Lisey’s Story Recap: We All Float Down Here
The second chapter of Stephen King's eight-episode mini-series adaptation of Lisie's story settles a bit more into its narrative, but still divides its time between three increasingly connected arcs: Lisie Landon's current dilemma, Flashbacks that appear to be driven by her dead husband, and a vision of an alternate world that can both heal and destroy. Once again, Pablo Lahren executes an effective hour of television in terms of craft, even though the story feels like it's already starting to lose some momentum, setting up the question of whether it's going to be a feature film. would have been more effective.
Like many other episodes, "Blood Bool" takes things slow, filling in character details via flashbacks. Scott and Lisie have their early days, but also have visions of both Amanda Debusher and Scott Landon as children. It also makes sense that Scott is pushing Lissie into specific memories. Why? To save him from the increasingly dreadful Jim Dooley? To save your sister? both?
Once again, Lisie Landon returns on her wedding day, remembering her sister speaks the same language as her new brother-in-law. Amanda tells Lisie to protect Scott and keep him connected to the world. The modern Amanda Greenlon is catatonic in the facility, treading water in a way that allows her to cut into an alternate reality in which she is slightly more consistent. She sits with other solitary figures at the edge of a body of water. Out in the water, the fictional ship known as the Hollyhawks is docked, and the Debusher sisters – Amanda, Darla and Lisie – play on it. The children's playful sound is here associated with a sense of danger, something lurking that "takes bodies, keeps souls."
Lisie Landon calls Professor Dashmill and orders him to recall his attack dog, Jim Dooley. He tells her that they met at a bar, and that she thought Dooley was simply a fan who could speak some sense into Lissy - either the good professor is a liar or a really bad judge of character, as in the latter. In flashback it is revealed that Dooley was on an 11 on the scale of crawling in that bar. (Anyone who tells you he doesn't eat pork because it's so much like human meat.) He swears he didn't want the violence, but now he can't call the Annie Wilkes whom he licked Spread over Landon.
The centerpiece of "Blood Boole" is a flashback to the day Scott Landon sold his first book, The Coaster's Daughter. It's not much — and Darla doesn't hesitate to assert her sister in a passive-aggressive way — but they're going to celebrate. However, Scott chooses to have a few drinks with his colleagues first and doesn't come home in time to go out with Lisie. When he comes, he is angry, and he is drunk. He asks her to wait for two minutes. He can fix it.
As Scott hits the road in flashbacks leading up to the night of the book, the show collapses on another layer of flashbacks to Scott as a child. A threatening father is playing with a knife on a chair. He tells them, "I made you boys. I made you who you are." Scott sees his reflection as a child in a window and breaks it, then uses the broken glass to open his arm. "I got it. It's okay now,” he tells Lisie. It is pain associated with past trauma as an attempt to correct a recent mistake. "This is for you, Lisie," he tells her. And now it won't happen again. Pain in this distorted form of forgiveness leads to a better future. This is another story of a bloodthirsty writer - the image of a creative who has to give a part of himself to the world. He recovers quickly, but there is still pain and blood in the process.
Later on the night of the window breaking, Lisie wakes up to find Scott going. She goes to the bathroom, where the sink is on, like in the hospital at the premiere. And we see where Scott goes, the same place Amanda sat in the first episode. There are healing waters that he uses. Lisie turned off the sink, and he was back in bed. He is practically unwell. The next morning, he is making eggs and talking about how much he wants to get married. They go out that day and someone soon snaps a picture of the famous author and his soon-to-be wife.
In today's day, Lisie looks at the framed picture and turns it over to find the third clue left by her husband. Calling the doctor who cares for Amanda is a sign. He revealed that his favorite Landon book was called Battleflags, and of course, Scott left a note in the version he signed for the Doctor: "Cedar Box, Fourth Clue Bool." Where is he pushing her? What's in the box??
Meanwhile, Jim just keeps on crawling. First, he basically bullies the guy who now lives in Scott and Lisie Landon's old townhouse. Then, he proves that he can even cut and eat cheesy pizza like a dead maniac. While the police are assuring Lisie that they will keep an eye, Jim is already at Landon's house. When Lisie returns, she puts her hand in the mailbox, only for her to come out covered in bird's blood. She may want to get the gun the police recommended, especially after learning that Jim must have microwaved the poor bird before leaving it for the postman. Lisie swears she needs her trusty shovel. After all it had taken care of a murder fan once before.
To end the episode, Amanda is still staring at Hollyhock of her fickle memory, but the tone changes. She is scared. She doesn't want to be around anymore, especially with a filthy Cathy grumbling about why she "killed them all." Lisie stares into the water as if she can see this magical place that healed Scott and is now scaring Amanda. In this gloomy spot the camera lifts up over Amanda as Lissie walks away, clutching her fan-killing shovel a little more tightly.
Scott's Epilogue
- What about that last image??!?! For half a second, there's a shot of a humanoid shapeshifter with blue eyes and a red, misshapen body that makes it look like Swamp Thing's bloodthirsty brother. This is an uncertain final note, a sign of demons to come.
- Of course, most people realized this when the show was announced, but it's a pretty cool reunion of two stars from one of the best sci-fi movies of the new millennium. If you somehow never saw Julianne Moore and Clive Owen in Children of Men, fix that oversight now. It stays on very well.
- I was curious about why King chose the name hollyhawks and stumbled upon an article about the plant with this wonderful opening paragraph, which sounds right from a Stephen King book: "I remember the hollyhock in my grandmother's garden. They were tall and pink, and there was something sad about them—as if sitting with them I could somehow hear the children's echoes beyond imagination." It's unbelievable how much that fits in here. Scott Landon would say it was not a coincidence.