Throughout the series, there's an intentional goofiness that's kind of refreshing in King's hands. In place of his long established use of brand names and pop culture refs to pull in more concrete minded readers, for instance, we get a series of comically fictitious trademarks (e.g., Nozz-A-La Soda, which prompts one of the paramedics to ask his friend to "Get me a Nozzie!") or a teevee gameshow that looks like it's being broadcast out of the sardonic world of Robocop. Our mysterious anteater isn't the only creature to let us know its thoughts either. When Hooman does a gainer off the roof of his house, we suddenly hear his rotweiller disgustedly thinking into the camera, "Way to go, Slick . . . who's gonna feed me now?" We're also privy to the thoughts of a German shepherd who is seemingly allowed the run of the hospital by security guard Ed. Clearly, King isn't excessively concerned with ratcheting up the verisimilitude too strongly.

Of course, there are hints of darker doings down the road. When demi-comatose Rickman is shown walking through a cobwebby and decaying version of the hospital (that Fountains of Wayne song still blasting over the intercom), we get glimpses of a fanged vampirish figure. Among the background info that we've received to date, is news about the capture of another of the area's psycho killers (why would anyone wanna live near Castle Rock?) that'll likely pay off in the weeks ahead. And on a more mundane level, King & director Craig Baxley never let us forget for long how distressing Rickman's coma is to his distraught wife. Even when he's being playful, King can't stray too far from the grimly horrific.

Who, among his many (non-bored) fans, would want him to?