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Clean, no one gets out of Castle Rock clean. Annie fights to get Joy back. Abdi and Nadia get Pop back. But The Kid will not let anyone stay happy for long.

Clean No Longer: Joy and Annie:

CRZ23 - Clean - Annie Joy

©2019 Hulu Photo: Dana Starbard/Hulu

The Cult have prepped Joy to be Amity’s vessel. She is adorned in flowers and a brides dress. She is a clean vessel ready for the taking. Annie, Chance, Abdi and Nadia have worked out a play to blow things up once Annie and Chance have gotten Joy. But things never go as clean as the plan. Annie & Chance sneak up to property. Chance is moving slowly, liked an enthralled person, towards the house. Vera sees her and says NO and other join her. Chance is captured by the deputy. Annie cannot get through to Abdi & Nadia and so she runs to the house and gives up the plan in order to save Joy. While Pop two other cult members search the tunnels, Annie is kept outside. Abdi & Nadi blow the charge beneath the statue, right before the ceremony begins. The destruction of the statue and freeing of the bugs, breaks the enthrallment and the people begin to run. Joy stabs Augustin and leaves. Annie finds Joy and they are reunited.

They get back on the road. Annie discovers a Misery book and begins to read to Joy. Annie is taken away into it ‘s world. They enter Canada and Annie sees a poster for a home health nurse. Annie and Joy have the run of the place. Joy is slowly coming around. But she will not talk about Maine, doesn’t want to change her hair color, is watching things in French and denying phone calls. Annie and the voices in her head are suspicious. She looks in Joy’s drawing book and is horrified. She suspects Joy has been implanted with Amity. She drugs her to get answers. Joy denies it and tries to run off. Annie drowns her and returns to the house in a daze. She finds a letter to her from Joy. It says that she was going away and working with a lawyer for emancipation. Distraught Annie runs to the water and revives Joy.

We see a happy Joy and Annie having fun, driving, getting ice cream and more. Joy sketches a perfect likeness of the house calling it the Laughing Place. They go to a book signing for Misery’s Love. We suspected things, but here they were confirmed. We see Annies mother and father in the crowd. A man asks if Joy’s seat is taken and Annie says yes. As Paul Sheldon begins to speak we see the seat is empty. Joy died and Annie totally broke mentally. Both of them Mother & Child/Sister & Step-sister had blood on their hands and neither got out clean.

Consciences and Hearts Clean: Pop, Abdi and Nadia:

CRZ23 - Clean - Pop Nadia

©2019 Hulu Photo: Dana Starbard/Hulu

Abdi and Nadia are working to plant the bombs in the catacombs and under the statue. But faced with losing Joy, Annie gives them up. They are captured, but Pop takes out the other cult members. It seems like his plan worked. He pumped himself full of the drugs before Augustin shot him. The weaving process restored his life and the drugs are keeping the cult member at bay for a while. He gives Augustin just enough info to gain his trust and then betrays him. He sends Abdi & Nadia out of the catacombs. He frees Chance and cuffs himself up. He gives the cue and Nadia blows the bomb in his hands, destroying the house. He has earned redemption from 2 of his kids.

Hands Clean of The Mess: The Kid and Henry:

CRZ23 - Clean - Kid Henry

©2019 Hulu Photo: Dana Starbard/Hulu

It seems The Kid/Angel is going to clean his hands of this mess. We find out from Pop that Castle Lake & the woods around it are a doorway between other where’s and when’s. We suspected as much in last season and it is confirmed. The area is a doorway between levels of the Dark Tower. We still do not know how The Kid got out of the cell under Shawshank. But we may have gotten a clue in the form of a missing poster in Canada. It seems Henry Deaver went missing in July of this year in the Castle Lake area. Did he take The Kid out there to kill him? Did The Kid get to him and convince him to go with him? Did Henry pull a Warden Lacey and jump in the lake only to disappear and someone else let The Kid out? We just don’t know.

King Connections:

The connections to Misery are clear with three of Paul Sheldon’s books Misery’s Quest, Misery’s Paradise, and Misery’s Love. Misery’s Quest is the first book in the series. Misery’s Paradise falls towards the end and Misery’s Love was the book before Misery’s Child (that sent Annie over the edge) source data can be found here. We had it confirmed from Pop that the Castle Lake area is a Thinny. This is mentioned in many of King’s works. So our choice of book and audio book is Wizard and Glass (fyi this is what Amazon’s proposed Dark Tower series will start off being based on).

Here is a link to the Book and Audiobook.

If you are missing conversations about Stephen King and missing hearing Wayne and I, we have good news. You can check out two podcast episodes. I have put the links in our blog post. The first is a roundtable where Wayne and I join the crew of Remake This Movie Right! To remake The Stand. The second is a discussion between Wayne his 11.22.63 A Look Back co-host Troy and I as we discuss the Dark Tower movie.

The Stand:  Remake This Movie Right!
The Dark Tower: 11.22.63 A Look Back

Closing Thoughts:

Clean was an interesting way to close the season. Under half of Clean takes place in Castle Rock. The rest takes place in Canada and centers on Annie and Joy. While this season largely centered around Annie, it is called Castle Rock. We got no clear close to Abdi & Nadia’s story. We have no clue if the Cult members survived. We were left with many more questions unanswered that last season in my oppinion. But The Annie & Joy story and twist was very good. I can truly see this Annie becoming the one in the book of Misery, but I do wonder how she “looses” Joy for good. Overall, I enjoyed this season more than last because of the story line and flow. I really do hope we get a third season that brings us some more answers and questions!

News:

No news on a season 3 pickup by Hulu yet. Stay tuned to our Facebook group and we will keep you in the loop.

Sound Off:

What did you think of “Clean”? 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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Looking For Other Great Shows?:

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You can find  Wayne on the Don’t Blink podcast and Geoff doing the Flashes from the Underground segment on Maid of Steel and  Gotham Undercover.

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