NOS4A2 S02 E04 recap: Vic and company journey to the Lake House

Character relationships come to the forefront in the fourth episode of AMC’s NOS4A2.

In NOS4A2 Episode 4, Wayne is having dreams of Christmasland, complete with a chorus of children asking him to join them. Vic wakes up and sees Wayne opening the front door, with Manx (who Vic can’t see) asking him to join the “specialest children around” at Christmasland. She wakes him up. Vic doesn’t notice the candy cane Wayne is holding, and we see him pulling it out of his pocket and looking at it several times throughout the episode.

The next morning, Vic and Lou talk to Wayne about his sleepwalking, asking if anything is bothering him. He says he wants to go home with Dad, but Vic says it will be better for them to go stay with Chris at his lake house so they can hide from Manx. Wayne is cautioned not to say anything to anyone there about Manx. There is some really nice interaction between Wayne and Lou during this scene, but Vic is clearly feeling a bit left out.

Maggie wants to help Vic while Tabitha is working on the Bing Partridge case. Tabitha’s not happy about it, but, Maggie, Lou, Vic and Wayne head over to Chris’s lake house. Chris is happy to finally meet Lou and Wayne.

Lou tells Vic he wants to adopt Wayne, so that he won’t lose him if Vic disappears again. She hasn’t been dealing with her issues, and while he wants everything to work out, he’s not going to stick around if she can’t get herself together, and neither is Wayne.

Tabitha tracks Bing down at his job, and finds out that he has absconded with the Sevoflorane that was on site. She’s able to determine that Bing has been staying at an abandoned church, and though Maggie has been trying to call her, she’s ignoring the calls.

Vic and Chris talk about their drinking problems until they are interrupted by Lou, bringing Wayne in. Looks like he’s been sleepwalking again. Still out of it, Wayne says, “Sometimes Mommy doesn’t like us.” Ouch.

The next day, Vic and Chris hang out at the lake, watching Lou and Wayne play in the water. Vic says she thinks Lou’s going to leave her, but Chris tells her that Lou is there, and doesn’t have to be. He says the biggest mistake he made with Vic and Linda was not choosing whether to leave or stay, she needs to fight for Lou. Vic jumps in the lake to play with Lou and Wayne, it’s a nice family moment for the three.

Vic has a heart-to-heart with Lou, thanking him for always being good to her and keeping things under control, for loving her in spite of her general flakiness. She wants to work on becoming the person he deserves. He basically tells her to prove it.

Chris plants Anfo explosives that he and Vic hope will protect them from Manx, and Vic shows the detonator to Lou. They find Wayne walking outside, “sleepwalking” and talking again. In his dream, he is talking to Manx, who’s throwing him the old “Christmasland is the best” pitch. Manx says if Wayne will tell him where he is, he’ll come get him and take him to Christmasland. Wayne tells him where he is, and Vic thinks he’s just sleepwalking again, but she gets a little spooked when her son starts humming Silent Night.

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While tucking Wayne in, Vic finds the candy cane. She asks if Charlie Manx gave him the candy cane, promising not to get mad. She gets snippy with him when he admits it, and he lets loose with some cold, hard truth. He tells her Manx isn’t bad, she is. She lies, she disappears, she makes Dad sad, and she sucks. “I just want a regular Mom with a regular home.”

That smarts, but she knows he’s right. She tells him he’s a great kid, and yes, she’s been a crappy Mom, but she’s going to try to change. He can tell her anything, and she won’t get mad. They each say, “I love you.” In my book, this was the nicest “relationship” moment in this episode of NOS4A2.

Tabitha finds Bing at the House of Sleep, and she calls it in, but can’t wait 20 minutes for backup to arrive. She tiptoes into the house, while Maggie is trying to call her again. Scared now, Maggie asks her Scrabble tiles for help. “That’s frickin’ wild, dude”, Lou says, watching Maggie reach into the little bag up to her armpit. The tiles spell out House of Sleep, and Maggie has a seizure. Vic and Maggie head out to the House of Sleep with Lou’s blessings.

Tabitha sneaks into the house. In a scene that feels very Silence of the Lambs, Bing grabs her in the basement, and she puts up  a fight, managing to bash Bing in the head and cuff him.  Charlie Manx shows up and injures her, but  she shoots him in the head and crawls up the stairs and out of the house.

The Wraith starts up, Manx comes to and pulls the bullet out of his head. When Vic and Maggie show up, there are police on the scene, and Tabitha is being loaded up in the ambulance, but, the two bad guys are gone.

Back at the lake house, Wayne tells Lou, “I think I did a bad thing”, and says he told Charlie Manx where they are staying. Lou calls Vic, and she tells him not to let Wayne get into that car.

NOS4A2 is really bringing it this season, and I loved the relationship scenes in this episode!

How do you feel about the second season of NOS4A2 so far? Tell us what you think in the comments section.