S02.E05: The Laughing Place

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2019.11.06

Quote

In the beginning...

[phoenix780]

I wish more people watched this show, because this episode may be my favorite tv episode of all time. Well-paced, cohesive story, serious without being full of itself, beautifully-acted-- it was pretty close to perfect entertainment for me.

[Shorty186]

Phoenix780, I totally agree. I wish there were more people to talk about the episodes with. Up until this episode, I thought the twist was going to be that Joy was actually going to turn into the Annie Wilkes from MISERY, but now I guess it is the same Annie. She got f'd up from a young age.

[Ms Lark]

I thought that Joy was going to be an incest baby. I'm so glad she wasn't, but I knew the dumbass tutor (Rita) was going to hit it with Daddy about 5 seconds in. Ugh, really?

Joy and  Rita reuniting should be interesting.

(Also watching original Misery which is running on Starz as a refresher.)

[2much TV]

I love this series, both seasons. It's not just horror, but there is some much real human pathos, kindness and cruelty in the characters.

[foxfreakinmulder]

5 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

I thought that Joy was going to be an incest baby.

That's what I thought too. I'm glad they didn't go there.

This episode was so good and I actually felt sorry for Annie, but I can't wait for Annie and Rita to reunite.  

[TheLotusFlower]

On 11/7/2019 at 5:07 PM, Ms Lark said:

I thought that Joy was going to be an incest baby. I'm so glad she wasn't, but I knew the dumbass tutor (Rita) was going to hit it with Daddy about 5 seconds in. Ugh, really?

Joy and  Rita reuniting should be interesting.

(Also watching original Misery which is running on Starz as a refresher.)

Yeah, I absolutely knew that Rita was going to have an affair with the father.  The whole thing with the father being outraged by the school's "political correctness" (I hate that term) to the point that he took Annie out of school was just strange to me.  So he thought political correctness was the reason a child that age couldn't read?  Then he went from being a crappy husband with Annie's mom to being a great partner and dad with Rita and the baby.  Even when he was nice to Annie, it seemed to be all about her helping with his book.  So everything wrong in his life was due to his first wife?  She obviously had some issues (to put it mildly), but he didn't seem to be all that stable himself.

I also wish that more people came here to discuss this show.  It's one of the best shows on now, in my opinion.

[TexasGal]

With Dad on lithium and mom depressed & suicidal, Annie didn’t have much of a chance did she?

[HeShallBMySquishy]

I just caught this one episode, after hearing about the first season last year, airing on Hulu, a service I was not subscribed to. (And holy shit, these 693 different streaming services and platforms makes keeping up with TV shows extremely difficult, especially if you're cash-strapped.) 

Anyway, wow. Huge props to Ruby Cruz, she was fantastic as Teen Ruby, as was Robin Weigert (who has always been in the things I've seen her in). Ruby was able to convey so much with just her eyes. My heart went out to Annie, and stayed with her. And she really didn't have much of a chance, did she?

I have yet to see much of Lizzy Caplan's scenes, other than what was shown here. And I immediately had to seek out Carly Simon's version of You Are My Sunshine, a song that has very personal meaning to me (as it does to a lot of people I'm sure). That song was sung at my little brother's funeral, which, coincidentally will be 20 years this week.

I, too, wish there was more activity here. I just finished the episode and came straight here, thinking a genre show like Castle Rock was bound to have a somewhat-lively discussion. I'll try to catch more episodes, and hope to be back here to at least contribute to the numbers.

[texassunflower]

I have been watching Castle Rock from the beginning. I am enjoying this season more than Season 1. This episode was my favorite so far. Did the teacher ever mention what 3 episodes Annie had that they wanted her to see a pyschologist? She appeared to be normal as a small child. She just got tired of being bullied and took up for herself. I thought Annie was raised in poverty but the family seemed to be middle class. Dad took Lithium. Mom was depressed and later suicidal so Annie didn't stand much of a chance. I know schizophrenia usually shows up in the teenage years. I assume her Mother trying to kill her and commiting suicide was her break from reality. Dad's death seemed an accident but she deliberately stabbed Rita. I didn't see it coming that Joy is really her half sister. Joy and Rita meeting should be interesting! I will echo what others have stated, I wish this show had more viewers. Hulu needs to advertise and promote this show. It's a real gem with an interesting and compelling story. 

[BigBlueMastiff]

Love this show, such tight, amazing acting. I did not expect Annie's mom's attempt to kill herself and Annie, no chance, indeed. That Annie sees no gray areas in life is a real problem, mom did her no favors. What will Joy do when she finds out the truth about Annie. And what is that creep doing sidling up to Annie at the bar?

[Ilovepie]

19 hours ago, texassunflower said:

Did the teacher ever mention what 3 episodes Annie had that they wanted her to see a pyschologist? She appeared to be normal as a small child. She just got tired of being bullied and took up for herself.

No mention of what she did, but I think we got a taste of it from the scene on the bus. Also, it's kind of hard to process this from the 2019 perspective when bullying is such a major topic, but that's all I could think of during those scenes - the behavior of the other kids openly mocking a child with learning disabilities would not be as easily tolerated any more than Annie acting out in frustration in the era we live in now. Why didn't anyone from the school mention that Annie had dyslexia?

I thought the girl cast as teen Annie was spot on and very similar in looks to Lizzy Caplan. My favorite moment was when she told them "My problem is reading but I can do math just fine" or something like that. I love that Joy located her real mother - can't wait to see what happens now!

44 minutes ago, BigBlueMastiff said:

And what is that creep doing sidling up to Annie at the bar?

Revenge for killing him maybe? Or maybe just targeting her to add to the undead crew of whatever they are?

[Andyourlittledog2]

These undead are weird. They remind me of the vampire who came to Salem's Lot to the Marsden House and started turning everyone into vampires and also Pet Sematary when the dead rose as undead when buried in a particular ground. A combination of both those themes. I am not familiar with this type of undead turning others undead in King's books but I haven't read all of them so I may have missed that.

I felt Joy was not Annie's daughter from minute one but I am puzzled why no one is looking for Joy. In her wanted poster on the internet I don't recall seeing anything about her being on the lam with a missing baby and the two people so far that we've seen read it haven't made any notice of the baby part of it.  I wonder why that is.

The young Annie was amazing casting, looked so much like adult Annie, and had her mannerisms and everything.

I felt badly for Annie when Rita moved in and Annie's room was given to the baby and Annie moved to the still unfinished attic. Her father was interested in his book and not Annie, not really, and her mother was mentally disturbed and suicidal. Add on dyslexia and that poor girl had no chance at a normal life at all.

I agree with those who said Season Two is far more interesting than Season One. I am really enjoying this series.

Oh, and I think the father accused the school of political correctness because the story Annie was reading was cleaned up for modern sensibilities. The gory parts and endings of fairy tales are usually changed to happy endings for kids nowadays. I think that was his excuse for declaring  Annie to be home schooled and not his true motivation though. He immediately tasked the child with typing his book for him as an exercise in 'reading'. Also I recall the mother saying he had limited education and so he probably has a resentment for those who do and teach. All in all a very unhealthy duo of parents for Annie and now no one on the outside looking out for her. Add in Rita being co-opted as her father's new wife and Annie had no one left.

Edited November 11, 2019 by Andyourlittledog2

[tennisgurl]

I am really glad to see more people here discussing the show, its just so good, this season has been excellent and this might be my favorite episode yet! Poor Annie never had a chance.

I really did end up feeling sorry for Annie, as scary as she is and how many messed up things she has done. Her parents kept her from getting the help she clearly needed, they were both mentally ill and dysfunctional people, she was bullied for having a learning disability, the dad and teacher she idolized were having an affair and kicked her out of her room to make room for the baby, and finally, her dad choose to dedicate the book that Annie helped him write to his new wife/girlfriend, which was just a real punch in the gut. I suspected that Joy wasnt her biological daughter, but not that Joy was her half sister! I did wonder if Rita and her dad would end up getting together after she started gushing about his story, but I didnt see him being the baby daddy coming. The actress playing the young Annie did a great job of portraying her as a teen/young woman, she really got her body language and mannerism down. 

Annie sees the world in black and white, there are good people that are perfect and bad people that are evil and should die, a view that she seemed to get from her mother, and you can really see how that impacted her. You can see so much of her parents in Annie and how she came to be how she is.

Its kind of funny that pop cultures most infamous literature fan girl is presumably dealing with undiagnosed dyslexia. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Cheezwiz]

After the tedium of Episode 4, I was starting to lose a bit of hope. This episode was amazing. Far more affecting than I ever would have expected. I guess I'm much more interested in Annie and Joy's back story than Pops, the rest of the Merrills and the growing Vampire clan.

You really felt genuinely bad for Annie given her start in life - really no hope for any normalcy there. Totally did not see the twist that Joy is actually her half sibling coming at all. Teenage Annie did an incredible job - kudos to the young actress.

I'm officially sucked back into the show! I too, wish more people were discussing it - this season has been surprisingly moving, and is certainly an improvement over Season 1 (although it did have its poignant moments too).

[spiderpig]

This season has been great.  Tightly plotted, wonderfully acted, and full of King references to entertain those of us who have enjoyed his work for over 40 years.

You can see why so many talented actors are drawn toward streaming series like this.

Does anyone know the name of the actor who played Annie's father?  I don't see him listed in iMDB.

[Clanstarling]

On 11/8/2019 at 4:02 PM, TheLotusFlower said:

 Even when he was nice to Annie, it seemed to be all about her helping with his book.

And what he was writing about was so inappropriate for young Annie. I was starting to think she'd be the victim of incest - but instead, she was the victim of damaged parents.

On 11/10/2019 at 6:31 PM, texassunflower said:

I have been watching Castle Rock from the beginning. I am enjoying this season more than Season 1.

This season has definitely had more of a focus, and I'm enjoying it more too.

On 11/11/2019 at 1:33 PM, BigBlueMastiff said:

Love this show, such tight, amazing acting. I did not expect Annie's mom's attempt to kill herself and Annie, no chance, indeed. That Annie sees no gray areas in life is a real problem, mom did her no favors. What will Joy do when she finds out the truth about Annie. And what is that creep doing sidling up to Annie at the bar?

People who are rigid break - especially those who are holding themselves together by the skin of their teeth. Never thought I'd feel any sympathy for Annie at all. But, kudos to the show, I do.

I always knew Joy wasn't hers - but knowing that they're sisters makes it a pretty interesting, and different, story.

[Anela]

I'm just catching up, and almost stopped watching this episode, because it felt too depressing, and I'm tired. I'm glad I stuck with it, though. Annie's dad didn't deserve to die, but he was a major ass. I like Sarah Gadon, but the character... both of them were so selfish. 

[Anela]

On 11/17/2019 at 6:39 AM, spiderpig said:

This season has been great.  Tightly plotted, wonderfully acted, and full of King references to entertain those of us who have enjoyed his work for over 40 years.

You can see why so many talented actors are drawn toward streaming series like this.

Does anyone know the name of the actor who played Annie's father?  I don't see him listed in iMDB.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2139624/?ref_=tt_cl_t12