Epix’s Chapelwaite
Ep. 4: “The Promised”
Directed by Jeff Renfroe
Written by Declan De Barra

* For a recap & review of Ep. 3, click here.
* For a recap & review of Ep. 5, click here.
In 1781 at Chapelwaite Manor, young Phillip and Robert Boone’s mother was losing teeth and pulling worms from her throat. Quite the eerie history in this family. Then we’re once more in the 1850s, as Charles wakes after his late night freak out, dealing with his troubled children. He apologises to Honor for how he acted, but it’s Loa, whom he nearly cleaved like a log, that he needs to talk with most.
Elsewhere, the apple lady approaches Faith, who says she doesn’t want to “go back.” She says a promise means forever. Interesting. More talk of “the worm,” too. And who is this he? The dark figure we’ve seen time and time again? Is that, in fact, Stephen Boone, undead and terrorising Preacher’s Corners. I love how Chapelwaite has gradually built its mystery, only revealing what little is necessary to further the plot each episode.

Rebecca asks Charles honestly if she and the kids are “in danger” from him. He doesn’t have an answer for her, either. But he explains his troubled past, what happened with his father on the night the man died. He says his father acted as if possessed. He doesn’t want to become that same man, and, especially since meeting Dr. Frost, he believes that’s what might be happening to him. He’s convinced it’s psychological now, instead of supernatural, which we know to be the truth. And he’s planning to go see Dr. Frost again. Soon Honor rushes in, alerting them about Tane discovering something in the barn: apparently there may be someone, or something, underneath the barn, in the crawlspace through an eerie hatch in the floor.
So, Charles must go look for himself.
He squeezes down into the passage, only to come to a place where there’s a ladder leading upward. Charles goes up and into a confined hallway; he’s actually behind the walls of Chapelwaite Manor. That means the sounds in the walls aren’t rats, they could be, and likely are, people; or, a singular person. Oh, my. Charles keeps going until he reaches a decaying room with writing on the walls. More references to the worm again. Lots of general nastiness on the floor, including all sorts of bones, some of which are most definitely human. And that room’s the one right behind Charles’s office. Is this where the figure, or Stephen, has been hiding? This all has Charles convinced he must hunt his cousin down, to prevent any further trouble in Preacher’s Corners.Meanwhile, Faith meets with Minister Burroughs in secret. She needs to leave soon, worried about what the apple lady told her. But ole Martin’s dragging his feet, always telling his lover that they’ll leave later. Faith explains what happened with the woman, that there are evil people who’ll come find and kill them. She tells the minister: “Bad things are coming.” Yet he says he’ll secure their tickets to leave that place. Will he really? And will they get out of there in time?
In town, young Susan is being buried. Cranky Samuel’s there, seething over every word that comes out of Martin’s mouth; the minister tries to preach in the name of goodness and honesty while Rose continues to believe Stephen is alive someplace. Even Constable Dennison is getting drawn into the town’s wrath, chastised by the grieving mother for not being out hunting the dead Boone. Simultaneously, Charles is attempting to hunt Stephen in the mansion, sure that his cousin’s hiding in the walls and creeping around at night.

And once again Charles goes into the tunnels beneath Chapelwaite.
He sits in that decrepit room waiting with his gun.
Inside the manor, Honor and Able discuss their budding relationship. He can’t be seen kissing “a white girl;” though Honor’s not 100% white, she’s still “white enough” to get Able killed by the racist, xenophobic townsfolk in Preacher’s Corners. Able’s also concerned about Charles, having seen what happened to Philip and Stephen, both of whom were normal, good men until they weren’t anymore. Honor thinks it’s just stress, after the death of her mother, coming to Chapelwaite.
Meanwhile, dad’s behind the walls, convinced there are worms under his skin. He sees them moving through his body, wriggling inside him. Soon the feeling goes away, and Charles hears noise approaching. He prepares his pistol and goes back into the tunnel halls.

Then there’s Rebecca, who goes to check up on Mary and runs into the shadowy figure: it isn’t Stephen after all, it’s Phillip. She chases Philip but he gets away. Then Constable Dennison runs into Rebecca, who explains everything to him, as well as the fact that Phillip attacked Mary. Rebecca runs home to tell her mother, insisting they lock the place up tight.
Back at Chapelwaite Manor, Charles follows sounds upstairs from beneath the floor. And upstairs, his kids are discussing whether he’s completely lost the plot or not, scared that their father might be psychologically ill. Moments later, Loa meets her father’s cousin Stephen on the stairs. He knows Loa isn’t happy. He wants to help with her loneliness. Behind the walls, Charles has kept on tracking Stephen, hearing his cousin talk with Loa just beyond that confined hallway. Stephen starts talking about Loa’s mother, implying that mom’s still around: “No one‘s ever really dead.” Charles busts out, chasing Stephen, who goes for the window, not before telling his cousin to “find the book.” He puts a bullet in Stephen, sending cousin through the window. But he’s starting to see that Stephen’s not entirely alive so much as Stephen is actually undead.

After all the chaos the apple woman and a bunch of other creeps show up at Chapelwaite Manor; she says they’re “the promised.” Apparently someone called Jakub has answers, and he wants to meet Charles at Jerusalem’s Lot, the old mining town used by the Boones. And then one of the women slits her throat, repeating the words Charles found written in that old room behind the walls: “The worm doth corrupt.” That’s beyond ominous.