Castle Rock S2E8 opens on a patrol car from the Castle Rock Sherriff pulling up outside the Marsten House. We see the deputy who was questioning Annie in last week’s episode open the front door and usher Annie and Joy into the house. Annie is immediately stricken by one of the murals, which depicts the hooded figure’s cliffside meeting with Amity.
Augustin, who Annie still identifies as Ace, greets her. Annie says that she was questioned by the police but they were brought to Marsten House, wondering if she’s under arrest, and Augustin tells her that the deputy is with them now and says they’ll find her a place to clean up.
In the next scene, we return to the statue of the hooded man. It’s now being carried through town, the people transfixed by it following behind, with the procession growing steadily larger as the passing statute attracts more and more followers. After the “parade” passes a sign that points toward Derry, an aerial shot shows just how large the procession has grown before the opening credits roll.
Castle Rock S2E8 – “Dirty”
Outside the Marsten House, the deputy gives Augustin a bag containing Annie’s medications. Augustin empties the pills out and replaces them, presumably with placebo pills. Meanwhile, Annie is plagued by flashes of the events of the past few days: Joy injecting Rita with the sedative, Rita bleeding after accidentally being shot by the gun, the arrival of the police…
In the dialogue that plays over the footage of Annie’s psychic state steadily deteriorating, Annie says that she had been in the Marsten House just a week before, and it was “kind of a flophouse.” Augustin’s voice replies that if they can figure a place like the Marsten House, they can “fix anyone.” Augustin offers Annie sanctuary as long as she stays at Marsten House, and when Annie protests that she wants to leave, Augustin tells her that she may face problems with the state if she attempts to leave.
In the bedroom where Annie and Joy are staying, Annie tells Joy that they’ll leave as soon as it’s safe to do so… but her attempt at conversation with Joy is derailed when she hears Rita’s voice calling to her from the hallway. Joy asks if Annie has been taking her pills, and Annie says that she has, since they returned them to her.
Meanwhile, Bertrand heads to Nadia’s house, who still believes that he is her lover, Chris. Bertrand asks about Abdi, but Nadia scolds him. Bertrand approaches her and then begins choking her, but he’s underestimated Nadia, who forces her way free and tries to escape the house. Bertrand manages to pin her to the ground and begins choking her again, but Nadia manages to reach her stethoscope and wraps it around Bertrand’s neck, managing to cut off his air supply long enough that he falls unconscious.
Just After Sunset
At Marsten House, Hassan tells some of his associates that it is time to cut off power and communication and to kill any of the survivors. Back at Nadia’s house, she attempts to call 911 for assistance with the unconscious Bertrand, but the network is already shut down. A series of shots show various locations in Castle Rock as the power is turned off.
Nadia arrives at the hospital with her brother, having brought him herself, and finds it apparently abandoned. She attempts to call Abdi, but her cell phone doesn’t work for that, either – and neither does the landline in her office.
In her room at Marsten House, Annie takes what she thinks is her medication. When she leaves the room, one of Augustin’s people enters and finds Joy’s drawings, immediately drawing a connection between Joy’s art and Amity’s. She brings the drawing to Augustin, who immediately senses the same connection.
In the cavern beneath the Marsten House, Augustin speaks to Amity’s sarcophagus, telling her that he believes he has found the perfect vessel – and it isn’t Annie, it’s Joy. When Augustin re-enters the house, he finds Annie making tea in the kitchen. He asks if the drawing was made by Joy, and Annie tells him that she did. Augustin asks a series of increasingly invasive questions, probing to find out whether or not Joy takes any medication. Annie is clearly put off by the questions, and turns the questioning back on Augustin, asking why the door to the “basement” is locked… But Augustin lies and tells her that they’re “finishing it,” and he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt before then.
Back at the hospital, Nadia injects Bertrand with some medication. However, a banging sound soon rouses her attention. She finds a patient who was left behind when the hospital was abandoned. Nadia asks what happened, and she’s told that everyone had been talking about a noise, and then went out and joined “the parade,” never returning.
Nadia hears a sound from the room where she left Bertrand/Chris and returns to find him in a state of immense distress and pain. It seems that Chris’s consciousness is wrestling for control of his body, Bertrand having been momentarily staved off by the medication that Nadia had administered. Chris says that there’s someone inside of him, and while Nadia tries to tell him he’s having a psychotic break, Chris insists that it’s real, and they’re coming for her.
In their room at Marsten House, Annie is reading a paperback when she hears her mother’s voice calling her name. Her mother tells her that she’s giving these “dirty birds” exactly what they want by giving “her” to them. Her mother tells her that they’re lying to her (which is accurate, of course). Annie flees to the bathroom, where she takes what she thinks is her medication… but when she looks up at her reflection in the mirror, it shatters open and she is sprayed by a fountain of water.
Elsewhere in the house, Joy is lacing her shoes, distracted by a drop of Rita’s blood on her shoelace. She goes downstairs and is immediately cornered by Augustin, who starts asking her strange questions and generally being creepy. Annie returns to their room and finds Joy missing. Meanwhile, Joy asks Augustin why he’s being so nice after being so abrasive when they first arrived, and Augustin tells her that people change.
He continues, saying that “that man” that she had met feels like a distant memory. Then he asks if Joy might want a change, and brings up Rita’s death, calling her responsible. Augustin tells her that things happen for a reason and says that she feels like an empty shell, but he can help her. She turns to flee but Hassan seizes her. Meanwhile, Annie discovers a room filled with corpses elsewhere in Marsten House.
Four Past Midnight
The procession following in the road in the wake of the statue of the hooded figure continues to grow longer. Another aerial shot gives a sense of the size of the crowd now trailing in the wake of the statue.
At the hospital, Chris tells Nadia to administer more of the medication, as he’s once again losing control. He experiences several flashes of memory, some his, including his death at the hands of Pastor Drew, and memories that appear to belong to Bertrand, as well. Nadia stands, telling him that she’s going to get more medicine. However, as she’s walking the halls, she comes upon two men, one of them telling the other to shoot anyone that’s left.
Nadia returns to the room and tells “Chris,” but Bertrand answers, saying they’re his men. He immediately begins screaming for them, so Nadia stuffs cloth in his mouth to muffle the sound before wheeling his bed into the halls. The men hear his screaming anyway, and when they find Nadia, they begin to shoot at her. Nadia pushes the bed into the medication room and closes the door behind her. The men pound at the window but soon give up, and Nadia injects Chris with more of the medication.
Back at Marsten House, Annie is hiding from Augustin’s people in the kitchen pantry as she attempts to locate Joy. Annie continues to be plagued by visions of her mother, who implores her to get Joy “clean,” and to “get her out of this dirty world.” Annie leaves the pantry and pulls a knife from the block in the kitchen, once again evoking the seminal interpretation of the character by Kathy Bates in the 1990 movie.
Annie creeps up behind “Heather,” jumping her and putting the knife to the possessed woman’s throat. Annie demands to know where Joy is, and when “Heather” won’t answer, Annie hisses, “Look what you’re making me do!” After wrestling over the knife, Annie slashes the possessed woman’s throat and continues her quest to find Joy. She dispatches two more of Augustin’s people and then proceeds to unlock the door… finding Joy inside, apparently unharmed as of yet.
Annie experiences another hallucination: her mother’s voice, telling Annie that she needs to kill Joy the same way that Annie’s mother tried to kill her. However, Annie resists the voice, and she tells Joy to hold onto her and not to make a sound, grabbing a hammer as they exit the room where Joy was being held.
Annie and Joy manage to escape Marsten House… but when they make it outside, the crowd of people following the statue of the hooded man is waiting for them.
Full Dark, No Stars
Back at the hospital, Nadia is still locked in the medication room with Bertrand/Chris. The men return, now holding a gun to the head of the patient who had been left in the hospital, demanding Nadia surrender in exchange for her life. Chris tells her to administer more of the drug, insisting that it has to be now.
After a thud sounds inside, the men are allowed to enter the room, and Chris/Bertrand is waiting for them, acting as though he is Bertrand… but it’s subterfuge: Nadia jumps the first man, hitting him over the head with a fire extinguisher, then uses the incapacitated man’s gun to shoot his partner. However, Chris has been shot in the process and is dying. Nadia offers to perform surgery but Chris tells her that it’s okay, because he’s “not really here,” but rather, already gone. He tells her that she has to stop them before he dies in her arms… a very similar death to her mother’s.
Outside Marsten House, Annie and Joy are making their way through the eerie, stationary crowd. When they have made it partway across the yard, several of Augustin’s people exit the house, calling attention to their location. Annie sees more people approaching from the direction they are heading, and attempts to change direction, heading toward a pickup truck.
However, it’s then that the crowd begins moving again. Someone bumps Annie and she is separated from Joy. She beings calling for her, and is grabbed by the deputy. As the deputy wrestles her, Annie sees Joy – she’s been transfixed by the statue of the figure in the hooded robe, and has joined the procession following in the road behind him, indifferent to her mother screaming her name.
That’s it for Castle Rock S2E8, and only two episodes remain in this season! The Beat will be back to recap episode nine next Wednesday at 19:00, and episodes of Castle Rock are now available for streaming on Hulu.
