Home Entertainment: ‘Castle Rock Season Two’

A young Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) takes centre stage for the second season of Castle Rock, the television show based around characters and settings in Stephen King’s literary works. Those familiar with King lore will know that Wilkes is the axe-wielding ‘number one fan’ played by Kathy Bates in Misery. In Castle Rock, she’s much younger, in her thirties, with a teenage girl, Joy (Elsie Fisher), in tow. The pair have been living on the run for years and at first Castle Rock is just another place to pass through. Soon though, they find themselves drawn into the strange little town. After a violent altercation with her new landlord, Annie unknowingly sets into motion a cataclysmic chain of events that threaten the very foundations of Castle Rock itself.

Rather than continuing the stories established in season one, the story for season two hones in on Annie Wilkes, Ace Merill, and Salem’s Lot. The appearance of so many well-known King characters and locations makes this season a little easier to access. The first series focused on characters which were either lesser-known King characters, or entirely new altogether. This made it accessible for the non-King aficionados, but was a little underwhelming at times for the serious fans. By placing such an iconic character as Annie Wilkes in the middle of events this season, it keeps the viewer hooked.

Lizzy Caplan is perfectly cast as the younger counterpart of Kathy Bates’ iteration. She has clearly spent a lot of time studying Bates’ performance as she replicates her mannerisms perfectly. Her performance is muted and considered, and Caplan is able to convey more with just a widening of her eye, or an in-take of breath, than other actors can convey with a ten-page monologue. In an even more impressive feat, she manages to generate empathy for Wilkes, empathy that was perhaps missing in Misery in which she was the antagonist. We really care about what happens to her, and despite all the terrible things that she does, you can’t help but feel – in a warped way – that she is justified in doing them. Annie is such a fascinating person that is easy to see why she was cherry-picked for further exploration. Episode five, The Laughing Place, directed by Anne Sewitsky, delves even deeper into Annie’s history, visiting her past as a young girl before following her into womanhood. Here we get a lot of explanations of Annie’s demeanour, and it’s such an absorbing tale that the hour passes by in the blink of an eye. Credit also goes to Ruby Cruz whom carries this episode as the teenage iteration of Annie. She has some really harrowing and emotional scenes, and handles them with real maturity.

Outside of Annie’s story, we follow Pop Merill (Tim Robbins), his foster children Nadia (Yusra Warsama) and Abdi (Barkhad Abdi), and his nephew Ace Merill (Paul Sparks). Many will remember Ace as the bully that Kiefer Sutherland played in Stand By Me, and when we first meet him in Castle Rock, he has not changed all that much. He then becomes a changed man (literally) after his run-in with Annie, and begins converting the townsfolk to his new found cause. This leads into an interesting Invasion of the Body Snatchers story arc, one that pays respect to the plot of Salem’s Lot whilst also embodying several other King classics.

Overall, the second season of Castle Rock is a much more compelling chapter. The narrative is still as intellectually stimulating as it was the first time around, just not as frustrating to follow. Couple that with a sensational performance from a captivating Lizzy Caplan, and a punchier pace, and you get a much more engaging and satisfying watch.

Castle Rock Season Two is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.