Castle Rock: Sissy Spacek is Phenomenal in “The Queen”

Sissy Spacek as Ruth (Photo: Hulu)

Hulu’s Castle Rock has been laying out the facts of the city’s evil past, but mostly leaving us stumbling in the dark. This week’s masterful performance by Sissy Spacek shifted our perspective and finally showed us how all the pieces fit while revealing just how terrible the evil truly is. The show used Ruth’s clouded memory and loose grasp on reality to wind us through time and show us what’s really happening. The whole episode was a stunning and nuanced reveal, with each truth revealed more horrifying than the last, but it was also an exploration of Ruth finding her strength and fighting back against the evil that has menaced her for so long.

Before we talk about how amazing Sissy Spacek is, let’s recap what’s been happening on Castle Rock. After a nameless young man is found in an abandoned part of Shawshank Prison, Henry Deaver manages to get him released and ends up bringing him to his mother’s home. Henry still struggles to recall lost memories of the time he disappeared as a child, a time in which his father was killed, casting doubt on Henry. Alan Pangborn, long-time protector of Castle Rock, has shown us how the mysterious young man ended up locked away in the prison. A former warden had acted on what he believed was the voice of God, and only Alan knows what he did and why the boy should never have been released. Alan and Ruth have finally been able to fully experience the love denied for so long.

This week was a bottle episode relying on memories and Ruth’s inability to escape her own thoughts. We learned that all the information we wanted has always been there, but inaccessible because it was trapped in Ruth’s mind. I can’t recall a show using time and memory in this way before. It felt like something I hadn’t ever seen before. As Ruth progresses through her intermingled memories of the past, we finally learn the story of Reverend Deaver and just who he really was. We also see the beautiful kindling of Ruth and Alan’s relationship and the joy they’ve finally found together. The memories twist and backtrack, jumping across time, but maintaining a consistent narrative that effectively reveals Castle Rock as Ruth has lived it.

More than the way the building revelations clued us in to what we’ve been missing all along was seeing just how personal and intimate the evil of the past and present is to Ruth. She’s a mother fighting to protect and care for her son, a wife facing a husband moving slowly towards madness, and a lover that knows the love she finally has won’t save her. I’m telling you now that Spacek 100% deserves an Emmy nomination for her performance in this show. I’m calling it now for next year. She’s fragile and strong, confused and wise. It’s one of the best performances I can recall seeing in a long time. Spacek provoked a real sense of apprehension and fear, as well as showing us the tenderness and love Ruth feels for her son and Alan.

I’m warning you now, she’s going to make you cry, but somehow mends your broken heart by showing you such a pure moment of love and relief at the end. I know the she didn’t write this episode, but she made it. I don’t think anyone else could have.

Hulu has recently announced that Castle Rock has been renewed for a second season. Do not miss this show. It takes everything good about Stephen King’s writing and distills it into a show that is classic and original all at once. In addition to Spacek, Bill Skarsgard has been a powerhouse, and Scott Glenn and Andre Holland have given consistently strong performances throughout this first season. I can’t wait to see what they’re eventually going to do with Melanie Lynskey and Jane Levy.

Castle Rock airs Wednesdays on Hulu.