NOS4A2 (S02 E08) recap: Chris McQueen faces down the Wraith

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Zachary Quinto as Charlie Manx, Mattea Conforti as Millie Manx – NOS4A2 _ Season 2 – Photo Credit: Zach Dilgard/AMC /

While the two bury the explosives, they have a small father/daughter bonding moment, as he apologizes and tells her that Manx is not her fault. She says she wants to forgive him, because if she can’t, how will Wayne ever be able to forgive her?

Vic, Lou and Maggie find the evergreen forest, full of trees covered in Christmas ornaments. They realize that each ornament is a child. As Vic finds a clearing, she hears Millie’s voice, though she can’t see her.

Millie says “If father dies, so do we.” She doesn’t want to die, she wants to know what it feels like to grow up, can Vic help her get out? She throws a snowball through the veil between Christmasland and the real world, and Vic thanks her. Note: I love the surprising character developments NOS4A2 has given us this season!

Maggie’s tiles give them a cryptic message: WHEN SOULS FALL. She thinks there may be a way to save all of the children in Christmasland, and I sure hope that’s true.

After dark, Chris and Vic wait for the Wraith, and Chris tells Vic to forgive herself, but not to let herself off the hook (he speaks from experience). The Wraith pulls up, Manx lets Wayne get out, telling him to hang his special ornament on a special branch, this is the last stop before Christmasland. Wayne smiles, and we see those familiar sharp teeth in his mouth.

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As Wayne walks through the trees looking for the right one, the Wraith’s lights flash and the horn honks, warning Charlie of danger. He hears the Triumph approaching, gets in the car and floors it.

Maggie finds Wayne, and he darts off, laughing, only to run into Lou. When Lou hugs his son, Wayne bites him with his sharp teeth and heads back towards the Wraith.

As the Wraith bears down on Vic, Chris triggers the explosives, but all they do is make the car go a teeny bit off the road. Vic’s bike stalls as the car barrels toward her, and at the last minute, Chris jumps in front of her, pushing her to safety as the Wraith runs over him and then stops for Wayne to get back inside.

Manx walks over to Chris, with his usual smirk and starts up the Charlie Manx patter: Chris is a failure, just like his father, blah blah blah. Then he breaks Chris’s neck as Vic huddles behind her bike crying.

Ugh, the first painful death in the second season of NOS4A2! We’ll have to wait to see how Vic, already emotionally unstable, will handle this.

I love how we are seeing a totally different side of both Millie and Bing, I actually found myself starting to feel sorry for them. In a recent interview with 1428 Elm, showrunner Jami O’Brien talked to us about how nuanced the characters would be this season, and she was right.

We only have two more episodes to save Wayne and the other children in Christmasland, so stay tuned for the next chapter of NOS4A2!

JOE HILL. dark. Next

What are your thoughts on the storyline for the second season of NOS4A2? Let us know how you feel about it in the comments section.

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