<center> Hey now everyone, hope you're all doing well, and welcome to my review and discussion of Castle Rock Season One! When I first heard about this show I knew it had the potential to be something really amazing. My favorite genre is horror, and when it comes to that nobody does it better, or has more experience than Stephen King. The thing is, this isn't a Stephen King story, nor did he have anything to do with the creation of it. It's actually developed by JJ Abrams, and his company Bad Robot. They took elements from King's extensive library of work, have it set in King's fictional town of Castle Rock, and even make several references to his books and characters, but it's a completely original story. I guess a good way to put it would be to say that it's like a Stephen King cover band. Now that the wait is finally over, and the first season has wrapped up, I can give you my thoughts on how it all played out. So pull up a chair, and I'll tell you all about it. </center>
<center> Castle Rock is a psychological horror television series, that was released on the popular streaming service Hulu. It's done in an anthology format, so the next season will most likely be completely different from the first. Unlike most other streaming sites, Hulu releases their shows one episode per week instead of all at once, so I had to wait quite a while to view the entire season. I would have preferred to binge the whole thing, but I'll take what I can get. The show is set in the fictional town of Castle Rock Maine, and is centered around some bizarre events that take place there. The cast features Andre Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgard, Jane Levy, and Sissy Spacek. Two of these actors have already been in prominent roles in some of King's films. Sissy Spacek was Carrie, from the movie Carrie, and Bill Skarsgard was Pennywise the clown from the recent remake of It. </center>
<center> Andre Holland plays the protagonist Henry Deaver, a lawyer who left Castle Rock after the death of his Father, but has to return to check on his Mother played by Sissy Spacek. Henry's Mother, Ruth Deaver, suffers from severe dementia, frequently forgetting where and when she is. That's not the only reason Henry comes back to Castle Rock though. The warden of Shawshank Prison recently killed himself, and once a new warden is appointed they learn a terrible secret about him. The deceased warden has kept someone locked up in a secret bunker inside the prison for 27 years without anybody finding out, and now the cat is out of the bag. A young man is found down there, and nobody knows who he is, or where he came from. Now the prison doesn't know what to do about this, and the guy isn't talking at all. In fact the only thing he says is Henry Deaver. </center>
<center> Naturally the prison contacts Henry and explains the situation to him, so he returns to town to be this kids lawyer. Henry gets the kid out of prison, but there's something very strange about this mute person that's been locked up for so long. Who is he, where did he come from, why did the warden keep him down there for so long? Not only that, but for some reason everywhere this kid goes really terrible, evil things happen to anyone in the vicinity. For most of the shows ten episodes it doesn't explain any of this, and we keep seeing the horrible effects this strange person has on the town of Castle Rock. Perhaps this is why the warden kept him locked away for so long. Maybe he knew something about this guy that we, as the audience, don't. This makes for a very compelling show that does a great job of keeping you guessing. </center>
<center> Episode after episode we try and piece together the puzzle, but nothing seems to make sense other than this guy is some kind of evil entity that the warden found, and locked away. There's a lot more going on as well, and a bunch of other characters that all play important roles, but I would be here all day trying to explain the entire plot of the show. The main thing I want to make clear is that the premise is very interesting, and even though Stephen King didn't have anything to do with making the show, it does feel very much like something he would of wrote. So the creators of Castle Rock did a great job of not only writing a good story, but they also casted some amazing actors to play these roles, and managed to keep things creepy the whole way through. I thoroughly enjoyed most of this season, and will definitely be watching the next one. </center>
<center> SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON! </center>
<center> So now I want to get into the ending that just recently aired, and why I thought it was a little weak. The show was great the whole way through, and I genuinely didn't know for sure what was really going on. There was so much tension built up to the last couple of episodes, but it didn't deliver a definitive answer one way or the other. This is kind of frustrating, and it definitely takes away from the overall experience, as well as the final score. This strange kid that was locked up in the prison, who makes people do horrible things to each other, is the big mystery. The show leads us to believe that he is some kind of demon, or supernatural being. But in the penultimate episode they reveal that he is actually Henry Deaver, the shows protagonist, from an alternate universe. He somehow crossed over into this world, and as a side effect of that he makes terrible things happen without meaning to. </center>
<center> But that's just the story he tells us, and it might be just that, a story. If what he's saying is true, than that opens up a bunch of other questions that don't ever get answered. He tells the other Henry that there's a way to cross back into his world, but Henry doesn't believe him, and ultimately ends up locking him back into the underground cell he was originally found in. That's how the season ends, with the kid being put right back where he started, and we don't ever get a definitive answer of what he is. I suppose that's the point of what the showrunners were trying to do, leave it open ended to keep people guessing, but to me it feels like a cop out. I almost got flashbacks from Lost there for a minute. A lot of interesting questions were asked, and some very compelling events took place, but we don't ever get the closure we were hoping for. </center>
<center> I wish the season would have been a little bit longer so that the characters could have been fleshed out better. Some of them don't get much screen time at all, and even though others do, I still have a ton of questions about their motives. This is definitely more of a suspenseful thriller of a show, than a horror themed one, but there were some elements of horror mixed in there as well. The whole thing had that Stephen King vibe to it, with some fantastic atmosphere, and amazing performances by the cast, but the ending fell a bit flat. You don't need to be a huge fan of King to appreciate this show, but it will certainly help you to understand a lot of the references if you are, and will add another layer to the whole thing. Despite the weak ending I thought this was a great first season, and would absolutely recommend it to fans of the thriller/horror genre. I'm going to give Castle Rock Season One a grade of...………………………. </center>
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<center> **B** </center>
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<center> Thanks for reading my review of Castle Rock, I hope you enjoyed it! </center>