Dark Tower IV recap

Eddie defeats Blaine by using irrational jokes that the supercomputer cannot process, allowing the ka-tet to survive in a version of Kansas devastated by a plague. As they follow the Beam, Roland tells of his youth in Mejis with Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns. There he fell in love with Susan Delgado, who had been promised to an elderly mayor, while uncovering a plan to supply rebel John Farson with oil. The young gunslingers destroyed the convoy and defeated Eldred Jonas's men, but Susan was captured and burned after the witch Rhea turned the town against her. Roland became trapped by the pink Wizard's Glass and later accidentally killed his mother. In the present, the ka-tet reaches an emerald palace where the surviving Tick-Tock Man and Randall Flagg stage a false wizard's court. Tick-Tock is killed, Flagg escapes, and the glass disappears after failing to divide the group. Roland's companions accept his history and continue with him toward the Tower.

Roland Deschain seeks the Dark Tower through a world whose time, geography, and technology are failing. He has gathered a ka-tet consisting of Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, and Jake's billy-bumbler Oy. After following the Path of the Beam into the ruined city of Lud, the group escaped aboard an intelligent monorail called Blaine. Blaine destroyed Lud, announced his intention to end his own existence by derailing, and challenged the travelers to save themselves by asking a riddle he could not answer. Their stock of traditional riddles has failed against his immense store of knowledge. Meanwhile, the wounded Tick-Tock Man survived the fall of Lud and entered the service of Roland's old adversary Randall Flagg, who approached him under the name Richard Fannin.

The ka-tet continues its riddle contest aboard Blaine, but the machine solves every conventional puzzle. Eddie changes the contest by telling absurd jokes whose answers depend on human expectations rather than formal logic. Blaine cannot tolerate being unable to reason them out and suffers a catastrophic breakdown, but the travelers survive the end of the journey. They emerge in Topeka, Kansas, in a parallel world emptied by a deadly plague. Following the Beam out of the city, they find signs that their route is echoing a familiar children's story about an emerald city and a wizard. Around their camp, Roland agrees to explain why their surroundings remind him of a glass sphere and of a decisive tragedy from his youth.

Roland recalls being sent to the distant barony of Mejis at fourteen with his friends Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns. Officially they are inexperienced boys assigned to count livestock, but they quietly assess whether local leaders are aiding the rebellion against Gilead. Susan Delgado, a skilled young horsewoman, has been promised to elderly Mayor Hart Thorin in exchange for security arranged by her aunt Cordelia. The witch Rhea verifies the agreement and uses a pink glass sphere to watch Susan. Before Susan enters the mayor's household, she meets Roland on the road, and the two are immediately drawn to each other. In Hambry, the three boys also encounter Eldred Jonas and the Big Coffin Hunters, armed enforcers who recognize that the visitors may be dangerous despite their harmless cover.

Roland and Susan begin a secret relationship, placing her agreement with the mayor and the boys' mission at risk. Cuthbert resents Roland's distraction, while Alain tries to preserve the unity of their young ka-tet. Their investigation uncovers a store of oil tankers at the abandoned Citgo facility and evidence that Hambry's leaders intend to send fuel and horses to John Farson's rebel forces. Jonas and his men watch the boys closely, and Rhea uses the pink glass to spy on Susan and feed suspicion. Sheemie, a mistreated stable worker befriended by Susan and the gunslingers, becomes a quiet ally. What began as a routine survey has revealed a military supply operation that Roland's group cannot ignore.

The conspiracy in Mejis tightens around both the gunslingers and Susan. Roland's devotion to Susan causes an open breach with Cuthbert before the friends restore enough trust to act together. The boys gather proof that the oil and horses are meant for Farson and prepare to disrupt the plan, while Jonas works to frame and contain them. Susan rejects the future Cordelia arranged for her and commits herself to Roland, but their hope of leaving together depends on surviving the coming Reaping Day. Rhea's glass gives the witch an unnatural view into their choices, allowing personal jealousy and the larger political plot to reinforce each other. The young ka-tet must now oppose experienced killers while keeping the town from understanding its purpose.

Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain are jailed after Jonas's faction moves against them, but Susan and Sheemie help them escape. The gunslingers outmaneuver the Big Coffin Hunters, kill Jonas and his companions, and attack the forces transporting Hambry's oil to Farson. They use the dangerous thinny outside town and explosives to destroy the tankers and scatter the rebel force, completing their military objective. Susan, however, is caught before she can join Roland. Rhea and Cordelia direct the town's fear and anger toward her, and a Reaping crowd burns Susan to death. Roland, already under the spell of the pink Wizard's Glass taken from Jonas, sees her death in the sphere but cannot reach her. He, Cuthbert, and Alain leave Mejis alive and victorious against Farson's plan, while Roland is devastated by Susan's murder and increasingly absorbed by the glass.

Roland explains that the pink glass showed him wider threats and later helped turn his return to Gilead into another tragedy: deceived by a vision involving Rhea, he shot and killed his own mother. In the present, the ka-tet reaches an emerald palace that imitates the court of Oz. Behind its effects are the surviving Tick-Tock Man and Randall Flagg, the adversary connected to Walter and Marten in Roland's past. Tick-Tock attacks and is killed; Flagg confronts the travelers through the palace's spectacle, then escapes. The pink glass appears and offers seductive private visions, but Roland's companions refuse to be separated by it. The sphere and palace vanish. Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy now understand both Roland's love for Susan and the guilt he has carried since youth. They nevertheless choose to remain his ka-tet, and all five continue along the Beam toward the Dark Tower.

Roland finishes the story of Mejis: his young ka-tet defeated Jonas and the forces transporting oil for Farson, but Susan was captured and burned by the townspeople while Roland watched helplessly through the pink glass. The sphere later showed him a trap involving his mother, and after returning to Gilead he mistakenly shot and killed her when Rhea's image appeared to him. In the present, Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy reach an emerald palace modeled on the story of Oz. The Tick-Tock Man serves as its false wizard and dies when the deception is exposed. Randall Flagg, linked to Walter and Marten from Roland's past, confronts the group through the palace's machinery but withdraws rather than face them directly. He leaves behind the pink glass, which tries to entice members of the ka-tet with private visions. They reject it, and the palace and sphere disappear. After hearing the full burden of Roland's past, his companions choose to continue with him. The ka-tet resumes its journey along the Path of the Beam toward the Dark Tower.