Now, we all know my origin story as a fan of Stephen King.
Girl watches 1990 It miniseries.
Girl nearly pees in pants over the scewwy clown.
Girl finds out that miniseries is based on a book by some guy named Stephen King.
Girl buys copy of book, figures she will finish the book in 8 months or so, as book is over 1000 pages long and girl did not know that books could in fact be more than 200 pages, by the Geneva Convention or something.
Girl finishes the book in ONE WEEK, and goes looking for her next hit of this newly discovered writer guy.
And the rest, well history.
I can remember my first hit of King quite well.
But the next hits are somewhat of a blur.
However, I know that one of my early reads was ‘Salem’s Lot.
Previously, I was not familiar with vampires, except for bits of Dracula on TV, and a certain puppet on Sesame Street.
(It is worth noting that the few vampires I was exposed to as a child DID NOT sparkle.)
Suffice it to say, the vampires of ‘Salem’s Lot were not friendly puppets who taught children how to count.
Also, unlike the old vampire movies I saw on TV, they were in full color, if you will.
And a girl would be lying if she didn’t admit to having her dreams haunted by Barlow and his non-sparkly friends.
‘Salem’s Lot is a story that never left my mind.
I wanted a proper follow up.
I wanted to know what happened to that town.
It was abandoned over 40 years ago, and became known as a sort of ghost town in the King universe.
We did get somewhat of a sequel, as a certain disgraced priest made an appearance in the same story as our friendly, neighborhood gunslinger.
And there was a prequel story, along with a brief sequel story.
But both of those stories raised more questions that they answered.
And we did get a mention of the damned town in another famous King story, when a character thinks to herself that “it doesn’t look like a nice place to live.”
(Hello, Captain Obvious?)
But, not much else on this damned town.
Until now.
A certain town by the name of Jerusalem’s Lot appears to be a key player in the second season of the show Castle Rock.
Constant Constant Readers across the globe can rejoice!
Now, I don’t know if we are going to get vampires (but I am crossing all my digits.)
But even seeing this famous town, along with a certain house…
Nerdgasm, anyone?
How much more exciting can it get?
A girl wonders…
But anyway, let’s cut (or maybe stab with a kitchen implement) to the chase.
So, here goes nothing, aka my review of the second episode of this season of Castle Rock, titled New Jerusalem.
And, as always:
Synopsis
Annie finds herself trapped beneath the ground, in her attempt to bury Ace’s body. She finds a way out of the chasm, but the stairs lead to The Marsten House.
Annie manages to escape, but sees a man having sex with a woman on her way out.
After Annie returns home, she tells Joy that they need to leave Castle Rock. Joy argues with Annie, and accidentally cuts her hand.
Joy is rushed by Annie to the hospital by Annie. Dr. Nadia treats Joy. Joy refuses to allow her mother to be attendance, which frustrates Annie.
Dr. Nadia talks to Joy as she stitches her hand, trying to find out more about Joy’s home life. Joy also uses her phone to research on the internet, and cannot find any information on either her mother or herself.
In the meantime, Nadia informs Pop that Ace fire bombed her home. Pop is furious, and goes on the hunt for Ace.
Pop is unable to find Ace, and immediately becomes suspicious of his other adopted child, Abdi. Rumors begin to circulate that Abdi was involved in the disappearance of Ace.
Pop questions Annie at the hospital, as Ace was her landlord. Annie tells Pop that Ace paid her a visit and frightened her, but she chased him away, and that Ace got into a vehicle with a black man matching Abdi’s description.
We also learn that Pop served in the Army in the nineties, and offered a home to some Somali refugees after his tour was complete. Abdi and Nadia were part of this group of refugees, and Pop fostered them, attempting to make them a part of his family. However, Ace and his other son Chris became extremely resentful of Abdi and Nadia, refusing to accept them as family.
Abdi has one of his employees pay a visit to the Marsten House, to get rid of any squatters. However, the man is attacked by something unseen and does not return.
Pop tracks down Abdi by using his contacts with the local police department. Pop interrogates Abdi, accusing him of involvement in the disappearance of Ace. Abdi denies any involvement, and tells Pop that he will reveal a secret to Nadia, if Pop does not release him.
Pop becomes furious with Abdi and releases Ace’s dog on Abdi, who has a mortal fear of dogs.
Annie and Joyce return to their rental. Joyce continues to argue with her mother, but Annie is insistent that they must leave Castle Rock.
When Annie returns to her rental, she notices that locusts are swarming her vehicle. She glances up, and sees what appears to be Ace Merrill walking in her direction.
My Thoughts
Again, Annie Wilkes, A Family and a vampire ghost town?
And again, what in the hell could go wrong?
Plenty, and if this episode is any indication, we are going to have lots of wrong coming our way.
But, despite all the wrong I saw, this episode did everything right.
Yep, having lots of wrong makes a right…
Am I…
Well, never mind.
In case you can’t tell, I loved this episode.
I loved the first episode, but I actually think this episode may have been even stronger, and that is saying a lot.
In my last entry, I had some specific wishes.
One of them was for a bit more information on Pop and his Family.
(Again, these guys have earned the capitalization.)
This episode granted it to me, and gave us some flash backs.
And these flashbacks gave us some key bits of information.
For one, we learn that Pop served in the military about 25 years ago, give or take.
We learn that Pop apparently feels the need for redemption, as he opened the town of Castle Rock, along with an infamous nearby town, to Somali refugees.
Oh, and Pop also opened his home to a couple of refugees, aka Abdi and Nadia.
Now, I don’t think that Pop is an entirely horrible person.
(For the record, I don’t think there is any redemption for Ace, but more on him in a minute.)
But, per that conversation between Pop and Abdi, something happened during Pop’s time in Somalia.
Apparently, this is something that is between Abdi and Pop, and is probably the reason why Abdi and Nadia are orphans.
So hopefully that is not dragged out too much longer, and we find out exactly what happened during Pop’s time in Somalia, as this arc is shaping up to be one of the more interesting ones this season.
That being said, we saw the softer side of Pop during this episode, and I loved it.
We have seen some of the softness in Pop’s interaction with with Nadia, but he went almost full mushball in this episode, at least in the flashback scenes.
Seeing Pop introduce a couple of Somali orphans to the finer aspects of American culture was sweet.
Almost as sweet as…
Well, that vanilla flavored beverage that Nadia just would not care for, according to Abdi, at least.
Now, on to Annie.
Actually, Annie was not that much of a player in this episode, and was basically relegated to a side piece, at least momentarily.
Not that this was a bad thing.
Annie Wilkes is an iconic character, but focusing too much on her is detrimental.
We need to let the other characters breathe a bit.
(I say that figuratively, obviously, given how one major character appeared to have bit it already.)
But Lizzy Caplan made her part count in this episode.
The scene at the beginning, when Annie escapes via the Marsten House, was one of the most tense, scary scenes of the show so far.
Speaking of the Marsten House…
Are we possibly dealing with something that is maybe not actually vampire related?
I know that ‘Salem’s Lot is associated with vampires, and for good reason.
King spent an entire novel building up this town and its inhabitants, and then sent it out in a blaze of glory.
But now there is talk of Satanists and witchcraft.
Now, this does not preclude vampires at all, but it is possible that there are other supernatural forces at work.
In the aforementioned novel, King does allude to the fact that there is something different about ‘Salem’s Lot.
In the short story Jerusalem’s Lot, we get confirmation that the town does indeed have a supernatural history, even before Barlow arrived.
So, it is possible that the vampires are only one piece of the puzzle. I am anxious to find out more.
And, oh…
Looks like you can bury a dead body in Jerusalem’s Lot and it comes back to life!
Neat-o, huh?
The ending, with the locusts buzzing around, and then the reveal of Ace’s un-dead self, was another favorite part of this episode.
The build up to that was well done.
(See part about the buzzing locusts. Wait, let me correct that to loudly buzzing locusts.)
The dread that built up was so real that the viewer could almost touch it.
And then, the monster appears, aka un-dead Ace.
It’s not unexpected, but still spooky.
And the episode ends on that creepy note.
Good thing the first three were released at once, because now it’s time for episode 3.
Well, that’s it for New Jerusalem.
Join me next week for the recap and review of episode 3, titled The Ties That Bind.
Tune in next week…
Same bat time, same bat channel!
Nerd girl power! 