Annie thinks she’s going crazy when she spots someone she believed was dead, so her daughter takes drastic, familiar action.

Part of the joy of Castle Rock is spotting the references, overt or otherwise, from Stephen King’s wide body of work. I’m fairly sure that no one missed the Misery foreshadowing when Joy ties her mother to the bed, though there’s no sign of a hammer yet. Joy, played by Elsie Fisher, has had fairly little to do so far, and this episode marks her awakening. She’s enjoying the freedom that her new friends have managed to release from her. She swears, she gets high – she gets to be a teenager away from her reiterative mother. The obvious comparison here is Carrie White (from Carrie) fighting against the religious impositions of her mother.

Annie, not being one to sit back and take it, manages to break the ties that bind (the episode title has multiple meanings) and dislocated her arm to release herself to grab some glass in her mouth and cut the ropes, in scenes reminiscent of King’s Gerald’s Game.

Elsewhere, Abdi has just watched his adoptive father collapse following a stroke and gets him to hospital while resurrected Ace has murdered an estate agent at the Marsten House. Yes, things are going douth rather rapidly.

Verdict: Another top-notch hour that continues piling in the drama and tension at the same speed as the Stephen King references. It’s a great cast and there’s no real B-plot. All killers and no fillers – it’s a great show. 8/10

Nick Joy