years. But she was willing to let Henry be cast out and hated by everyone in town for the actions he sort of committed against his father, only to be finished out by Molly. And if Molly was the one responsible for taking out the deaf man at the RV since we aren't shown any more evidence outside of that panned image of his dead body, we could assume that Molly would have let Henry take the fall for killing a man that he had nothing to do with after essentially being kidnapped by them.

Lastly, Warden Lacy unalived himself while the Kid was still locked in the basement. From my understanding, there is an assumption that Lacy and Alan found a way of depriving the angel of its powers by having it locked in the basement of the prison, yet Lacy still wound up the way he did with the Kid being discovered and summoning Henry back to town. We are shown a year into the future with what appears to be Castle Rock finally at peace again with the Kid locked under the prison again and... you guessed it, Molly living all the way in Florida. The smirk we see from the Kid could be the assumption that it took them 27 years to get into Lacy's head and he can eventually manipulate Henry too, but they might not know that Molly is no longer in the town. We know based on Molly's rantings of the short comings of the city on Local Color that she couldn't stand the prison to begin with, so wouldn't it be possible that she caused a tragedy that would open up the possibility of having the whole prison shut down once the Kid was rereleased and "hell" broke loose in the town once again?

I know I am probably REALLY stretching my imagination here, and there might not be enough evidence to solidify my assumptions. I don't necessarily think that Molly is all evil, but she certainly has some skeletons in her closet. She is never fully presented as a likeable character, from the first few scenes of her taking advantage of her sister, to the way that she was never upfront about what happened with Henry's father, to her buying drugs from a kid, it never fully felt like she was fighting the evil in Castle Rock, she was somewhat a part of it.

Curious to see what you guys think, super excited to check out the second season and be a part of this community!

In season 1 he states he's Henry Deaver from an alternate timeline. And that when our main Henry Deaver was a kid he got trapped over there, kept in a cage and eventually The Kid (alternate Henry) and alternate Molly saved him and gets him back to the right timeline. But unfortunately the Kid accidentally goes back with him and is in turn trapped there. Obviously the issue is that S2 revealed he was the angel who was definitely alive 400 years ago. Clearly he's very powerful, manipulative and evil but here's the problem. What the hell was he actually doing in those 400 years? Why did he allow himself to be trapped your telling me he couldn't have got out? Why did he make this whole lie about Henry? Also why did he take Henry out to the woods? For a minute in S1 I genuinely believed him and that he just wanted to go home. They revealed that the castle lake is a portal to other dimensions so is it possible that Young Henry did go to another world? I really wish there was another season that could have fleshed this all out but I want to hear your theories so that I can put this to bed.

I apologise if this has already been discussed or answered, but how is it that Pop Merrill dies in The Sun Dog and also in the series? It this an alternate universe thing?

Caveat Emptor seemed to me to be a big Dark Tower reference, but I don't see anyone else discussing it.

There are a lot of clues in this episode that point towards Pop Merrill being an alter ate reality Roland.

• He takes in four orphans and trains them to kill
• He's definitely a gunslinger
• Wears pistols at his hips
• Is rotting from the inside
• Is being tormented by the Man in Black
• Runs bullets along his knuckles to think
• Does not miss a headshot
• Noticing the guy's earring is definitely a Roland move
• Is sympathetic but never described as a good man
• There's the picture Joy draws which is very similar to Roland letting Jake drop
• Also, the cliffs over Castle Lake seem like they could be a twinner to where Roland let Jake drop
• They way he's dressed and the way he carries himself
• Taking drugs to fight off a demon is also definitely a Roland move

And, most importantly, Ace tells him something along the lines of "You don't know who you are. You were robbed of your destiny. Your tower."

I really do feel like Pop Merrill, at least in the TV series, is a deliberate analog or twinner of Roland, or he is Roland himself trapped in a ka cycle without ka.

Did you really think that Annie really saved Joy? Even though she drowned her in a lake and then went back in the house read that note and ran back down gave her mouth to mouth. When Joy started spinning out the water and hugging Annie. Did you really think that Joy was still alive?

Dude spent 12 years writing a novella!!

If there’s a serious answer that has to do with the story, I don’t wanna know, I’m on ep 7. Just wanted to point this out. Loving the show so far.

I enjoyed the second half of season 2 very much on a rewatch but I found it very funny in a hard to describe way. Anyone have some favorites? Here’s mine:

This bit of dialogue is the best:

Pop to Annie in the Emporium Pop: “You’re at Marsten!” Annie: “I already TOLD you I WAS!” Pop: “How’d you get out? Annie: “I killed some people.” Pop: “Howd you get all the way ova here?” Annie: “I killed some more people..!”

Izzy Caplan is terrifying, electric, and quite funny, whether you find it unintentional (I don’t) or intentionally (I do).

Okay, I watched S1 under my boyfriend’s recommendation, and mostly he wanted to show me the relation to Annie W. (Obviously that doesn’t come until season 2), but I’m confused.. If I ask questions, he thinks I’m stupid or that I didn’t pay attention. However, I paid as much attention as I could, and I didn’t understand this at all.. Can someone please explain in a nice way? I’d like to get an idea & some background before I rewatch season 1, so that I can maybe understand it a bit better..

I understand the universe aspect, to a degree, and I think I understand what is happening overall, but can someone give me a run down? Like a play by play, but not as extensive?

I already feel like I’m not the smartest, and my boyfriend wasn’t explaining how I could understand. I’m hoping someone here can help me.

Saw this in season 2 finale. Is Henry missing? Cause last we saw him he was alive and watching over the kid. Did the kid kill him? I’m so confused.

I know season 1 is an anthology but from what I’ve seen season 2 is all about Annie from misery? Is this true? All 10 episodes are one story about Annie? If so I’m definitely watching it.

I’m finishing up S1 and just realized Hulu cancelled the show. Very upset. Not nice Hulu

I just finished watching Season 2, and I absolutely loved it. I am also a huge fan of Misery, one of my favorite Stephen King movies. But there was something that bothered me since episode 1. I thought Misery was set in the 80s and 90s, so how the hell is Annie Wilkes backstory starting in 2019? And by the end, when she kills joy and starts hallucinating her, she goes back to the 80s and 90s? What am I missing?

Also sad that they cancelled the show, Mystery/Horror usually gets no love.

Did anyone else think the entire season was a psychotic delusion in Annie's mind?

Ok I am on about episode 3 of season 2 and I liked the first season it was good and I am loving seeing Lizzy Caplin flex her skills what Imm not happy about is the mental health aspect, they’ve eluded to her having bipolar more than once and I have a parent with bipolar (I’m 35) and unless Lizzy’s character is in a permanent state of floridly manic WITH psychosis (as this isn’t very common) she wouldn’t be like this. I will say the way she is acting on the medications especially the lack of arm movement when walking is 100% accurate but unless they change her to like having a dual diagnosis or idk supernatural as this is Castle Rock lol I can’t see her being remotely diagnosed as bipolar and this really adds on the the already common mistake of thinking bipolar means psychotic 😑

But I’d give it a 6. Season 1 was amazing but clearly had no discernable ending, so they stapled on this ambiguous time jump. Season 2 is an action-adventure horror show and clearly not the same thing. There was such a potent seed in there in the early stages but it did not follow through. Oh well.

Rewatching this episode again and I'm still angry Sissy didn't win an award for this episode

I liked the show a lot. But I am a bit confused. I am under the impression that we should believe the version of events we see at the end from the other Henry's pov. That both he and the adopted Henry crossed over to the wrong world, adopted Henry was held in the cage by his dad and then managed to return, losing his memory in process. The real Henry stayed in the wrong world. Each of them bring destruction when they're in the wrong world.

The voice of god is the sound of the portal. The real Henry acted weird at first because it took him some time to remember everything.

It seems like a sound story but:

1. What was the deal with real Henry telling Alan that he can help Ruth , then asking him to find that car? Did I zone out or wtf happened with that cause next thing I remember is that Ruth killed Alan by accident. Speaking of which

2. Why does Ruth confuse the real Henry with her husband and he seemingly plays along (wearing his suit, stuff he says) instead of acting like her son?

3. Why does the adopted Henry refuse to even see what the deal is with the portal and instead locks up the real Henry? I get that he hallucinates some monster face in a moment but wtf, and how is it consistent with everything his character knows? I could see him refusing to believe despite what he knows so far and just killing the real Henry (what would happen then?) although he could have easily just proceeded to see if he can help Henry return to his world. This is kind of the oddest mix of adopted Henry accepting a supernatural explanation but the one that requires him to believe in Satan whom he can keep in a cage rather than a multiverse portal...

4. Are we supposed to think that maybe this version is true, that real Henry is really a monster/satan and the episode before that showed his story is not real? That confuses me the most, I don't think this interpretation makes sense narratively. But the real henry isn't always consistent and sometimes just acts like a villain (e.g. pt 1 and 2)

Either way this was a good watch.

As mentioned. I'm on S1E6. My friends all fight me that The Kid is definitely the devil. Truly, for the first 4 episodes I thought he was too.

Then I roughly decided, he too has the shining, or schisma , or whatever the hell they call it.... and was out in the woods when young Henry and Matthew were as well. Somehow their dimensions or timelines crossed and now The Kid is in the wrong dimension. Thus, he creates 'bad things' wherever he goes because the universe is confused or in a paradox of sorts - not because he is the devil.

Why do I think the universe is in a paradox? Because I feel like The Kid is the referenced miscarriage of Rev. Matthew and his wife... But from a different dimension (where Henry never existed, and now they occupy the same space).

I think that is why in S1E6 The Kid is so obsessed with Henry's home movies and is wearing Rev Matthew's suit - because he is recalling them being is actual family.

I also believe The Kid knows all the bad things happen because of exactly this, and that is why he tried to jump off the roof in S1E5.

What I can't explain is why he doesn't age.. so I'm like " well, maybe he could be the devil" bc of that.

How close am I (without a total spoiler)? Cold, warm, or hot?

Is looking through Lacey's desk and finds all the Bible quote calendars torn out to the same quote, one of them is dated April 26th 2043. Does anyone know the significance of that?

Couldn't even handle the 40-20-10 combo...

After a meandering, unfocused and I dare say near-unwatchable first season, the second season returns with a more compelling story line, without trading its hallmark bizarre elements for a completely conventional and 'safe' narrative. Whereas before, I had to force myself to continue watching and never got very far, season two has a main protagonist that I found I just couldn't look away from, for better or worse.

I'm talking about Annie Wilkes, formerly one of Stephen King's most infamous villains, and now someone who could almost be considered an unwitting hero when pitted against an even Bigger Bad. Personally I would call her a Villain Protagonist but whether labelled a hero, villain, or something inbetween Annie is quite a divisive character.

On the face of things, she's really not the kind of person that most would root for. But there's great storytelling trick the writers took full advantage: no matter how despicable a character is, if you give them something that they want really badly that is somewhat relatable (in this case, to hang onto and protect Joy) and really have the earnestness of that desire clearly come through, then the viewer will follow that character through hell and high water.

There are also a few sympathetic hooks in there, such as the genuine desire to be healthy and free of mental illness and struggling against the societal stigmas surrounding those illnesses, or doing a terrible thing completely by accident, or because she's under thrall of delusion. But this is only half of the picture. She makes a lot questionable choices (to put it mildly) where she has the opportunity to do better. The writers wisely never try to completely vindicate her or cast her entirely as a victim of circumstances outside of her control. To do so would disrespect the legacy of the character and it would be an affront to the viewer's sensibilities if morality is completely taken out of the equation for the very worst things that a person can do (and not just once in the heat of the moment, but time and again).

So I think there's a valid case to be made on either side of whether people like her / sympathize with her / root for her, or not. I just don't think the other side of the argument can be completely ignored and I don't feel entirely comfortable that I'm made to feel a bit sympathetic for her after everything she's done. There are wisps here and there on the internet where some people talk as if she's a Feminist Icon For Our Times, but I really hope they don't really mean that because, uhm... y'all can do so much better. What do you think though? How do you reconcile the good with the bad?

Was anybody else totally invested in the Annie/Joy story and didn’t care for the Pop/Nadia/Abdi side of it all? The second half of the season suffered for me because of this, I don’t know I was just waiting for the show to get that side of it over with to focus on Annie and Joy. I feel like that’s where they went wrong (I still loved season 2), but they were just trying to do too much. The French zombie storyline kind of fell flat for me, it only worked as a reason for Annie to finally lose her sanity.

I loved season 2 so much so I hope this doesn’t seem overly critical, I just feel it would’ve been stronger by focusing more on Annie and Joy