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‘Castle Rock’ Season 2: Is Annie Wilkes's daughter Joy responsible for her morphing into the murderous nurse?

The previous episode of 'Castle Rock' ended with Annie Wilkes's daughter Joy running away from her in the rain.

The next episode of ‘Castle Rock’ promises some zingers. In the previous episode, Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) got a taste of her own medicine, literally.  Her daughter Joy had to drug and tie her to the bed in the hope that she can finally wrest the truth about her real identity from her.  

Joy believes that she has good reason. Annie had just related the tale of Ace Merrill and how she had killed him, and that he had come back to life. Visibly shaken, Joy decides to take matters into her hands, and breaks into tears as she drugs her mother.

A little context, for the slightly unversed. Throughout her life, Annie had ensured that Joy did not have interaction with anyone else. Joy has been starved of human companionship. Ironically in the town of Castle Rock, a place that spells doom and death, Joy finally finds freedom, and thus, her suspicions about her mother begin to brew.

While lying tied on the bed, Annie tells her the story of how her father did not want the child, but she did. This upsets Joy further, who feels she is a burden on the world, though Annie repeatedly reminds her she isn’t.  In her tired and wearied state, Annie keeps telling her that she just wants to protect her from all evil, and that Ace Merrill was out to kill them both. While trying to cut herself free, Annie accidentally hurts Joy, who runs into the pouring rain. Annie rushes out, only to come face-to-face with Ace Merrill. And the episode ends there.

We do not see what happens to Joy. There are several possibilities, including her death or she just ran away from her mother. Did Ace Merrill kill her as Annie feared?  And will this death or disappearance spur Annie to become the nurse from hell, that everyone knows now?

Annie Wilkes's story from ‘Castle Rock’ takes place years before the events in Stephen King’s ‘Misery’.  She isn’t the demon that she is in the novel….yet. She is paranoid, nervous and protective about her daughter. But she also wants to save herself, and even steals medication for her illness. There are still redeeming qualities about her. But it could just be that after the loss of her daughter, she becomes a terror.

In the novel, we do not know much about Annie, apart from the fact that she is a diabolical murderer who has killed more than thirty people, including children. In the novel, Annie holds a hapless and handicapped author hostage. In the series, in the first few scenes, a young Annie is wearing blood-soaked clothes and is holding a baby.  The next few episodes hopefully will examine her backstory. 

Going by the track the show is taking, it seems as if Annie’s daughter Joy would have a crucial role in Annie’s final breakdown into the murderous nurse.

The next episode of ‘Castle Rock’ will air on October 30 on Hulu.