This episode was paired with the first on account of both of them being significantly important to the entire plot as well as being extremely slowly executed. Both the first and second episode consist of very important dialog that protects the plot in ways that keep the viewer engaged, slightly bored, but engaged to say the least.
This episode is meant to keep us increasingly engaged in the Terry Maitland case, with heavy dialog that has characters speaking to therapists and an exchange between Terry and Ralph Anderson while in the police station together. This is the episode that is named the turning point within the show, considering sequences in the Terry Maitland case get increasingly more and more strange, as well as letting us know that this Stephen King series will be nowhere close to the usual police procedural show, nor as bland. I think this is why both episodes being released together make so much sense, because of the plot, dialog, and character development we see quickly build throughout the both of them.
Episode one ended with Terry’s life being threatened by another prisoner while he awaits his trial for freedom. But, on the day of, he never steps foot into the courthouse. The older brother of Frankie Peterson, the young boy who was murdered in the first episode, Ollie, storms the crowd with a gun as Maitland is ushered into the courthouse with Anderson by his side. His bullets hit Maitland in the neck but before Ollie was able to see Maitland dead with his own eyes, he’s shot dead by Ralph.
“Roanoke”, like I said previously, is extremely dialog heavy. During the entire episode we are switching back and forth to present day Terry Maitland incarcerated and before that when he is being questioned by Ralph. The main scene we see and need to pay attention to the most is between Ralph Anderson and Terry Maitland, both speaking heart to heart about Ralph’s deceased son and of course, Frankie Peterson. Terry tells Ralph a story about how he taught Ralph’s son Derek how to be a better baseball player, and how to bunt because all of the other kids on the team were calling Derek “Whiffer” so Terry became a sort of mentor for him during that time. After Terry tells Ralph this story, you can see his eyes become wider with guilt, as he knows in his gut that Terry is an innocent man.
Flash forward to the day at the courthouse as footage of Maitland at his english teacher conference was leaked to the public, people were in large outraged crowds circling him as he walked to the doors towards his hearing. As we know, Ollie Peterson pulled a gun on three cops and Terry, killing Terry in the process. As his dying words state, “I didn’t do it, I wasn’t there. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me.” Instead of loving words to Glory, his wife holding his hand, we get his dying words of innocence. Through the panic of the screaming crowd and ambulances, we see a hooded man standing in the distance, quietly taking in the chaos.
This episode is so important to the plot because of the one symbol we keep seeing throughout the episode, the hooded figure. Whereas the figure is seen standing still through the crowd at the courthouse, he’s also seen standing outside of Frankie Peterson’s father’s house as he attempts to hang himself after his entire family’s death. Not only was he at the scene of two horrible accidents, but he’s also seen visiting Maitlands young daughter, Jessa, during the night.
Episode two leaves too many open ended questions for us viewers, like, who is the hooded figure? Why is he seen everywhere there is chaos? What does he want with Terry Maitland’s young daughter?
Towards the end of the episode we see GBI officer, Yunis Sablo, questioning a young teen who stole the previous white van from episode one. The day he dumped the van was seemingly Wednesday 6th, which two weeks later the van is seen being driven by Maitland and picking up the Peterson boy. Because of this new information, Ralph goes to Glory in hopes she’s understanding the need for continuing the investigation to clear Terry’s name. While Ralph continues to talk to somewhat exasperated Glory, her daughter reveals information that seems odd, but important for the story. Jessa reveals to Ralph that on the day the family went on their trip to Dayton, Ohio, “daddy got a cut”. Which doesn’t seem like anything important at the moment.
So many open ended plot twists and storylines have come to light such as, linking the family trip to the cut on Terry’s wrist, and the van being stolen and coincidentally dumped in Dayton during their trip by a completely unrelated kid. With all of this new information at hand, Ralph doesn’t know what to think or where to start, so he continues following the tracks that lead him to episode three.