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The Queen was stunning look into the mind, reality and times of Ruth Deaver. Sissy Spacek gives an Emmy worthy performance of a woman trying to hold on to reality and battle as a timewalker.
The Queen Doesn’t Rule:
In chess the queen can move in different ways. Ruth may be the Queen of the Deaver household, but she doesn’t rule. Matthew is in charge. We see Ruth in the present placing chess pieces around the house to help her cope. As she does, we see scenes from the last few weeks as well as the past when Henry was a kid.
As we walk through her memories, she is able to escape them when she sees and takes hold of the chess pieces. We learn that before Henry was adopted, Matthew had a brain tumor that was removed. It caused him to hear voices, see things and more. Matthew, like Dale Lacy, has seen the horrors of Castle Rock and is questioning God. He tells his family, at a picnic in the woods, he was going to kill himself in the woods unless God spoke to him. God did and now Matthew wants them to hear as well. Ruth just wants him to see the doctor. So Matthew takes Henry to the woods repeatedly to try to get him to hear.
Ruth has a friendship with Alan and she turns to him when the family dog Puck disappears. Alan tells her that they can run away and take Henry with them. They can start anew somewhere else. Ruth discovers that Matthew killed Puck and is pushing Henry to hear the voice. She packs their things to leave, but cannot do it.
Queen of the Timewalkers:
Ruth has developed her coping mechanism with the chess pieces, but it is when Wendell tells her about his AR game that things change. Our queen hears that see is a timewalker. The timewalker is the strongest of the avitars and the only one who is able to kill the dead. The timewalker can fix the timeline by killing their nemesis, a skin changer who can look like an ally. Wendell says you have to stay sharp. Ruth decides to throw out her medication so she can stay sharp. This is when The Kid comes in after escaping Juniper Hill.
Ruth doesn’t see The Kid she sees Matthew. She sees Matthew/The Kid as her nemesis. So she goes and gets the gun, but the bullets are missing. She flashes back and remembers Matthew saying he hid them where Henry would never find them. She runs to the safe but can’t remember the combination and can’t break in. The Kid has put up an old family photo and is playing caregiver/Matthew. He dances with her, talks about the past, gives her the combination to the safe and even cooks for her. She gets Wendell out of the house, to Chesters Mill. She gets The Kid draw her a bath and gets the safe open but there are no bullets.
She finally, with the help of the Matthew in her head, figures out that the bullets were packed up when she was going to leave Matthew. They never got unpacked. So she digs up the suitcase containing the dog and gets the bullets. She loads her gun and goes to the shed. She is frantic and ready to end things. She shoots multiple times. She then goes over and sees she has shot Alan instead of Matthew/The Kid. The next morning she leaves the shed and gets cleaned up and dressed up. Alan knocks at the door talking about the neighbours hearing gun shots and she begs him never to leave. We close with not one but two chess pieces on the hall table. The Queen is still standing but the knight has fallen at her feet.
Link:
Thanks to Faith posting this in our Facebook Group! There is a wonderful article on Collider called “How ‘Castle Rock’s Portrayal of Dementia Upends the Use of Mental Illness in Horror.” It talks with the producers of the show and details how mental illness has been used in the past and why it is different in Castle Rock. The insight the article gives makes “The Queen” even better.
King Connections:
This week there were not too many connections due to our focus. But we do have a few. We have the shower scene near the end of the episode where we see blood go down the drain. A shout out to Sissy’s first King roll in Carrie. The chess pieces are red and white. That means we have a crimson king. A shout out to that King antagonist and maybe a hint of who is behind the crazy things going on in Castle Rock. Ruth sends Wendell to Chester’s Mill to get him out of the house. Does the mill exist in this universe or has Under The Dome not happened? We might see we might not. Ruth is woken up with a dog in the room, hurt hand and stuck. Is this a shout out to Gerald’s Game?
This week’s movie is Gerald’s Game. A romantic getaway becomes a prison of fears.
Check out the movie from Netflix.
Here is a link to the Book and Audiobook.
Closing Thoughts:
“The Queen” was an Emmy worthy performance from Sissy Spacek. She took the wonderful writing that gave us insight into Ruth Deaver and brought it to life. We now know what is going on in her head. But because this is Castle Rock we are leery to believe it is JUST going on in her head. Theories abounded in our heads and in the Facebook group this week. We hear Wendell share about timewalkers and Ruth adopt that mentality, it is hard not to think that is what is happening here in the Rock. While the acting, directing and writing were great (as always), I don’t want to neglect the cinematography. The cinematography in the series has been great all season, this episode was stunning with the past and present blending together in Ruth’s eyes. It was hard to pick images for this blogpost because of it. Each episode of this series keeps getting better. I cannot wait to see what they do for the final three!
News:
Here are the synopses of the final three episodes.
Episode 08: Past Perfect – Newcomers set up shop in Castle Rock, Henry follows a clue.
Episode 09: Henry Deaver – A world beyond these walls.
Episode 10: Romans – Some birds can be caged.
Sound Off:
What did you think of “The Queen”? What King Connections did you spot in the episode? What theories do you have about the show? Be sure to join our facebook group and get updates on upcoming shows!
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