The Past
Gordon and two other college professors listen to a student's presentation on psychology. Finally, Gordon says that the student fucked his wife and clubs him in the head with his notebook.
Now
Gordon and his wife Lola drive in silence through the countryside.
Earlier during Molly's open house, Gordon asks if they'll include the lawn.
The couple unloads their things and set the house up as a bed & breakfast. Gordon lays out mannequins throughout the house, while Lola finds dozens of Dale's paintings of the Kid in the basement. She calls to Gordon and they hang up the paintings throughout the house. As he does so, Gordon looks at them contemplatively.
Later, Gordon is painting blood on a mannequin with an axe in its head when Lola comes in and suggests that they "give it a shot". Gordon hesitates and then goes back to painting, and Lola asks if they can forget that it ever happened. Her husband says that he's trying, and the phone rings. Lola answers and afterward, she tells Gordon that they have a booking.
Later, the guests arrive and sit on the couch next to the mannequin. They say that the house is the first fully immersive experience for the true crime aficionado: a chance to stay in a house where actual murders have been recreated. The guests say that they'll be leaving early and can't stay for the tour, and Lola serves pie.
After everyone goes to bed, Gordon sits up and listens as the guests have sex. Lola finally wakes up when the women yells, and she realizes that Gordon is gone. She goes looking for him, checks the guest room, and finds him kneeling over Teagan's chopped-up corpse, holding a knife. Lola gasps in shock, and Gordon stands up and looks at her.
Molly wakes up from a dream of Henry's visions in the filter, and goes out to her car. She finds Henry in the filter room in the RV, and helps him to her car. Odin is nearby, a screwdriver plunged into his eye.
The next day, Molly drives Henry to the Deaver house. He asks if Molly was "with" him, and she says that it was confusing. Henry explains that it felt like he had been in the filter room for years, and Molly says that she knows from experience that he'll get used to being considered crazy. He takes her hand and assures her that she's not crazy, and walks up to the house as Molly drives away.
Henry goes inside and realizes that something is wrong when he finds no one there. He goes upstairs looking for Wendell and Ruth, and finds Ruth asleep in her bed. Water runs in the kitchen, and Henry goes down to find the Kid at the sink. Henry asks where Wendall is, and the Kid says that he's not there.
Wendall comes in and Henry hugs him, relieved. He tells Wendall to go to his room and lock the door. The Kid walks out the back door and Henry asks where he's going. Wendall watches from his bedroom window, and then makes a call.
The Kid goes into the shed and Henry follows him. Alan's corpse is on the floor, covered with a blanket, and the Kid shows the body to Henry. He says that Ruth killed him when she was afraid and confused, and details how they can hide the body to protect Ruth. Henry hears the ringing in his ears, and the Kid realizes that he finally hears it. He says that they have to go to the woods, and tells Henry that he waited for Henry for 27 years and rescued him from the basement. A state police cruiser pulls up and the Kid walks out the bed. Henry goes out and a state trooper pulls a gun on him.
Gordon puts on a makeshift poncho and saws up the bodies. He then wraps up the pieces and loads them into the back of his van.
Jackie drives toward the B&B.
Lola helps Gordon clean up, and Gordon tells her that he doesn't know what came over him. She tells him that it never happened and walks away as Jackie pulls up and comes in. She introduces herself and says that she hoped to partner with them. Jackie notices the mannequin and says that she had the same idea five years ago. She knows all about the dead man the mannequin represents, and points out the flawed details in Gordon's recreation. Lola escorts her to the door, saying that they have a big group coming in and need to clean up. Outside, Jackie notices the bags in the back of the van, and finds a blood-covered bracelet on the ground.
The state troopers secure the Deaver house, and Henry tells Wendall that Alan took care of Ruth for a long time. Wendall explains that Ruth told him to leave, and Henry apologizes for not being there. His son asks where he was, and Henry merely says that he had to do something. Wendall tells him that he slept in one of the pews at Matthew's church.
Ruth calls for Henry, and Henry goes upstairs to her room. She explains that Matthew was coming for her and she was scared, and she failed to protect Henry from him in the past. Ruth asks Henry if he'll explain anything, and asks him to find Alan so that he can talk to the troopers. Wendall listens from the hallway, and then goes out and watches the EMT take Alan's body away.
A trooper, Daria Reese, questions Henry and confirms that he never learned the Kid's name. Daria tells him that maybe Henry will think again before getting a lunatic released, and Henry suggests that prison turned the Kid into a lunatic. The trooper points out that she knew Henry from the high school, and they nicknamed him "the Black Death". Now he's back in Castle Rock and attracting murders like a lightning rod. Once she leaves, Henry takes Wendall into the house.
Later, Henry takes Wendall to the bus station and apologizes for bringing him to Castle Rock. Wendall says that Ruth told him more about Henry then Henry has in Wendall's entire life. He figures that Henry can't talk about it, and suggests that they go home together. Henry says that he can't get away and just needs a few days, and hugs his son. As Wendall gets on the bus, Molly calls to offer her sympathies to Henry about Alan's death. Once Henry drives away, a bird crashes into the front of the bus, killing itself. The driver gets out to pry it off the windshield and clean the blood, and Wendall is overwhelmed by a ringing sound in his ears.
At home, Henry tells Molly what happened and how the Kid apparently pushes people to kill for him. He tells her what the Kid said about waiting 27 years, and asks if she ever went down to Dale's basement. Molly says that the widow couldn't find the key.
That night, Henry drives to the B&B and knocks at the door. There's no answer, and Henry breaks into the cellar. He finds Gordon's mannequin parts but all of the paintings are gone. Henry goes upstairs to the second floor and finds all of Dale's paintings of the Kid mounted on the walls. He checks the dates on the paintings and confirms that the earliest one dates back to 1991: 27 years ago. The painting shows the Kid wearing the same shirt that young Henry was wearing when he disappeared.
At home, Molly has more psychic visions of running through the forest, her bloody corpse on the ground. She takes her pills to stop the visions, and then calls Henry and gets his voice mail. Molly leaves a message that she's coming over because she can't be alone.
Henry is taking a photo of the 1991 painting when Gordon comes in and asks if he can help him. The lawyer tries to explain that his client is in all of the paintings, and then says that he should leave. Gordon agrees and Henry backs out and bumps into Lola, who is holding a knife. She swings at Henry, who grabs her arm. Gordon comes over to help his wife, and Lola accidentally knocks him away. Henry and Lola struggle, and she accidentally cuts her neck and then collapses. As she bleeds out, Henry runs to the front door as Gordon screams in fury. As Henry gets into his car, Gordon runs after him with a knife, pulls him out of the car, and tries to kill him. Jackie arrives and hits him in the head with the ax from the mannequin.
Molly drives through the night and weaves back and forth over the highway.
The bus arrives in Jerusalem's Lot, and Wendall gets off and starts walking back to Castle Rock.
The troopers arrive and secure the crime scene. Jackie tells the officers that something seemed off so she drove back and saw Gordon attacking Henry. She says that she wasn't herself anymore.
Molly arrives home and discovers that the front door is open, and goes inside. The Kid is sitting on the stairs, and tells her that he doesn't think Henry is ready yet. He figures that Molly can help him because she knows him. The Kid describes her childhood and how she'd sit at the window and listen to music.
Reverend Appleton calls Henry and says that Ruth came to the church and seemed confused. He says that she seemed confused and left in a hurry, and Henry drives off.
The Kid walks upstairs and Molly goes after him. In her bedroom, he describes how the room was laid out and that she painted her nails with White Out. The Kid says that he was there and goes to the window. He looks at the woods and says that Molly died out there.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 1, 2018