‘Castle Rock’ Season 1, Episode 4 ‘The Box’ Recap: The Darkness Within

Compared to the general portrayal of suspense in TV shows, Castle Rock does not sell out its good parts. This chapter builds up slowly, but the background stories shed light so some significant plot mysteries. Also, character development had the most spotlight. Crafting a good story takes up a lot of time, and it seems like this show has more than enough, and they use it quite well. After the three-part premiere, the characters live out their destined paths

In this week’s episode of Castle Rock, Henry Deaver (André Holland) starts to have flashbacks of his childhood. Meanwhile, Molly Strand (Melanie Lynskey) finds interested buyers for former Warden Lacey’s previous house. As Henry decides to withdraw the case to set The Prisoner (Bill Skarsgård) free, Dennis Zalewski (Noel Fisher) goes on a rampage due to his newfound darkness.

Deaver Family Issues

Allan Pangborn (Scott Glenn) and Henry’s conversation while driving to his father’s temporary burial site reaches his mother, Ruth Deaver (Sissy Spacek). However, Ruth does not take this well. Henry is intent in moving Ruth closer to him. Unfortunately, Ruth wishes to live and die in her current house. Because of this, Henry’s dislike for Allen increases. Henry may have good intentions for Ruth, but with Allan standing in his way, there was nothing he could do.

The sight of Ruth’s husband, Matthew Deaver’s coffin startles her. As she walked with a friend, Ruth comes to an immediate stop while the men from the memorial services unload the casket. It is unknown whether or not they would hold another memorial service for Matthew. However, Ruth’s troubled look shows so much fear, as if she were witnessing her husband die once again.

Henry’s Unknown Past

At the start of the episode, Henry has flashbacks of his tragic childhood. He sees himself locked up in a cage, playing with a toy car. Molly points out that this may be what called him to help The Prisoner. The flashbacks push Henry to do a background check on himself. As he stumbles upon a case against a man named Vince Desjardins, Henry becomes suspicious.

It turns out that Vince died a few years ago, and his brother, Joseph, now owned Vince’s house. While Vince never lived there, Joseph took residence ever since. As Henry ask Joesph some questions, Joseph gives him strange stories that make the town even more mysterious. Finally, Henry comes straight to the point. Henry wanted to know this man’s alibi during the night Henry went missing. To his surprise, Joseph gives him Henry’s case file.

Henry’s case file was presumed destroyed during the fire at the local police station. However, it somehow ended up in Joseph’s possession. Joseph is a hoarder, so he goes around collecting things he deems relevant to the town’s history. Also, he wanted to see what the case file had to say about him since he was investigated. To Henry’s disappointment, Allan, who was the sheriff at the time, barely included anything about Joseph. Because of this, Henry decides to confront Allan who gives him a shocking revelation. A day before he died, Matthew told Allan that Henry caused his accident. These events push Henry to the limit, so he calls Dennis, telling him that they are dropping The Prisoner’s case.

The Touch of Darkness

A week before the hearing, Dennis presents Henry with some evidence they could use in the case. However, Henry tells him to keep it and that they should only see each other during the hearing for The Prisoner’s lawsuit itself. Dennis had to endure another week full of witnessing police brutality against the inmates. He decides to check on The Prisoner, teaching him how to do a fist bump. However, when Dennis left The Prisoner, he was never the same.

When Dennis received Henry’s call, he lost himself completely. As he went on duty, he decides to take his gun and go on a rampage. Dennis made his way to the Warden’s office where Henry was; then shot every single Prison Guard that along the way. Dennis finally reached Henry, telling him that he wants to testify. Suddenly, a flashbang explodes, and a strike team kills Dennis.

That ending was completely unexpected. Honestly, Dennis was one of the characters that I liked. However, his death in the series left a lasting impact that made it acceptable. With the only witness gone, Henry was going to have a hard time fighting for The Prisoner’s case.

Castle Rock continues next Wednesday, August 8th, with “Filter” on Hulu.