NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 9 Welcome To Christmasland- Review And Recap- All Is Silent On This Night

NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 9 ends with a bang and a whimper when the lights went out in Christmasland for good.

The entirety of season 2 has been patiently doling out action and backstory to fill the episodes with as much heart as horror. NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 9 was the penultimate episode of the season and potentially the series and felt like it. All roads lead to Christmasland, and with nothing left to lose and help on the inside, Vic and Maggie travel across her bridge to Manx’s inscape. Scissors for the drifters, we come jingling all the way.

Finally, an extended view of Manx’s inscape. Christmasland has only been hinted at before. A few glimpses of a store or ride and lots of snow. Everything was shown tonight, and it was precisely how Hell frozen over would look. Production design by Clark Hunter has been great all season but was phenomenal, bringing the frozen world to life. It’s no easy task filling the screen with such rich horror from something that should be joyful. Christmasland is steeped in the kind of terror Hill’s father Stephen King specializes in, including a clear nod to The Shining.

Joe Hill’s soul-sucking vampire Charles Manx is a deviant. He is a monster who bribes children with everything they ever wanted but nothing they need. He doesn’t care for their well being or their happiness just his own. NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 9 felt forced Manx to face what he is. When his daughter turns on him, he is incapable of understanding he has always been wrong. He may not be capable of change, but Millie and Christmasland are, and Manx is about to be forever changed courtesy of Vic McQueen.

The story behind the vampires, the Wraith, inscapes, and Strong Creatives, has always been parents. What makes a good one, a bad one, and how hard the job is. The glaring difference between Vic and Manx has been profound. It is also what drives the series. Vic and Chris have been shitty parents at times, but not because they didn’t care. They potentially cared too much in the wrong ways. Vic struggles with PTSD from her previous encounter with Manx and her gift, which leaves her depleted and sick. She made mistakes, including burning down her house, but she doesn’t want Wayne to worship her as Manx does. She wants Wayne to grow up happy, well adjusted, and safe.

Lovecraft Country: Season 1 Episode 1, ‘Sundown’ Review And Recap

Zachary Quinto has been his best when he allows Manx to be vulnerable. Tonight was no exception. Manx never cared about actually being a parent. He is afraid of real power. Whether that be the supernatural kind like Vics or the agency that comes with wisdom and maturity, his past is tragic. He had a mother who put food on the table the best she could and a man who took advantage of a desperate boy. It’s a sad childhood, but it doesn’t excuse the man he became, especially when you know that he killed his mother in a fit of rage as a child.

More important than the joys of parenthood, Manx is concerned with control. The highs, the lows, and the heartbreaks don’t matter. He only wanted the picture-perfect pretend family where he is the ideal father, and he is King. Tyrants will always fall eventually, and Manx’s time has come.

By luring kids to Christmasland with candy, treats, and promises of no rules, he has created a world with tiny hyper disciples that are happy to do his bidding. The problem is his actual child Millie has been spending time with her mother in the house in the woods and knows Manx’s secrets. Vic and Maggie are coming for Wayne, and Millie is going to help because she is beginning to realize sometimes you have to grow up.

We always knew this was coming. It was inevitable. There was no way it could end any other way. All season long, Vic and Manx have been circling each other. Armed with a backpack full of explosives, Maggie and Vic hope to take her bridge one last time to blow up Christmasland and bring Wayne back for good.

The episode is divided into three plot arcs with their own exciting reveal. The first is Maggie, Vic, and Manx as they fight against each other and time itself. Wayne has fully converted to a vampire and is almost beyond reach. He is barely the sweet little boy we once knew. He has fallen entirely under Manx spell, and Vic isn’t able to get through to him. Nothing she says seems to get through. He is so far gone he stabs her when she is hugging him.

As the episode closes, he appears to be listening a little. It may be fear, however, as the lights are out and Christmasland is burning. The exciting takeaway from their confrontation in the middle of town is the children, including Wayne, begin turning back into kids as they listen to her. Her words affect the kids. They aren’t lost causes. When the bombs start exploding in Christmasland, they hurt Manx. If you destroy the inscape, you destroy the man. Vic does bash his head in a few times, though. It may be fruitless, but it was satisfying.

The second arc is Manx and Millie’s. It is the most powerful. Millie’s transformation is the most poignant. She is still scary, but she is a child who has been manipulated and shunned by her father for so long she hardly recognizes herself anymore. It also is the most insightful. The house where her mother lives is Manx’s personal Hell. All of his failures from the past are there to haunt him. Manx is terrified of women. He needs to feel like a savior because he is a demon.

It’s poetic justice that the thing he hates and fears the most will be his demise. Charlie’s wife knows Vic can defeat him and tells him so. She confronts him in front of Millie. Millie’s mother understands that Christmasland was never about saving children but was always about saving himself. Now that Millie knows the horrible truth, she can finally escape. As she fled, she was in danger of disappearing. She removed her ornament from Manx’s tree and was saved. She is still a vampire, but at least is in one piece. It is possible to leave Christmasland.

Tabitha and Lou make up the final arc. Theirs are the shortest scenes and the most subtle. That doesn’t mean they lack any depth. These two are the backbones for the ones they love. They endure everything for Vic and Maggie. Always left behind and forced to hope these two are easily the most sympathetic characters of the series. Ashley Romans(Tabitha) and Jonathon Langdon(Lou) have a believable camaraderie. They both would walk through fire for Vic and Maggie. Tabitha wishes she could walk away but can’t, and Lou worries he is with Vic because he is too afraid to be alone. A soul as kind as his is never forged in fear but love. These two, although without powers, have everything they need to help. Tabitha has come back, so we now know the breakup meant nothing.

Christmasland is burning, and the lights are out for hopefully the last time. Vic has won this battle, but the war is still being fought. Manx should not have underestimated Vic. Her power comes from love. He is no match for her, particularly with Millie on the outside now. Catch up on all our NOS4A2 coverage here while we wait for the explosive finale.