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Castle Rock season 1, episode 6 recap: ‘Filter’

By Wade Wainio

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“Filter” interweaves strange elements, like an anechoic chamber, a faceless ghost, “schematics from God” and a newly missing mom on Castle Rock.

Henry Deaver (André Holland) has a complex relationship with his deceased father, Reverend Matthew Deaver (Adam Rothenberg). Still, there are things Henry doesn’t know which Molly Strand (Melanie Lynskey) and us Castle Rock viewers do. In addition to having early insight into how Matthew Deaver actually died, we at one point heard the haunting words, ” Behold, I tell you a mystery.” Those very same words are echoed by the Priest speaking at the old Reverend’s official funeral. While the meaning is still cryptic, it at least demonstrates a strong psychic link between Molly Strand and past, present and future events in Castle Rock.

Pangborn and The Kid

Alan Pangborn (Scott Glenn) knows that the mysterious “Kid” (Bill Skarsgård) isn’t quite right. In fact, in the last episode, Pangborn had a gun pointed straight at him, asking if he was the devil himself (or itself). Still, all that was put on the backburner as The Kid promised he could “save” Alan’s love interest, Ruth (Sissy Spacek) — who is also Henry Deaver’s mom. The whole matter is cryptic, but The Kid says that Alan needs to get something in Syracuse.

Read. Castle Rock season 1, episode 5 recap: “Harvest”. light

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Henry’s Life Gets Even More Complex

Seemingly out of nowhere, Wendell Deaver (Chosen Jacobs) shows up, demonstrating a lack of connection to his father Henry, and most others. That isn’t the weirdest new development, though. Ruth says she could swear that The Kid is wearing Matthew Deaver’s suit. While one might say her mind is slipping again, or say it’s just a coincidence, it’s also true that The Kid starts watching old VHS tapes of Henry and his dad. That, of course, is a somewhat strange thing to put on. Wanting to help The Kid, and also to get him out of his house, Henry brings him to the Juniper Hills Psychiatric Hospital — which Stephen King fans will recognize pretty easily.

Still, the VHS tapes reveal the quirky fact that Henry’s father took him into the woods late at night. If that’s not enough, Molly Strand drops a heavy bombshell to Henry: She confesses to removing his father’s breathing tube! Why’d she do it? She claims she wasn’t quite herself, and that a psychic connection made her do it, or something to that effect. Understandably, Henry thinks she’s crazy, and she’s certainly not winning any Miss Normal USA contests any time soon. After all, in this very episode, she also saw a creepy, bandage-faced ghost (presumably of the man she killed, but possibly symbolic of much more).

Meanwhile, Ruth tells Wendell that she leaves chess pieces around the house, to remind her she’s not in the past. It’s a bit of a jarring reality, and Henry certainly worries about her diminishing mental faculties, but he’s essentially blocked from moving her by Pangborn, the grumpy ex-Sheriff of this freaky old town.

In fact, to demonstrate just how unhinged he seems, Pangborn visits an auto graveyard/salvage yard where he steals a car at gunpoint. Is it what will save Ruth’s life? It seems unlikely, but the robbery seems to be perpetrated as though one’s life depends on it. While there, Pangborn also hears a radio broadcast about fire and mayhem at Juniper Hills. It sounds like The Kid is hard at play.

Willie, Odin and the Filter

While out looking for answers to his life’s riddle, Henry meets two weirdos, Willie (Rory Culkin) and Odin Branch (Charles Jones). Oddly enough, they are one of the weirdest elements of this episode, and of Castle Rock thus far. Through rambling speeches interpreted by Willie, Odin Branch is revealed as an old pal of Matthew Deaver, with advanced degrees in bioacoustics and psychoacoustics. He says he’s constructed the means by which he can hear the voice of God, or the music of the spheres.

It should be noted that Willie may the best interpreter of all time, as Odin says things like, “schisma are nanoscale turbulences” that are “caused by cochlear quantum totalities abrading in parallel.” Try interpreting that 5 times fast!

Anyway, Odin tells Henry that he devised something called the filter and that he got the schematics from god. What is the filter? It is an anechoic chamber, free of all noise. Although Henry initially refuses to enter the filter, they sort of hoodwink/coerce him into it. When he enters the chamber, Henry begins to freak out and rejects the experience. Still, it does play into earlier themes from the show, where Henry seemed to hear things others didn’t, and it seems like Odin actually means well.

Next. Castle Rock season 1, episode 7 recap. dark

The Nail-Biting Conclusion

When Pangborn rolls back into town in the stolen Lincoln, he is alarmed to see The Kid sitting outside of Ruth’s home with blood on him. The Kid speaks angrily about being imprisoned in Shawshank (although previously he seemed to prefer that environment). To make things worse, the Deaver house is all messed up and Ruth is missing. Obviously, things are not okay. Were they ever?

That’s it for this Castle Rock recap. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!

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