WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the Castle Rock Episode 10 "Romans," now streaming on Hulu.

One of the biggest recurring themes in the works of Stephen King is that human nature can be more monstrous than any malevolent supernatural force. For every interdimensional, child-eating, shape-shifting clown, there are dozens of sadistic bullies like Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter. The things we understand to be inherently evil are frequently far more terrifying than the things we don’t. We often lie to ourselves that the unknown is what scares us most, but truly the realization of the depths of depravity an average person is capable is what keeps most us up at night. This reality is broadcast to the masses via the 24-hour news cycle, lurid journalism and true-crime docuseries. It’s in our homes, forcing us to survey every aspect of our surroundings to the point of making us addicted to a feeling of perceived dread. In fear, there is profit to be made. Not so much, however, when it comes to solace. Horror sells like hotcakes, and many of us are quick to come back for seconds.

King has made one hell of a career for himself in capitalizing on this basic human instinct. His stories are filled with the mundane turning malicious and unassuming people giving in to their darker tendencies. Hell is for heroes in King's world, and even after the protagonists in his stories run a gauntlet of terror, more often than not it turns out heroes are in short supply. The creators of Castle Rock have homogenized this story motif in an extremely disturbing season finale. The person whom viewers had entrusted to be their avatar over the course of 10 episodes becomes corrupt by making an impossible choice. And the consequence of his decision leaves ripples in the town and makes audiences question whether they would do the same.

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After learning who "The Kid" (Bill Skarsgard) really is, Henry Deaver (Andre Holland) starts to remember what happened to him during his imprisonment in the alternate dimension. Henry had spent years trapped in the basement of the man in his world that he thought to be his adoptive father, Matthew. As Henry's memories start to flood back in, they show him that he was the one who pushed Matthew Deaver off a cliff to die on the icy surface of Castle Lake, and that his connection to Molly was the catalyst for his father's death. For someone who has suppressed these memories for so long, it's impossible to face them without losing a bit of their humanity.

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As "The Kid" marches Henry back out into the woods in a last-ditch attempt to get back to his own time, Deaver rebels, refusing to face his past and whatever waits for him beyond "the voice of God." Henry doesn't want to know; he doesn't want to remember. The skeletons in his closet can stay put, even if that means damning a young man to an eternal life in captivity, which is exactly what happens when it is revealed Henry is keeping "The Kid" in his cage once again.

The voiceover in the final scene of "Romans" is a bit heavy-handed, to be sure, but it does lay out the course the season has taken. Henry kept digging into the weirdness of his hometown. He could have left, ignoring the mysterious inmate in Shawshank State Prison, the air of doubt surrounding his father's death, the sudden reappearance of former Sheriff Alan Pangborn, and whatever the hell was in those woods. But he didn't. He stayed, and in doing so, he was forced to face what he was hiding from all along. And when he was face to face with the reality of Castle Rock and the origins of "The Kid," he had a choice to make: believe everything and try to do what's right even if it means destroying himself, or keep on ignoring. Keep stuffing it all down until you forget it's there.

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Henry chose the latter. Only his choice to keep things locked manifested in a literal sense. Now to be fair, there were moments of doubt, even for the viewing audience, as to whether or not "The Kid" is really what he says he is. The story we get is from his perspective and his alone (at least from what we can tell). The moment when Henry disarms him, "The Kid" transforms into ... something, briefly, and lets out a horrible, primal scream (yeah, we have no idea what that was all about). And most importantly, in the final scene of the series (before the cutesy coda regarding Jackie Torrance during the credits) "The Kid" lets out the thinnest of malicious smiles as Henry leaves him to rot. It's not much, but it is enough to make all of wonder if maybe Henry was right all along. As scary as the realization of making the wrong choice is, what's even more frightening is doubt.

Streaming now on Hulu, Castle Rock Season 1 stars André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgård, Jane Levy and Sissy Spacek, with Scott Glenn, Noel Fisher, Adam Rothenberg, Chris Coy, Ann Cusack, Aaron Staton, Josh Cooke, Terry O'Quinn, Frances Conroy and Allison Tolman.