Wow double post, but at least they're months apart, so I don't feel particularly guilty about it.
Any hoo, I started watching
Castle Rock on Sunday night. I've been thoroughly impressed thus far. It sort of does for the 'universe' of Stephen King (the 'King-iverse'?) what the MCU did for Marvel. What I mean by that, is that if you're a fan of King's work, you'll find enough references here, both subtle and explicit, to keep you busy for days connecting all the dots. Okay ... maybe not for
days, but there's certainly more than enough 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' references here to satisfy even the most avid of fans.
Bill Skarsgård and (particularly) Sissy Spacek put in some really great performances here. Skarsgård is just as 'otherworldly creepy' in
Castle Rock as he was in
It. He's really finding a niche for himself in (Stephen King-based) horror! This is a weird comparison to make but I get an almost 'David Bowie' type vibe from him in that he's so adept at conveying this sense of 'alien otherness'. But
Sissy Spacek ...
damn. I just finished watching s01e07 last night, an episode titled
The Queen. This episode might be my favorite performance by Sissy Spacek in ... well,
anything. I'm not a
superfan (meaning I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of her ouvre), but
damn ... she just
kills it in this episode. It probably doesn't hurt that I'm also a sucker for psychological-horror-based mindfuck-ery, and as far as that goes,
The Queen is fully firing on all cylinders. I guess the title of the episode really is a bit of an entendre. This might be the single best episode of television I've seen all year. (#HyperboleAlert?) ... Or maybe it just perfectly fit what I was in the mood for. At any rate, very good stuff.
It's a bit of a shame then that Castle Rock is confined to a niche streaming service like Hulu, because it deserves a larger audience, IMO. Definitely a fun outing for you horror buffs who enjoy filling October with thematically appropriate viewing (IMO, etc, etc).
Edit:Okay ... I
may have neglected to consider
Carrie when I said 'my favorite Spacek performance in anything'.
But ... I will say that she displays more
range in this single episode than in the entirety of Carrie. Boom.