Castle Rock Review: Ties That Bind (Season 2 Episode 3)
Actions have consequences, and promises must be kept on Castle Rock Season 2 Episode 3, “Ties That Bind,” as Annie finds herself trapped while the world moves without her.
It’s a nice surprise for Marsten House to feature so prominently on the episode. Ace’s miraculous revival does give pause, as how he goes from pretty dead to building a strange pod-like army is still up in the air. If these are full-on vampires, as is the case for Salem’s Lot and what the Marsten House means to Stephen King lore, remains to be seen still, but it is certainly looking that way.
The turning looks rather uncomfortable, from Abdi’s friend sounding pained and incoherent, and the cop coming out of the bathtub rather disheveled since the last time we see him. It’s a shame that Alison Wright of The Americans fame has to meet such a fate, as well, but it also means she will potentially stick around as a vampire, which sounds pretty all right.
Joy finally getting some time to enjoy life is a welcome change of pace for her, both giving her character some much-needed away time while also allowing Elsie Fisher to perform in less heavy and devastating scenes (which come later, anyway). It’s a brief glimpse of freedom for Joy, a moment of teenage life that has been withheld from her over the years.
Those moments with friends turn out to possibly be the last bit of time she’s able to do that, though, as Joy’s relationship with Annie is nearly, if not completely, severed. The emergency plan and the lockbox in the closet are small windows into the life Annie’s left behind and the contingencies she’s made to protect herself and Joy in the process, while also keeping as much as possible hidden.
That the emergency plan is incapacitating herself says a lot about Annie’s distrust in people, even in herself.
It’s an irony that Annie’s fate for most of the episode is the same she places her prey into during Misery: stuck in bed with no way of escape. The tense exchanges between Annie and Joy are the further breakdown of trust and love between them, where there are brief glimmers of reconciliation, that are dampened by more distrust and broken promises.
Annie accidentally slicing Joy with the broken shard of glass mid-escape is sure to make things worse, too.
What could easily become boring and tedious, being tied up for extended periods of time, is given a lot of power not only through cleverly using character to inform the scene, but through the great performances throughout.
Lizzy Caplan does remarkable work on the episode, able to convey Annie at her most vulnerable and panicked while still allowing some doubt and pity to come through to almost win you over when you know it’s only to get free. It could easily stray into constant manic acting, but Caplan manages to still keep Annie grounded and human when we have every reason to turn on her.
The Abdi and Pop side of the story is resolved so fast that it’s almost like there has been no issue at all. The mini-stroke is cause for concern with Pop, but it does feel like that whole sequence is brushed off some in order to place things back at zero in time for Ace to return and cause havoc.
Castle Rock Season 2 Episode 3, “Ties That Bind,” is a reminder of how fantastic Lizzy Caplan can be as a performer, while tying tension to character in a smart, satisfying way, and causing major rifts between mother and daughter. There’s still plenty to explore between them, and with the fear of infection spreading as Ace builds an army of sorts, the world of Castle Rock is about to get crazier.
Some stray thoughts on the episode:
- The episode is full of callbacks, including the missing head of Warden Lacy from his suicide on Castle Rock Season 1 Episode 1, “Severance,” to the noise under Castle Lake being the one tied to Henry throughout season one, to all of the aforementioned Salem’s Lot ties.
What did you think of this episode of Castle Rock? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Castle Rock airs Wednesdays on Hulu.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.