NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 8 Chris McQueen- Review And Recap-When Souls Fall
Chris McQueen has always been the heart and soul of this horrific but heartfelt series. NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 8 gave the gruff moment a proper send-off.
Season 2 of NOS4A2 has given us moments of singular brilliance, as many of the characters were given episodes to shine. NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 8 was one of those examples. Chris McQueen is as typical and loving a father as anyone could know. He made huge mistakes in his younger years. Partly those were shaped by his father, who had demons of his own, and partly those were insecurities created by an inability to forgive himself and make changes. Charles Manx may have taken his life, but he can’t take away the person he has become and the grit he has instilled in Vic. Thanks to Lou and Chris, the Triumph is mostly back, and Vic has found a whole new resolve.
NOS4A2 Season 2 is a faster-paced, more cohesive story than the freshman season of the series was. Tighter plot lines and more tension are only part of the success. These characters and their world are fully developed now, and exposition is not as necessary as it was in the early parts of Season 1. The evolution of Millie and Manx’s backstory has also made a big difference in distinguishing the show from the novels.
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Standout performances by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson(Bing) Jonathon Langdon(Lou), and Jahkara Smith(Maggie) coupled with continued gritty portrayals by Ashleigh Cummings, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach made the show a can’t miss. New villains like Paul Schneider’s The Hourglass kept things from becoming stale. Things seem to be heading towards a conclusion, and viewership is down despite the superior season. Hopefully, there will be more than two episodes left of this exciting series.
The episode opens with Larry McQueen’s funeral. Chris is eulogizing his father and it’s clear he is a mess. He is trying his best but that best is not very good. He desperately wants to avoid being like his father even though he is already duplicating some of the behavior. This glimpse of Chris before he got sober is as relatable as the controlled Chris in Season 2. Even angry and sloppy he is likable and clearly loves Vic even if he can’t always show it. The rage-filled scared Chris is not gone though just waiting and all his fear and frustration come out when they find Bing in Cripple Creek. Sadly, NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 8 opens and closes with the death of a father.
Chris won’t let Vic go this alone. He wants to help her bury the bombs and detonate them when the time comes. She needs his help even if she doesn’t want to admit it. She is afraid of losing yet another person. Unfortunately, she has every right to be scared. Ebon Moss-Bachrach(Chris) has been an outstanding addition to the cast from the beginning. The complexity and innate goodness he portrayed with Chris provided more than a few emotional plot beats. With his absence, Maggie and Lou will need to step up and fill the void he has left both for Vic and on the series.
Bing survives Chris’s beating, and the FBI arrest him. Tabitha is able to get a full confession from him as well as get her job back. She also was able to get Vic a chance to talk to him. Bing feels as guilty about his role in things as Chris and Vic do for losing Wayne. He was another simple man who was too easily influenced by Manx. In exchange for Vic’s forgiveness and promise to visit him, he told her about the last stop before Christmasland. If they can get Wayne before he hangs his ornament in Colorado, there is a chance to reverse the damage Manx has done.
Before they leave, however, Tabitha catches Maggie using her tiles and burning herself. Tabitha, who has become a grounding source for Maggie and a useful ally for Team McQueen, tells Maggie she wants what is best for Maggie and is afraid that isn’t her. Maggie needs to use her gifts while Tabitha wants a normal life. In the end, Maggie and Tabitha part ways. Hopefully, they can find their way back to each other.
Vic and Chris both feel guilty for being drunk and screwing up their families. They are kindred spirits which their failures haunt both. This father and daughter want to save Wayne and start new. Lou, Maggie, Chris, and Vic are waiting at the ornament tree. Before Manx arrives, Millie pleads with Vic through the veil between the real world and Christmasland to help her. She doesn’t want to die and wants the chance to grow up that Manx robbed her of. Millie knows even more about Manx than he realizes, and she may very well be the deciding factor in Vic’s defeat of Manx.
The final sequence of the episode took a page from old school horror with foggy imagery and darkened skies. The Wraith is imposing, Wayne’s snowy hair and sharpened teeth are even more alarming. His transformation is nearly complete. The group needs to grab him before he hangs his ornament and gets back into the Wraith with Manx. Lou, who has always been the kindest, sweetest man, finds Wayne and hugs him, but Wayne bites him. We don’t know how much damage that bite did, but for the poor man with a fragile heart, it can’t be good.
Manx has Wayne fully vampired out and is in command of the situation by the episode’s end. Chris pushed his daughter and her Triumph to safety when the bike stalled, and the bombs failed. Manx broke his neck after running his legs over because he thinks it will break Vic. She is devastated but angry and armed with Millie’s help Manx has grossly misread the situation. Maggie’s tiles hold the clue to Vic’s victory. Until Wayne kills someone, he is still redeemable. Let’s hope he didn’t kill his father, and Craig is around somewhere to keep the last shred of his humanity intact. Wayne can be Wayne again if Manx dies.
Good parents will always do what is necessary to protect their children. It is the defining behavior of all caring parents. Charles Manx’s devotion to his child and now vampire children has never been about them. It was always about himself. What they could do for him, and his judgments about their parents that allow him to justify his behavior in the first place. The man is a nearly immortal monster. Several people know his secrets, and Vic is out for blood. He underestimates her resolve, but the briefest glimpses of fear in his eyes show he isn’t completely confident he can defeat her. He should be scared because she has very little to lose now and everything to gain. All roads lead to Christmasland. Read all our ongoing NOS4A2 coverage here.
As the Managing Editor for Signal Horizon, I love watching and writing about genre entertainment. I grew up with old-school slashers, but my real passion is television and all things weird and ambiguous. My work can be found here and Travel Weird, where I am the Editor in Chief.