Some of the inner workings of what makes Castle Rock so uniquely strange, and a focal point for it’s past and future tragic events, comes to light in this game changer of an episode. The key to it all may be the mysterious sounds Pangborn heard at the lake when he found Henry years ago, as well as the ringing in Henry’s ear that’s come and gone since he was a kid. This mystery sound not only affects Henry, but also plays a surprisingly large role for both Ruth and “The Kid.”

At the reburial of Henry’s father, two strange men watch him. Their names are Odin and Willie, and these men will throw Henry’s world upside down. What they’re doing in Castle Rock changes the course of the show completely. It’s been clear from the beginning, and also if you’re familiar with Stephen King’s writings, that something is wrong with Castle Rock. It’s the focal point of numerous strange and violent incidents, but the reason why becomes clearer by the end of the episode. If it were not for “The Kid” staying at Henry’s childhood home, Henry may never have had his curiosity piqued enough to go back into the same woods he disappeared into as a child.

“The Kid” has been an enigma since he was first discovered in the cage beneath Shawshank prison. By the end of the episode we’re left wondering what the hell he’s up to. Spending his time in the garage the Reverend used to retreat to has done something to “The Kid.” It’s almost like he’s channeling the dead Reverend, in a way becoming him or being overtaken by his personality in some way. As anyone in a strange room would do, “The Kid” begins exploring the boxes and materials left behind in there. It starts with his discovery of a trove of audio and videotapes, which he listens to and watches, and by the end he puts on the Reverend’s old clothes. His appearance outside of Ruth’s window startles both Henry’s son Wendell and herself. Later, we see him letting himself into the Deaver house, listening to a record, and laying in Ruth’s bed as if he belongs there. He seems to be acting out a memory he shouldn’t have access to. Henry walks in on “The Kid” watching home movies of the Reverend and a young Henry walking out in the woods in search of some sound. Does “The Kid” know more than he lets on about what they were up to in the woods? Is it in anyway connected to how “The Kid” ended up a prisoner of the Warden’s?

Ruth clearly senses something is off about “The Kid.” She also seems to be able to feel “The Kid’s” presence in her bedroom after he leaves, like a scent in the air. With odor being a big memory trigger for most people, and especially those suffering from dementia, it’s as if Ruth is transported to another time, and Henry interrupts this. “The Kid’s” offer to help Ruth takes on an urgency for Pangborn after “The Kid” tells him time is her enemy. This may have more meaning than just an urge for Pangborn to be quick about tracking down the car the Warden killed himself in. Ruth admits to Wendell the reason she’s been taking chess pieces and leaving them around the house is she uses them as breadcrumbs to let her know what time she’s in. They’ve become especially useful since she seems to have become unstuck in time. She tells Wendell they’ve had this conversation numerous times, and will do so again. For Ruth, time isn’t a straight line; it’s a loop she’s stuck in, repeating the past and the present over and over. If this is truly the case, no wonder she appears confused and distracted at times. Reliving the past as if it’s the present has got to be tedious, and it appears this affliction may be linked to the sound in the woods and the ringing in Henry’s ear.

The videos have Henry intrigued, and he uses one as a guide, watching it and walking through the woods hoping to find something, anything that’ll shed light on what he and his father were up to in those woods. He desperately wants an answer to the flashes of images in his head that’ve been rushing back recently. Henry doesn’t get too far before the camera dies. As night falls, he appears lost. It’s at this point when Henry is looking for direction that he finds it. He stumbles upon Odin (an older deaf man) and Willie (his young apprentice and interpreter) camped out in the woods. These are the same two men he saw at his father’s funeral. Odin knew his father, in fact they studied the same sound in the woods, and seemed to be close colleagues, but with two very different views of what the noise is. The scene between these three men is wonderfully acted, and Odin (played by Charles Jones) is deaf in real life, which adds an authenticity to his mesmerizing performance. Willie (Rory Culkin) translates for Odin, and the conversation is definitely a mind-bending experience.

What the Reverend believed was the “voice of God” and feverishly pursued using Henry as his sonic bloodhound; to Odin is something totally different. He calls the sound “The Schisma” and attributes it to nanoscale turbulences basically caused by parallel universes containing all possible versions of the past and present rubbing up against each other. The sound, which includes the ringing in Henry’s ear, is the universe trying to reconcile all of them from seemingly tearing apart the space-time fabric focused here in Castle Rock. Henry isn’t sure what to make of these men, and to be fair viewers shouldn’t either. If Odin is correct about the sound, it would explain why Ruth experiences the past and present at the same time.

According to Odin, he holds advanced degrees in bio and psychoacoustics, but all of this education still hasn’t dampened his fanaticism about the sound. Odin just takes a more scientific approach to it despite the fact he admits he purposefully made himself deaf so he could block out the sounds of modern life and focus solely on the Schisma. Would a rational person burn out their eardrums with hot metal pokers as Odin seems to have done, and intends on doing to his young apprentice Willie (who is completely nonplussed about it when it comes up in conversation)? Henry’s mixture of repulsion and intrigue about “The Filter,” or sound proof chamber his father supposedly designed to help hear the Schisma more clearly, is what pushes him into setting foot in Odin’s motor home. His curiosity gets the better of him, which is why Henry lets down his guard long enough for Odin to lock him inside. I don’t think Odin does it for a sinister reason, I think he does it to help Henry blow away the fog covering over his past, but the intensity of Henry’s experience may change him forever.

If the universe is struggling to reconcile and maintain a balanced co-existence with these parallel pasts and presents, what is it that’s caused this struggle and the sound to intensify to levels it hasn’t reached in decades? Is “The Kid” causing this? Or Henry? Is it something else entirely? Are Henry and “The Kid” the Ying to the others Yang? Do they need to work in cooperation in order to rectify the situation? It’s hard to imagine these two cooperating, especially after it seems “The Kid” sent Pangborn on a wild goose chase to get the same car “The Kid” was once trapped in the trunk of. Pangborn had the chance to rescue him, but let the Warden go with “the kid.” When Pangborn finds him sitting on the steps with blood dripping off of his hand, it appears “The Kid” took some kind of violent revenge on Pangborn by harming Ruth. If Ruth is unstuck in time as she claims to be, is it possible she’s already seen this version of the present, and can use that knowledge to escape “The Kid’s” wrath?

Some thoughts about the episode:

The detour of Henry taking “The Kid” to Juniper Hill is interesting, but there was no way that place was going to contain “The Kid,” especially after the crow’s suicide dive. Nice little callback to Firestarter for how “The Kid” escapes.

Who were Henry’s real parents? Is it possible his father is Dick Hallorann from The Shining?

Molly’s admission to Henry about what she did to his father, or better yet, what she claims they did together, repulses him. If Henry really were Dick Halloran’s child and shared Hallorann’s gifts, it would explain how he and Molly connect like they seem to do.

Ruth knows way more about Henry and the Reverend’s field trips than she lets on. Did the Reverend lock Henry up in an early version of “The Filter” on their property hoping he’d hear the voice of God?

Is it possible the reason the universe is suddenly having trouble reconciling all the versions of the past and present because “The Kid” is from a parallel universe? Is his mere presence in this one, and his escape from The Warden’s cage what’s sent Castle Rock reeling again? Was the cage design, which the Warden claims came to him from God, a Faraday Cage? If it were, between the cage blocking magnetic fields and being buried so deep under ground, is it possible this is why the universe could hum along quite nicely as long as the kid didn’t emerge into the light again?