The first episode of Stephen King's newest adaptation, Lisey's Story largely introduced viewers to the main characters and set up a kind of backstory. While the premiere episode didn't do a bad job of showing what to expect from the Apple TV+ series, it didn't do a whole lot to move the plot forward. The tone of that first episode was one of oppressive depression. There wasn't a happy character in the bunch. That is, there wasn't a happy character in the bunch, except for Scott Landon. It's probably not a coincidence that he's now dead.
The basic tone of the Stephen King story that reportedly holds a special place in the author's heart was the same in Episode 2. Both episodes are called "Blood Bool" but it's not until this installment that the viewers learn why. While there is some pretty aggressive depression in parts of the show, Part 2 of "Blood Bool" does quite a bit more to move the story to a point where the audience is really getting a look at where the story might be going. Granted, it doesn't show everything, there are still plenty of mysteries to be figured out but at least the show isn't standing still anymore either.
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As is the case with the best Stephen King adaptations, family is the tie that binds. That may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the family. It seems as if whether Lisey's family being around changes from being a good thing to a bad thing depending on which way the wind is blowing. Episode 1 showed Lisey and Scott's relationship with Amanda but while there was a glimpse of interactions between Lisey and Darla in that first installment, just how those two sisters are towards one another was filled in quite a bit more in Part 2 of "Blood Bool."
One of the best interactions of either of the first two episodes comes during a phone call in the past between Darla and Lisey. It's not an understatement to say that Stephen King can be quite ham-handed when it comes to writing dialogue for his teleplays. However, he absolutely nailed how a dysfunctional family's conversation can go from supportive and friendly to grating and infuriating on a dime. Julianne Moore's Lisey and Jennifer Jason Leigh's Darla are sisters on screen, but the two actors play off each other in a way that makes it look as though they might have had these conversations with each other in real life. The level of "over it" Lisey has at the very end of the conversation is the rarest moment of humor, while still absolutely relaying just how hard even a short conversation with her sisters can be.
As for Joan Allen's Amanda, she doesn't really interact with Lisey at all in episode 2. She's been committed to a mental hospital where things don't appear to be going swimmingly. There is a nice interaction between the two - also in the past on Lisey's wedding night where Amanda tells her that she overheard their father defending the newlyweds to thier grandmother. Amanda also tells Lisey that she and Scott have quite a bit in common. Readers of Lisey's Story likely caught the biggest thing the pair have in common, though King has not explained that just yet in the series.
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While the sisters' stories are still mostly background - with some foreshadowing mixed in for good measure - there are some developments when it comes to Lisey's Story's villain. After a short interaction with Lisey in the first episode that didn't go all the well, Dane Dehaan's Jim Dooley steals the show, even without sharing a single scene with the show's protagonist. In fact, it's starting to look like the casting of Dehaan was a stroke of genius. Stephen King has certainly had some memorable on-screen baddies. Misery's Annie Wilkes is usually considered the best of that bunch. Dooley appears to be as truly psychotic as Wilkes, though he's just a little more low-key.
So far, there have been two scenes in the series where Dooley, who introduces himself to Lisey as Jim Dandy in the pilot, chews up the scenery. The first is in a library where he clearly unnerves a librarian by just being very, very weird. The second scene is in part 2 of "Blood Bool" where he stands outside a man's apartment building and very low-key berates him. The way he never changes expression, never raises his voice, all while munching away at something is even a bit evocative of Pennywise the Clown from It. Granted, Pennywise was a bit more over the top most of the time, but that killer clown was more foreboding when he was quiet and threatening.
One aspect of Dooley that Stephen King added to the show makes the baddie that much ... weirder. There are almost no scenes where Dooley isn't eating something. There's also a steady ramping up of what he's eating and when that both sticks out just enough to make the viewers wonder if that's going to be an important note later on and add a bit of levity.
In the first scene in episode 2 where Jim meets Professor Dashmiel, he starts eating some of the academic's fried chicken. It progresses on from there. Whether it's sitting in front of his television screen or out and about, he's always eating. That seems both noteworthy and interesting if only because the character is decidedly skinny. In the final scene where Dooley makes an appearance in this installment of Lisey's Story, he's sitting in his car, eating an entire pizza. In some ways, this feels like a wink and a nod to another Apple TV+ series the centers around food. Of course, in The Servant the food is gourmet, rather than junk food or bar food.
Speaking of moving the plot forward, episode 2 of Lisey's Story makes sure that the audience understands there's something far more sinister than a mentally unbalanced man with a penchant for food. The end of the episode seems to be introducing the real evil in this Stephen King adaptation and its' certainly more foreboding than anything the audience had seen prior.
Lisey's Story first two episodes are on Apple TV+ now, with new episodes airing every Friday through July 16.