Let the River Run

Great first episode of this new season. The cast is superb and the aforementioned Lizzy is "crazy" awesome. Much easier to follow and better episode to episode pay off than the first season.

Was a bit confusing, then it picks up! Great, new fresh start for the King universe

So yeah, I didn't like season 1. I can't legitimately critisize it, because I stopped watching halfway of episode 3. So it could just be me, but I felt the creators were not making ANY effort to suck me into their story at all, I was just really bored by it.

Still there was never any doubt I would give season 2 a try! Why? Because 'Misery' was always my second favorite King-book!! And I also really like Lizzy Caplan, so how could I not try this Annie Wilkes origin story? (just in case you were tormented by the question: Cujo is my number 1( BOOK!!! NOT the movie!!) )

Well Lizzy does not dissapoint one bit! I think her Annie Wilkes is amazing and also connects really well with Kathy Bates' version which imo is just great. But also the writing, plot and choices made for Annie in this episode were really fine.

In the Misery book and movie the horrible fate of Paul Sheldon gets to us so much that Annie Wilkes becomes pure evil without us being able to help that. I really like how in this episode we really get a chance to also empathize with her since in the absence of such a victim as Paul we can see her for what she really is: just a terribly, terribly sick woman. I enjoy this so much right now, I want more!

I refuse to be one of those reviewers that just immediatly gives a 10 to anything I like and when I don't like something immediatly whip out that ridiculous 1 star people throw at anything they even remotely didn't like... I wanted to give this a 9 but had to drop to 7 because of one personal note of critisism:

I can NOT agree with the choice to bring this origin story to the present day with cellphones and internet!! I understand how that is convinient and fun, but it just doesn't make any sense since even the much later events in 'Misery' take place in times before the internet. And you should be able to watch this with Misery following without it being totally weird. They didn't invent the character Annie Wilkes, Annie Wilkes already existed and she existed in times way before internet. This is a fact. Making that choice seems just way to easy going and negligent to me. Yes, I am so unable to respect that choice I just have to take 2 full stars off only for that. Which sadly brings my verdict from 9 to 7 out of 10.

In season twos visit to the Stephen King Universe , we see a combination of the psychopathic Annie Wilkes from the novel Misery and the setting from vampire tale Salems Lot. I wonder if are we heading towards a Marvel Avengers type super team of Kings baddies?

Acting mentally ill is always going to be a challenge. How to convey the inner turmoil without hamming it up? Lizzy Caplan has one trick in this performance: blank expression, wide eyed stare. That's it. It does not compare kindly with Kathy Bates portrayal as the same character exhibiting terrifyingly intense fury one minute and calm calculated evil the next.

Very slow start but redeemed itself towards the end.