As his father’s coffin is interred again, Henry Deaver just can’t shake the tinnitus, but as he delves deeper into his past, some new characters cross his path.

When typing the name of this episode ‘Filter’, autocorrect changed it to ‘Filler’ which proves both how awful my typing is and how clever my PC is, because for the first time this season we feel like we’re treading water and not moving significantly forward. Veteran TV director Kevin Hooks (V, The X Files, Alien Nation) also helmed an episode of the other ongoing Stephen King-based series Mr Mercedes, and this segment of Castle Rock is as talky as the worst moments of that show.

We get to meet Henry’s son Wendell, played by IT’s Chosen Jacobs, meaning that with the presence of Bill Skarsgård as the mysterious prisoner we now have Pennywise the Clown and Mike Hanlon in the same house as Sissy Spaceck (Carrie) – this casting cannot be coincidental and provides that additional meta level for King fans.

When Skarsgård is taken to Juniper Hill Psychiatric Hospital (another King locale) birds start dropping dead out of the sky, an effect that The Stand’s Randall Flagg also had on the avian population, and so it’s no surprise when we hear on the radio about a disaster at the facility and he walks back through the door in the suit that Deaver Senior had been buried in.

Much of the episode focuses on suppressed and unreliable memories, but where it grinds to a halt is with the arrival of two semi-mystical characters Odin and Willy, exposing Henry to the Music of the Spheres and sending him on a head trip. I have no idea where this is going.

Verdict: As Castle Rock hits its second half it stumbles a little with some clumsy exposition and spiritual hokum. It’s at its strongest when it’s good vs evil and there’s lot to be resolved on the final four episodes. And that ending! 7/10

Nick Joy