A fascinating, addictive serialized sequel to “Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption,” “Needful Things,” “The Dark Half,” “The Sun Dog” and a host of other Stephen King works, “Castle Rock” revisits Red and Andy’s old prison as well as longtime sheriff Alan Pangborn, now retired and played by Scott Glenn.
Sissy Spacek, who four decades ago starred in thefirst Stephen King movie ever, plays Ruth Deaver, Pangborn’s longtime companion.
Bill Skarsgård, who plays Pennywise in Stephen King’s “It” movies, may or may not be playing Pennywise in “Castle Rock” as well. His “Castle Rock” character sports no clown attire but he does seem to possess powers and abilities far beyond those those of mortal men. He is a nameless, nearly mute inmate found in a cage deep beneath Shawshank State Prison.
There are no Shawshank records on the John Doe. Someone might ask Dale Lacy, the newly retired warden of Shawshank (“Lost” icon Terry O’Quinn), what the Skarsgård character is doing down there – but before anyone can, the ex-warden kills himself in particularly grisly and dramatic fashion for a reason that remains as mysterious as Shawshank’s mystery prisoner.
The only words the Skarsgård character can or will speak is “Henry Deaver.” Henry Deaver, it turns out, is not the Skarsgård character. Deaver (Andre Holland, who stood out as the pioneering, two-fisted young black doctor Algernon Edwards on “The Knick”) is the Spacek character’s adopted son, now an attorney representing death-row inmates in Texas.
Henry Deaver himself has already been the subject of a much older mystery. As a preteen he disappeared and was feared dead in the middle of a brutal Castle Rock winter. When Sheriff Pangborn finally found Henry, the boy showed no sign of frostbite, exposure or any other effect of the extreme cold. To this day Henry has no memory of anything before Pangborn found him. Nor does he know why the Skarsgård character spoke his name.
If all this isn’t weird enough for you, Henry’s horny childhood neighbor (Melanie Lynsky, who also famously played the horny neighbor on “Two and a Half Men”) is a closet telepath.
The series comes to us from Sam Shaw, who also created WGN’s solid but little-seen nuclear-dawn drama “Manhattan.” Dustin Thomason, who co-created the forgotten 2006 ABC procedural "The Evidence" before he worked for Shaw on “Manhattan,” is the co-creator of “Castle Rock.”
I joyfully consumed the first four episodes in rapid succession, compelled by what every TV show needs: a surfeit of very watchable characters.
While I mostly very much enjoyed “11.22.63,” the first Stephen King adaptation from Hulu and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production company, I must say “Castle Rock” is so far at least a couple of cuts above 2016’s time-hopping James Franco vehicle.
... By the time we get to the seventh episode – a Ruth spotlight, directed by Emmy winner Greg Yaitanes (House, Banshee), that’s one of the cleverest, saddest, best hours of TV this year – the series has fully come into its own, and the King allusions turn into treats for those who recognize them rather than distracting reminders of classics this newcomer can’t hope to live up to. … And to answer your question: No, prior King knowledge isn’t required to follow or enjoy. I’ve read/seen maybe a third of his books and their adaptations over the years, and I’m sure plenty of references sailed over my head as I watched Castle Rock. Yet the story always made sense.
... It's unclear from the first chapters where Castle Rock will rank in the King canon, but judging from the horrific visions generated by the prison's mystery man, we're in for a frightfully fun ride. …
... Castle Rock rises to the occasion; some of its creepier moments have one wishing it were on a big screen, the better for skin to crawl. …
... The series improves in the third and fourth hours, each of which focuses on specific citizens and how they’ve adapted (or not) to life in a town that’s struggling and spiritually sick. But almost halfway into a 10-episode season, “Castle Rock” hasn’t made the case that you should care, beyond a generic sense of spooky mystery — or, maybe, a pre-existing attachment to the Stephen King Extended Universe. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... Give major credit to streamer Hulu, which may have found a way to tell a Stephen King story for television right. … Whether it holds up through the entire 10-episode first season remains to be seen, but “Castle Rock” gets off to a strong, engrossing start.
... “Castle Rock” shows a tremendous investment of time and creativity. It’s worth your walk on the dark side. …
... The first three episodes, which premiere in one chunk Wednesday (a new episode will be released each week), spend too much time laying groundwork, meting out clues and references at such a sluggish pace that they’re not worth noting, unless the show considers its mission to act as a Stephen King book club. …
... while there are some decent jump scares and a great group of actors gathered together, there doesn't seem to be a pressing need for "Rock" to exist at all, considering how many King series and movies we already have. …
... other than the pervasive sense of dread, of evil, that permeates the town, there's little sense (after four previewed episodes) as to where "Castle Rock" is heading, and the frequent nods and winks toward existing King canon -- if a bit of a kick at first for fans of something like "The Shawshank Redemption" -- pretty quickly begin yielding diminishing returns, and a dearth of redemptive qualities. …
... The actors will offer the best incentive for the King-ambivalent to tune into Castle Rock, but I'm not sure even they will ultimately be enough to overcome the sluggish and vague story. Beyond that, my own enjoyment was derived mostly from the nerdy and obsessive King details, often despite the plot. …
... while “Castle Rock” does a fair amount right, it’s ultimately a letdown precisely because of how much it uses its setting — the fact that we already know, and are repeatedly told, that the town is a wicked place — to communicate a sense of creeping dread without really doing the work.…
11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Hulu.
