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So AMC’s NOS4A2 has come to an end … with the somewhat surprising news that there will be a second season. Apparently the ratings were pretty good, but it seems most people were hate-watching it. Because, truth be told, it ain’t that great. It’s probably one of the most disappointing new series I’ve ever sat through in its entirety. Usually I’m out by the third episode but since I committed to writing about it this season, here we are.
Prior to the show’s renewal, I assumed that being based on a book it was only meant to be a limited series. I really didn’t think Zachary Quinto would commit his time to a multi-season role and I was wrong on all counts. I was really questioning just how far they could stretch this already thin story out for another ten episodes, but having not read the book I have no idea at what point the season ends. I’m curious to know if multiple endings were shot as well, perhaps one with a definite conclusion and the cliffhanger we ended up with.
For a two hour finale, surprisingly little happened. Well, maybe not surprisingly because not much happened over the previous eight hours. What the finale was marked by was a series of terrible decisions by the heroine, Vic McQueen. She put her boyfriend in danger by telling him about being abducted by Bing, she ignored Maggie’s tiles that said she wasn’t ready to fight Charlie, and then she got herself and Craig in a shitload of trouble.
Turns out Craig was the only upstanding peripheral character in Haverhill. He tried to avenge Vic, but he was no match for Bing. Although he made a dumb move by jumping on Bing when he knocked him down and instead of picking up his baseball bat to finish Bing off, he used … a pot? It seemed that got him killed but instead he just became bait for Charlie to lure Vic to him. Bing nearly ended up like Charlie’s previous assistant for his wrong-headed abduction of Vic, but when he revealed to Charlie that she and Craig had ‘consummated their love’, she was no longer the pure woman that Charlie expected to ride in the front seat with him to Christmasland. Instead of a mother to the children, she’s now on the menu as a meal.
Vic did save Maggie from herself and learned she could bring her across the Shorter Way on her bike, so while the tiles told them where to find the Wraith, at Sleigh House, Maggie stayed behind and eventually revealed to the police that her magic Scrabble bag is the real deal. Vic took the bridge to Charlie’s house in Colorado, found out Craig was in the trunk of the car in the garage but couldn’t get it open. There was also a creepy child in the back seat overacting terribly. When the kid got out, Vic made her way into the house before he could eat her, then Charlie arrived and she managed to lock herself in a room with tiny windows near the ceiling and no way to get to them. Good move, Vic. And she’s even more trapped than she could imagine because Charlie found her bike and the Inscape and tossed the bike onto the bridge, making it disappear forever. Wait, I thought the bike had to get up to a certain speed to cross the bridge like Jolene’s skates and wheelchair. There really don’t seem to be any rules here.
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Unconcerned about Vic’s life any longer, Charlie just set his own house on fire to kill her. That would be like me setting my house on fire to kill a spider. Is Charlie just planning to live in his car now? It took three commercial breaks for Vic to finally maneuver her way up a laundry chute before the fire consumed the room she was in, just in time for her to see the Wraith heading down the driveway. A passing biker took her to the same gas station/convenience store we’d seen old Charlie visit previously and she was finally able to call Maggie. What she didn’t know what that Craig had managed to pierce the car’s gas tank, forcing Charlie to turn around and fill up. You’d think that when Craig pierced the tank and Charlie’s nose started bleeding, he would have done something about that rather than just try to refill the tank.
But that gave Vic enough time to try, again, to get Craig out of the trunk except she couldn’t find the key. It seemed to never occur to her that CHARLIE would have it with the car keys. Craig managed to punch a hole through the back seat but he couldn’t get the door open and the overacting child was excited to have a playmate/meal. Vic made the ultimate bad decision when trying to subdue Charlie — she poured gasoline on the Wraith. And then she lit it, causing Charlie’s skin to burn and his to age 100 years within seconds. Hey, why not grab the keys from him now?
No, instead she tries pulling Craig from the back to the front seat but the back seat is protected by some kind of magical, unexplained forcefield. Vic could reach in but Craig’s hand went possibly into another dimension when he tried to cross the seat. With nothing else to do … except maybe GRAB THE KEYS FROM CHARLIE … Vic exited the car and watched it burn, killing the overacting child and Craig. Seriously. Waking up in the hospital, the biker dude, Lou, tells her Charlie is in a coma and if she ever needs help again to call him. Vic then learns from the nurse that … she’s pregnant! She heads home for Craig’s memorial service where we mercifully see her parents briefly for the first and only time, has a real, emotional moment with Craig’s mother (but doesn’t have the heart to tell her about the baby), and the takes off on someone’s motorcycle. Craig’s? No matter though because it doesn’t have the right mojo to summon the Inscape.
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Maggie joins her and says she’s staying in Haverhill to help the police find Bing — he’s now in Maine at the House of Sleep 2, freshly shaved and with a new name, awaiting Charlie’s arrival (which could be a while) — and Vic says she’s leaving town. Maggie is a bit disappointed, but she seems to have a new friend in Detective Tabitha — named after Joe Hill’s mother? — Hutter (almost seems like the storyline was going to push them into a romantic situation, and perhaps it will moving forward). Then it’s six months later, Vic is very preggers, she’s back at Sleigh House (Charlie’s burned out home) with Lou the biker looking for clues to find Christmasland, the Wraith is in a junkyard and Charlie is still comatose. But … the mechanic somehow manages to spark the battery of the car to life and Charlie wakes up, grabs a nurse and tells her what a terrible mother she is before going back to sleep with a grin on his face. And scene.
The first season ends with a lot of questions. Who were those kids under the ice on the way to Christmasland and why were they there? And why did we never see them again? Where and what exactly is Christmasland? How are Charlie and the Wraith connected? Will we ever really see Christmasland? Frankly, I don’t know if I’m all that interested in finding out the answers to any of these questions. You?
NOS4A2 will return for a second season on AMC.
What did you think of the finale? Sound off in the comments below!
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