NOS4A2 (S02 E09) recap: Welcome to Christmasland

Vic tells the kids that none of them belong there, and tells Millie she can live in the real world. Wayne still wants to stay.

With the kids in pursuit, Maggie and Vic set more timers all around Christmasland, until one of the children grabs Maggie’s bag of Scrabble tiles. She runs into the ice maze as Vic is attacked and bitten. Luckily, the big tree explodes and falls on the kids.

Manx throws a big guilt trip on Millie as he coughs up some blood. The great tree is gone now, and Vic has poisoned his daughter against him. She asks him to let Vic and Wayne leave and to stay in Christmasland with her, but he says it wouldn’t be fair to Wayne.

She notes sadly that she isn’t enough for him, and never was (side note: Mattea Conforti is KILLING IT as Millie this season). She asked him to leave and he wouldn’t, now she is asking him to stay and he won’t do that either. Millie leaves, and Manx picks up that vicious looking silver hammer he beat Vic with, and another explosion occurs.

Vic takes off into the maze after Wayne, while Maggie is cornered by the kids, who attack and bite her. Vic saves her, and they tiptoe through the maze while Manx tracks them. Wayne gets to them first and wants to play a game.

Vic puts on her best Mom voice and says they can play at home. She reminds Wayne that Christmas every day means no 4th of July, or summer, or fireworks. He tells her sadly that he was always good and she always left him anyway.

This is one of those touching scenes that NOS4A2 is excelling at this season, as Vic tells Wayne she is done breaking promises. They embrace…and he stabs her and runs off. Maggie helps her walk, and they find the exit, but it closes as Manx approaches them. He menacingly says that children always find their way out of the eternal maze, but adults never do.

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He hits Maggie with the hammer, and is preparing to beat her to a pulp when the coaster explodes, causing him to fall to the ground and age about 100 years. Vic knocks him in the head with the hammer a couple of times, but Maggie tells her they need to find Wayne right now.

Manx staggers out of the maze calling out for Millie, and observes Christmasland burning down around him, all of his children panicking. We see Millie walk to the static-y veil between Christmasland and the real world, and she hesitates as she hears her father calling out to her. She steps through, and grabs her ornament off of a tree.

Vic finds Wayne and grabs him, pulling him away forcibly. He’s yelling that he hates her, and shouting for Mr. Manx to help him, but Vic tells him firmly that she is his mother and they are leaving right now. All of the lights in Christmasland blink out, and he says, “Christmas is over, isn’t it?”

Well played, NOS4A2, well played. Next week is the season finale, when we will all find out if Wayne makes it home and which characters live and die.

Let us know what you think of NOS4A2 Season 2 in the comments.