WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chapelwaite Season 1, Episode 4, “The Promised,” available now on EPIX.
TRIGGER WARNING: The following article contains discussion of self-harm and suicide.
From the opening scenes of Chapelwaite’s premiere, the influence of the worm on the Boone family has been apparent. After moving to Chapelwaite, Charles Boone experiences increasing hallucinations of worms and fears for his sanity. However, Chapelwaite’s fourth episode, “The Promised,” reveals that the hallucinations and the Boone family’s woes are supernatural rather than psychological in nature, and a mysterious figure named Jacob in the abandoned town of Jerusalem’s Lot may hold the answers.
In “Legacy of Madness,” Charles Boone travels to Frigate Island Hospital, an asylum, to try to find Stephen Boone. While talking with Dr. Frost, Charles witnesses multiple “treatments” that are often more horrific than the conditions they are treating. Dr. Frost believes that the Boone family’s actions are caused by a “hereditary madness.” Charles fears that he is suffering from the same conditions as his family members and that he has passed the condition onto his children, particularly Tane.
“The Promised” begins with a flashback to 1781 and shows that Charles Boone’s grandmother, Silence Boone, had similar hallucinations of worms. After almost accidentally striking Loa with an axe while trying to investigate the scratching in the walls, Charles stops trusting himself and even plans to check into Frigate Island Hospital for treatment. However, the reveal of the secret passageway makes Charles realize that Stephen Boone is alive, pushing his concerns about his hallucinations to the side once he has a possible natural explanation.
Even so, the Woman with the Apple and her cult show that his hallucinations may be connected with their faction and have a supernatural, not psychological origin. She confronts Faith Pringle, a runaway from their cult, and does so during the day time, showing that the she is not a vampire. She injures herself to intimidate Faith, and tells her that “His reach is infinite. No one can hide from the worm, child.” With this statement, she references the worm she calls her god, as seen in her conversation with Tane Boone. The Woman with the apple’s conversation with Faith confirms that she is not just a collective Boone family hallucination, and her faction is trying to bring about the rise of the worm. Because the woman references the subject of many Boone family members’ hallucinations, the worms, it is implied that her faction and possibly her worm god are connected to the hallucinations.
At the end of the episode, the Woman with the apple returns to Chapelwaite with “the Promised,” her fellow cult members, in tow. She confirms that Jacob, her cult’s leader, has the answers that Charles seeks and demands that he travel to Jerusalem’s Lot to meet with Jacob. To emphasize the danger that the Boone family is in, the Woman with the apple guides another acolyte to slit her own throat, and the acolyte proclaims “the worm doth corrupt” as she does so. Charles tries to stop the acolyte from committing suicide, but the acolyte dies. The woman with the apple directs the other Promised to gather the fallen acolyte, and, with a parting comment about Charles’ “pretty family,” she leaves the horrified Boones in her wake.
The first three episodes of the show focused on laying the groundwork, but “The Promised” shows that Chapelwaite is now on a faster track to the truth of its horror. The supernatural factions are revealing themselves to the Boone family, and Jacob seems to be ready to explain more of what is going on. However, the horrifying hold he has over his followers, plus the disturbing nature of the hallucinations that his god the worm induces show that the Boone family may need to be on their guard more than ever, particularly if they want to learn the truth behind the mysterious book that the cult desires and the prophecies of worms that haunt their lineage.
To see how far the worm’s reach extends, new episodes of Chapelwaite air each Sunday at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on EPIX.
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