'Castle Rock' Recap: 'The Box'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

There are really only a handful of television shows out there that excite and inspire my imagination to the point where I’m quite literally counting down the minutes to the next episode, and after everything I witnessed last week, we can add Hulu’s latest offering, Castle Rock, to that extremely tiny list. Because not only is this new series the first Stephen King related offering on television in years, it’s just downright quality television through and through and yesterday’s brand-new episode of the series, ‘The Box’, is no exception to that particular rule.
 
Because this particular tale was downright captivating, and that’s thanks in large part to the fact that the series is staying true to a storytelling element that was introduced the prior episode since once again, the characters and what makes them tick were the focal points to this story and this time around, the series turned its attention to one Mister Henry Deaver, and his sorted and mysterious past and perhaps the biggest surprise about Henry that we learned in this tale, is that shortly after he re-appeared in the middle of the wilderness a mere eleven days after he went missing, is that a halfhearted effort went into figuring out exactly what happened to him during that time frame.
 
But, the decision to move Henry’s father’s body back home to Castle Rock, and a strange dream wherein Henry seemed to recall being trapped in a cage himself, prompted him to finally dig deep into what happened to him during those eleven days and his search eventually led him to the Desjardins property (a name King fans may recall from The Body) since it showed up as an area of interest in Pangborn’s investigation into Henry’s disappearance. And while Henry was able to at least recover his own police file on the matter, his search turned out to be quite fruitless at that property and in general, and the attempt to discuss it with his mother ended in a fight since she was wise to his plan to move her an assisted living facility and she made that the focus of their conversation and Pangborn went so far as to say he went through the motions during his investigation because in the end, he firmly believed that Henry did indeed kill his father, though we know that’s simply not the case. 
 
If anything, all of this broke Henry to say the least, to the point where he found comfort in Molly’s arms, ironically, and it led him to decide to take the buyout from Shawshank and get the hell out of dodge and his decision, led to the darkest moment of the night. Because our favorite Shawshank guard, Dennis Zalewski, snapped upon hearing this news, since he firmly thought that Henry was going to be Shawshank’s knight in shining armor, and help Dennis expose the corruption in this place and with no hope left…he grabbed his side arm, and dealt with every disgusting guard in the prison with lethal force, losing his own life in the process and well, one has to wonder if his twisted decision will keep Henry in town for a just a little bit longer.
 
Yet, while that was supremely stunning to watch, I find myself quite bothered by Zalewski’s decision a day later simply because a few episodes ago, he was going on about how his wife and daughter meant the world to him and how he would never do anything that would put his ability to care for them in jeopardy and honestly, the fact that he fist-bumped ‘The Kid’, and that touching him results in bad things, makes me wonder if that physical contact influenced the bloody choice in this tale, and if so, that’s damn scary. Because that lends credence to the notion that the Kid is the Devil, and it adds more mystery to a tale already swimming in it and well, it’s the questions that this episode leaves us with that makes it so magical, because it’s clear something incredible is brewing in the shadows of this story and I’m hesitant yet anxious to see it all come together in the weeks ahead. Until next time. 

---