‘Castle Rock’ Recap: ‘Restore Hope’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

​If there was one major complaint that I consistently remember seeing on social media, when it comes to season one of Castle Rock, it would have to be that the series took too long to answer our questions. And to a lesser extent, took too long to advance the plot, which are both fair arguments. Because it did take a while to reveal the true identity of the Kid and where Henry Deaver went for a few days. But while I had no problem with the pacing of season one and how it revealed its big secrets, clearly the folks behind the scenes saw those complaints and wanted to do their part in addressing them in season two, since last night’s episode of the series took the time to answer an important question and progress a mysterious plot point along leaps and bounds.
 
Which made ‘Restore Hope’ quite the enthralling ride when all is said and done, because I really wasn’t expecting to learn this early on what Pop Merrill’s big secret was, but this series wasted no time into diving into it, in the most unique way possible. Because Pop’s cancer wasn’t subsiding, and Nadia wanted nothing more than to save him. So, she opted to enroll him into a cancer trial with the VA and in order to complete that process she needed some important paperwork from him. Which led her to seek out his military records and unfortunately for Nadia, her quest to offer Pop salvation instead revealed the secret in question. And as it turns out, there’s a reason that Pop was so vested and interested in bringing her and her brother to America, because Pop was the man who made them orphans in the first place since he shot and killed their mother on one fateful night and now that she knows the truth, it seems their relationship will never be the same.
 
As for the plot point that was pushed along, well that involved Ace. Because he made a point to try and fit and blend in with his surroundings and the good people of Castle Rock, in what seemed to be a desperate attempt to shake the impression that something was wrong with him. And it was downright creepy to try and see him assimilate Ace’s memories and speech patterns. As it turns out though, this was all part of a master plan, because blending in was a necessity for Ace, so that no one would be the wiser when he finally revealed his true intentions. For we came to learn that he’s no vampire, he’s instead some kind of evil being, one that has returned from the great beyond by way of ancient rituals that few understand, outside of the long gone Satanist settlers of Jerusalem’s Lot and he is indeed building an army, one that is going to include his brother and one that is starting to be populated by folks from the Rock.
 
In regard to what exactly that army is up to, we don’t know quite yet and that’s okay, because clearly the series is going to move this plot point along as a brisk pace since we were able to get a solid understanding of how many people now belong to this unsettling club in this episode. Yet while it was nice to see everything chug along, this wouldn’t be Castle Rock without a mystery to solve and there is still one brewing when it comes to Annie Wilkes. Because now that Joy was free of her mother’s grasp and hiding out at Nadia’s house, she took full advantage of her freedom and her friendship with Chance to try and finally uncover what her mother is hiding. Which means she was able to get her hands on the mysterious lockbox that Annie keeps around and unfortunately for Joy, the only things that were inside of it were license plates, a gun and a disc that contains a strangely written romance novel, one that leaves us wondering exactly what those words are trying to tell us.
 
In the end however, this episode deserves some serious kudos. For this was in essence, a filler story, one designed to lightly setup more of the terror that will await us this season and while those are normally boring and slow, this one wasn’t. Because at no point did it feel as though what was happening was drawn out and that’s thanks in large part to what the story addressed. Because the whole reveal of Pop’s secret was huge, and I am quite impressed with how the little mess from the Lot is beginning to blossom into something more, and I also get the funny feeling that Annie’s ‘romance’ novel is some kind of twisted confession and judging from the trailer for next week, it looks like we may discover the true nature of its contents sooner, rather than later and well, I’m here for it. Because season two of this series continues to be a delight and I cannot wait to see what other horrors are going to unfold in the weeks to come. Until next time. 

---