Castle Rock 1.09 "Henry Deaver" - Review:
Directed by Julie Anne Robinson, Written by Vinnie Wilhelm & Scott Brown
The Kid's name is Henry Matthew Deaver. It's something that threw Henry off when he first introduced himself, and was the very reason why Henry was brought back to Castle Rock in the first place. But to see it confirmed that The Kid is actually Henry Deaver is a gamechanger, as Henry Deaver gave us plenty of answers, finally addressing where The Kid came from and the fact that he might not have been born to be evil, offering another interesting twist, making his years spent in captivity from Warden Lacy feel all the more tragic because of this.
I love alternate reality episodes no matter what the show, and Henry Deaver was another great alternate reality episode to add to the list of many. It plunged us into the world where Bill Skarsgard's Henry managed to grow up and move away from Castle Rock, becoming a Doctor to search for a cure for his mother's Alzheimer's. His ability to heal people in this world is one of stark contrast compared to that of his ability to cause destruction in the other, and I really liked the contrast between the two, even if it feels odd not seeing Skarsgard as a creepy, engimatic person that we've come to known him as in these past few weeks. His journey back to Castle Rock echoed Henry's in his reality, only in this one it's the suicide of his father as opposed to Warden Lacy. The other version of Castle Rock has subtle differences but clear similarities, and it's perhaps the ultimate confirmation that the bad things that happen in Castle Rock are not directly The Kid's fault. He's merely caught in the way of the fact that the town seems to live on what is basically a Hellmouth, and his crossing over between realities has heightened the spread of evil in the town.
And it makes his encounter with Ruth all the more tragic knowing that she was his mother in the alternate reality, who was also suffering from the same disease that she was in this one. There were so many 'What Ifs' explored in this episode that it was incredible to watch unfold. We saw that in this reality, it was Molly who was the more calm and collective out of the two Strand sisters, becoming a major important player in the day-to-day-life of the town, using her pulling power to speak to Young Henry, who we learn in the days that he had gone missing from the main universe, had found himself in this one. It's a different answer perhaps to what many may have expected, and it was cool seeing him cross paths with the adult Henry.
It was even surprisingly rewarding to see Dennis Zalewski again, who became a cop rather than a prison guard. But even a change in career can't escape a tragic incident for Zalewski, who ends up shooting Molly by accident in the woods when she and Henry team up to bust young Henry out of incarnation. It turns out like the Henry from the other universe, he is capable of causing trouble of his own, and needs to get back to Castle Lake so he can return home. Whilst it doesn't explain why Henry forgot what happened to him and adult Henry was able to remember, it does mean that finally, Castle Rock gives us answers, and for a show built upon its mystery box, it's nice to see that they actually feel like a nice reveal, especially as for a show as reliant on mysteries as Castle Rock is, you kind of need to stick the landing pretty hard.
However, one thing that's important to remember is that this is framed in narration as The Kid telling Molly what happened to him. So if he's not entirely trustworthy, then this was all an exaggerate ruse. It might be a bit far-fetched to devote an entire penultimate episode to a lie, but if Castle Rock has one last trick up its sleeve, I wouldn't be surprised if this was it. It's always difficult to trust The Kid, so the answers that we get here may not be definite. It's just something to bear in mind.
The gateway between worlds that we meet towards the end of the episode was an interesting climax, and even though this was not the Molly that we know and we knew that she was going to die, it was still heartbreaking to watch. The world travel opens up interesting possibilities aside from being just another connection to The Dark Tower - it's not just the two versions of Castle Rock that are connected to the each other, there are of course other heres and nows, infinite possibilities. We might not see them this season but should the show opt to return to the multi-reality structure in Season Two, there will no doubt be more in store for us.
What did you think of Henry Deaver? Let me know in the comments section below and be sure to check out the next episode of Castle Rock Wednesday on Hulu.
