NOS4A2 (S02 E07): Bing and Millie start to wise up in Cripple Creek

With only three episodes of NOS4A2 left in the second season, the series gave us some more insight into Charlie Manx’s psyche.

NOS4A2 episode 7 opens with Charlie Manx driving away from the Lake House, leaving a bewildered Bing behind. Bing ends up at a cemetery, asking God why Manx left him behind, when he wasn’t even on the naughty list. In response, a pigeon poops in his mouth.

Bing finds Manx at the Wraith, and gasses him, as we saw last week. He ties up the rapidly ageing Manx inside a warehouse, and gives him some gas that makes him tell the truth. The first truth is that all of Manx’s prior helpers were killed by him, so Bing knows he was probably next. Then comes the painful answer as to when Bing might finally get to Christmasland: never. Christmasland is only for children.

Bing beats up Charlie (who was only recently pummeled by Vic, he is on a really bad roll here), and Manx tells him he’s special, and the children need him. “You gave up your life for the mission, not for me.” Both of them had crappy parents and childhoods, now they need to give Wayne the happiness the two of them could never have. Bing clobbers him again, seems like he is finally wising up a bit.

We go back in time to Manx as a little boy, dancing on stage in a saloon where his mother was a prostitute. The owner of the saloon pulls little Charlie aside and offers him the opportunity to do odd jobs for him, and recruit other kids to do the same.

Later, we see Charlie talking one of his buddies, Oscar, into “helping” the saloon’s owner, and as Oscar walks off with the man, Charlie’s mom comes up and asks him if he himself has been to the man’s store. She doesn’t want him going there. Uh-oh, this smells like a potential child molester.

When Charlie comes to, he tells Bing that the reason he can’t go to Christmasland is because he’s special. They both are; Charlie had a mother who was loathsome, and a man who was like a father to him used and mishandled him, while his mother did nothing to stop him. He says he and Bing have a mission  to “save” the children in Christmasland. They can be partners, but Bing has to fix the Wraith.

More from 1428 Elm

• Shudder Original Terrified: Poltergeist or Dimensional Beings?
• Godzilla Minus One makes the King of the Monsters terrifying again
• A Creature Was Stirring scares up yuletide frights
• Unwrapping the Unhappy Holidays collection on Shudder
• Holiday Horror viewing guide: 20+ movies to stream this Christmas

Meanwhile, Wayne is in the Wraith wiggling his loose teeth and being visited again by Craig, who tells him he has to fight the car. Wayne is starting to get confused and forget things, so Craig makes him talk about Vic. He tells Wayne that Vic was his best friend.

Wayne discovers his teeth aren’t loose anymore, and Craig asks him about where he lives. It’s Craig’s way of helping his son maintain his humanity and not fall under the spell of Manx.

In Christmasland, the lights are flickering again, and Millie barges on over to the house where her mother resides. Mom tells her that Christmasland is dying because Manx is getting weak. Mom opens a door, and a smiling, normal-looking little girl comes out, and wants to play with Millie. While Millie is all gung-ho for a round of Stick the Blind, her new friend wants to play dolls.

The girl tells Millie how great it’s going to be when they grow up, they can do whatever they want and no one can boss them around. Millie realizes the girl is actually her, and her mother tells her she is everything Manx wants, but he’s coming apart and if he dies, so does Millie.

Mom says she should ask Manx to take her away from Christmasland, or find her own way out. She turns to face a mirror, and sees herself as the normal Millie.