One of famed genre author Stephen Kings' most popular (fictional) settings is the Maine town of Castle Rock, where such yarns as Needful Things, Cujo, and The Dead Zone have taken place. As any King fan or buff knows, he's created this little universe where so many of his tales are interconnected. So there is a rich potential for entertainment with this series, although this viewer has been told that the second season is an improvement over the first.
Certainly, the writers (and creators of the series) know how to hook in their audience with set-ups and mysteries to be solved. After the warden of Shawshank Prison (Terry O'Quinn, the sheriff in "Silver Bullet") commits suicide in spectacular fashion, the new warden (Ann Cusack) decides to open up a long-unused section of the prison. In a cage underneath this section, a strange, unnamed kid (Bill Skarsgard, Pennywise in the recent film adaptation of "It") is discovered. The kid utters one name, that of Henry Matthew Deaver (Andre Holland). Henry is a death row attorney who resided in Castle Rock as a child; he'd gone missing, and was then miraculously found by Sheriff Alan Pangborn. Henry flies home to a mother (Sissy Spacek, the star of the original "Carrie") suffering from dementia, and he realizes that there will be no easy answers to the questions facing him.
Much like any TV series pilot, this mainly serves to set up characters and situations. The crew definitely realized that the town of Castle Rock is like a character unto itself, and find some excellent locations in Massachusetts to serve their purpose. Great atmosphere and a haunting Thomas Newman score are assets in an episode that is reasonably entertaining. At the very least, it left this viewer engaged enough to want to keep watching to see how these stories play out. The cast is superb, especially old pros like O'Quinn, ever-endearing Spacek, and guest star Scott Glenn (as an aged Pangborn).
Sissy's character is played at a younger age by her own daughter, Schuyler Fisk.
Seven out of 10.
