Before Laird dies during hip replacement surgery in 2023, he tells Mark that the true explanation for his success can be found in the locked bottom drawer of his desk.
Realizing the woman is not breathing, the two men save her life when Butch delivers artificial respiration and Laird administers an EpiPen and oxygen mask.
The lakeside cabin belonging to Mike Noonan (the main character of King's 1998 work Bag of Bones) is noted as having been replaced with a housing development.
[3] Emily Burnham (reviewing You Like It Darker for the Bangor Daily News) considered Two Talented Bastids to be the strongest story in the collection, stating that it "returns to time-honored themes in the author's vast body of work [but] never feels like it's rehashing well-worn tropes in the King oeuvre", adding that the story "unfolds in typically King-ian fashion — a mix of humor, poignancy and genuinely shocking moments".
[4] Gabino Iglesias (reviewing You Like It Darker for the New York Times) stated that Two Talented Bastids "opens the book brilliantly [...] its gradual slide into terror perfectly sets the tone for the entire collection".
[1] Matthew Jackson (writing for Paste) described it as "a reflection on the mercurial nature of creativity and a depiction of the ways in which aging opens us up to new possibilities".
[9] Brett Milam described Two Talented Bastids as a "meta" story that "reflects another persistent King theme — the process around writing and creativity".
[12] Justin Hamelin suggested that "the literary prose are strong in this one but the surreal aspects of the story come off rather flat, a very rare shortcoming on King's part".