WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chapelwaite Episode 2, “Memento Mori,” which aired Sunday on Epix.
As Chapelwaite, the adaptation of Stephen King‘s short story “Jerusalem’s Lot” continues, All Hallow’s Eve comes to the miniseries’ sleepy New England town. And as Charles Boone and his children face systematic prejudice and hostility every step of the way, even after Charles expresses his hopes to usher the town into a new age of prosperity through his family’s sawmill, they find that the evil that is preying on the town of Preacher’s Corners may be much closer to home than they thought.
The harrowing birth of a deformed infant opens the episode, with the attending midwives horrified by what they see. Back at Chapelwaite, Rebecca Morgan discovers the correspondence between her father Christopher and the Boone family, with Christopher once serving as the family’s lawyer before leaving her to start a new family and career in New York City. Charles has his younger daughter Loa meet with the town doctor, over concerns of the rickets affecting the bones in her legs. Afterwards, Rebecca escorts the children to school where they continue to endure prejudices from the townspeople over their mixed heritage.
On his way back home from town, Charles encounters a woman on a lonely road who warns him that “the worm is calling,” visibly unnerving him. Back in town, gossip spreads about the recent childbirth, fearing that it might be an omen for even darker things to come. With this news hanging over town, a meeting in which Charles issues a public statement regarding his plans to expand the sawmill’s output to manufacture cargo ships to benefit town is met with skepticism and derision. Back at Chapelwaite, Charles and Rebecca toast their individual professional endeavors before they discover Susan Mallory, the sick girl from town and daughter of the missing Edward, who unbeknownst to his friends and family, was brutally murdered for his blood the night before.
Rebecca returns Susan to her mother, who is convinced the Boones may be behind her husband’s disappearance; this is observed by an unseen individual before Rebecca heads back to Chapelwaite for the night. The following morning, Charles has a vision that his nose is infested with worms and hallucinates taking a straight razor to his own face before regaining his senses. Loa discovers the seashell in a necklace given to her by her late mother has gone missing, accusing her little brother Tane of stealing it only for him to angrily deny it. This puts a damper on the Boone children preparing for the town’s All Hallow’s Eve celebration, but Charles gives Loa a new, lighter leg brace to elevate the mood.
Minister Burroughs is revealed to be the father of the deformed infant, with his wife Alice, the local teacher, suspecting him of an illicit affair. As Charles attempts to recruit townspeople for his shipbuilding endeavors, he is soundly rebuffed and blamed for their recent hardships, causing Charles to angrily shout at them for their constant hostility. That night, the children are attacked by a racist classmate only for Able Stewart, Charles’ hardest working lumberjack, to come to their aid. As Charles and Rebecca observe the town’s All Hallow’s Eve celebration, Rebecca confides that those living in town are prone to illness, both mental and physical, a rumor that upsets Charles given his recent hallucinations.
The festivities come to an abrupt end when Susan dies from her illness, with her last words implicating Charles’ deceased relative Stephen Boone. Her hysterical mother Rose confronts Charles publicly, claiming Stephen faked his death and has continued to menace her family before she is restrained and the town’s constable orders everyone to return to their respective homes. Shaken, Charles returns to Chapelwaite and digs up Stephen’s grave only to discover that, despite the casket being locked, Stephen’s corpse is no longer inside, as Chapelwaite begins to increase its body count and set the stage for even more sinister things.
Developed for television by Peter and Jason Filardi, Chapelwaite airs on Epix with new episodes premiering on Sundays.
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