"The Mother" is the sixth episode of season two of Castle Rock. It aired on Hulu on November 13, 2019.
Synopsis[]
Rita comes to Castle Rock looking for her missing daughter, while the "new" Ace continues growing his flock.
Plot[]
Rita talks to her New York AA support group about how it's been four years since she stopped using drugs and alcohol, fifteen after Annie stabbed her in the stomach and left her for dead. She came there to be the start of a new story, and talks about how stories used to be her life. The story was in all the papers, so Rita came there to get away from it.
Later, Rita goes home to her trailer. Joy calls her and asks about The Ravening Angel, and then hangs up. The teenager hangs up, and Rita traces the phone number she called from and discovers it's at the motel in Castle Rock. She takes a photo of Annie down from a board with a map of the U.S.
In the Mellow Tiger, Annie tells Ace that she's not sorry about killing him. He suggests that she dreamed it, and notes that Annie has had a lot to drink and offers to walk her home. Ace takes her home and when she passes her out, sets her on her couch.
The next day, Nadia takes Joy to the local group home and explains that she and Abdi lived there before Pop. Joy wonders how long she has to stay there, and Nadia warns that the next step may be up to a judge. Once Joy goes with a social worker, Nadia goes home and checks her voice mail and finds a message for Pop. In the message he explains that he was just trying to make things right, and she shouldn't blame Abdi for not telling her the truth.
When Abdi returns home, he finds Nadia throwing his things out on the lawn. Furious, she says that she wants to know what's went on five years ago between him and Pop that they're now enemies. Abdi says that he told her to turn her against him, and Nadia tells him to get out.
That night, a couple are walking home, Lance suggests that they get married, saying that he'll have health insurance when he gets his job back at Shawshank. Heather jokingly suggests that he buy her some of her anti-depressant pills and she'll consider it. They go inside and something attacks them.
Later in the tunnels, Ace watches as the ones he's converted put Heather and Lance's bodies into goo-filled crates and close them. He kneels next to another coffin which has the name "Amity Lambert" on it. Ace whispers that "his prophet" will soon rise in a vessel worthy of her spirit.
The next morning, Annie wakes up on her couch. Steve Bannerman with Child and Family Services comes to the cabin door and tells Annie that Joy is at one of their facilities. They talk through the door, and Annie says that she's a registered nurse but he can't come in because she's sick and contagious. Bannerman says that he'll come back the next day and will need Joy's social security card and birth certificate.
Rita arrives in Castle Rock by bus and goes to the motel. She finds Chase sitting on her cabin doorstep playing her guitar, and says that she's looking for a girl. Rita asks Chance if she called her, and explains that she got a call on Chance's phone. Chance doesn't tell her anything about Joy, and Rita offers her $500 for any information and says that she'll be at the motor lodge downtown and to call her if she remembers anything.
Annie comes out of her cabin talking to someone about getting fake IDs and sees Rita, but Rita doesn't see her. She ducks around the corner before Rita can see her, goes back in and looks for her lockbox, and discovers that it's gone.
At the Marsten House, Chris looks at his new face in the mirror. He addresses Ace as Pere Augustin in French,, and Ace tells him to speak English until the end. Ace says that he's considering a woman of highly particular spirit to act as Amity's host, and it will happen in four days just as Amity predicted. However, he warns Chris/Bertrand that they still have much to do.
Chris/Bertrand removes the converted Lance from his crate and says that he's at the end of a long journey. The converted Valerie with him discovers that Heather is gone.
The next morning, Nadia arrives at the hospital and listens to voice message from Abdi saying that he had his reasons for doing what he did, and asks his sister to call him back. Heather runs up to the car and vomits goo on the window, and begs Nadia to help her. Nadia takes her inside to the ER and looks at the goo covering Heather, and Heather fades in and out of consciousness, and Nadia confirms that she's on a lot of anti-depressants.
Annie takes her anti-depressants.
At the motor lodge in her room, Rita looks at a sketch she made of Joy and makes a call. She tells the person at the end that it's different and she's four years' sober, and begs the FBI to reopen the case of Joy's abduction. She snaps at the agent and they hang up. There's a knock at her door, and Rita takes out a revolver and hesitantly answers it. Vera is there, and asks if Rita will pay the $500 she offered Chance.
Annie goes to the group home and asks to see Joy. The social worker calls Joy out, and she finds Rita waiting for her in the lounge. They sit down and Rita explains that she named Joy "Evangeline", but says that she can be whoever she wants. She offers to make some calls and says that she'll keep coming back until they figure things out together. Rita asks if Joy remembers her, and Joy starts crying. She asks if "her mom" will go to prison, and tells Rita not to call Annie her sister. Rita says that all she wants is Joy, and asks Joy what she wants. Joy says that she has to go and asks Rita to come back the next day. Annie watches them from the window.
Joy goes to the dining hall and stares at her food.
Back at her motel room, Rita cries and drinks from the mini bar.
Annie sits in her cabin and writes a letter.
Joy lies in her bed and cries.
Rita goes to the Mellow Tiger and drinks.
Annie finishes her letter, telling Joy that she'll always love her no matter how far apart they are.
Nadia checks Heather's blood samples and determines that she has two blood types. The nurse, Evelyn shrugs it off and says that Heather's skin samples haven't come back yet. Nadia goes past Heather's room and discovers that she's gone.
Appleton returns a confused Heather, and tells Ace that the anti-depressants slow the "weaving". They look up at an insect landing on the nearby wall.
Rita returns to the group home and the receptionist tells her that they can't locate Joy.
Joy has Chance accompany her after she agrees to talk to Annie in the woods. Annie thanks Joy for calling and gives her the letter. She says that it's the entire truth and gives it to Joy, and Joy asks if Rita is her real mother and Annie killed her father. Annie confirms that's what happened, and admits that she didn't save Joy but Joy saved her when she laughed. She explains that she was going to kill herself but then Joy laughed and "the sun came out at midnight". Annie swore then and there that she would love Joy for the rest of her days. She admits that the only thing that keeps her sane is knowing how to love Joy. Joy asks if Annie was going to kill her, and Annie admits that she was. The teenager tells her that she needs to go far away where no one can find her, and Annie says that she's not going anywhere without her. Joy leaves with Chance and Annie looks after her, crying.
Later in the woods, Chance warns Joy that breaking her out of the home was easy but being fugitive from the DFS is tougher. She suggests that they run off together to North Carolina where her stepsister lives. She takes Joy's hand and says that she'll find them a ride in Castle Rock.
Nadia visits Chris at his home and says that maybe he was right and they should leave together. She wonders if she was in denial, and Chris offers her some wine, saying it makes things much better. After a moment, Nadia accepts.
That night, Annie returns to the cabin. Rita is there, and plays Joy's voice message to her thanking her for telling her the truth. On the recording, Joy says that she can't go with Rita. Rita asks Annie if she knew she was alive, and Annie says that she eventually learned. The older woman says that she hoped Annie was a good mother, because the other option was that Joy was dead. Rita figures that it was the dedication to her instead of Annie that set the younger woman off, making Annie feel small. Annie says that she was small.
Joy reads Annie's letter, saying that there's another truth besides Rita's. She says that she'll always be grateful that the two of them were together, and she'll always be Joy's number one fan. Joy goes to the cabin and calls to Annie, who isn't there.
Rita takes Annie out into the woods at gunpoint, and Annie kneels on the ground. Stepping in front of Annie, Rita cocks the gun's hammer. Annie throws dirt in her face and runs off. Blinded, Rita shoots into the air. Tripping, Annie falls down a slope and keeps running as Rita chases her. Annie doubles back and attacks Rita, and Rita knocks her back. Joy arrives and jams a sedative into Rita's shoulder, and Rita says "Evangeline" before dropping the gun. It goes off when it hits the ground, and they all stare at the gunshot wound in Rita's stomach.
Rita collapses to the ground, screaming in pain, and Annie compresses the wound. A police car arrives in response to the gun shot, and the officers tell them to put their hands up. Annie and Joy both put their hands up, and Annie yells that she did it.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Lizzy Caplan as Annie Wilkes
- Tim Robbins as Reginald Merrill
- Garrett Hedlund as John "Ace" Merrill
- Elsie Fisher as Joy
- Yusra Warsama as Dr. Nadia Omar
- Barkhad Abdi as Abdi Omar
- Matthew Alan as Chris Merrill