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I have to say the last few episodes of NOS4A2 have been consistently entertaining, a feat I never thought this series would manage to do, and this week’s episode is no exception. Actually, this week’s episode ‘Bruce Wayne McQueen’ is an exception because of its clever, visual construction to tell the story. The episode was broken into five segments, with the first and third titled ‘Wayne’ while the second and fourth were titled ‘Vic’. The last was not given a specific title.
What the episode did was show us the same event in each segment from either Wayne or Vic’s point of view, so we saw a lot of repeated information from a different visual angle. As a filmmaking nerd who was always interested in how movies and TV shows were made, as well as the editing process, I found this episode’s construction visually exciting and pondering if they shot scenes with multiple cameras or just had one camera and had to keep reshooting the scenes, mimicking the same actions over and over again. If so, that can be a challenge for the editor trying to match shots if an actor isn’t in the same exact spot or moving the same for each take. Either way, it was a very fun episode to watch.
The story itself is about the siege of the lake house by Bing and Charlie … with a little help from The Hourglass Man. We still don’t know his part in all of this or why he’s helping Charlie, but he does perform two pivotal bits of action for Manx’s benefit. The first is the use of his power which is telling someone, in this case the FBI officers supposedly protecting the property from intruders, what he wants them to do and them forcing them to carry out those orders with the flip of his hourglass. The agents were supposed to kill everyone at the cabin but Wayne. Chris was armed but ended up getting shot in the leg. He did manage to kill one of the agents and just as the second was about to shoot him, the sands in the hourglass ran out and he took his own life.
With no protection now, it was easy for Bing to slip in and carry out his orders. Watching the carnage from the window, Wayne started acting weird and said he smelled cookies. Lou realized Bing was pumping gas into the cabin so he had to get them outside, but that put them in great danger as Bing attacked Lou while Wayne ran away. We saw a lot of this in the second segment from Vic’s point of view as she returned through the Shorter Way, alone, witnessing some of the gunfire. She found Lou but Wayne was nowhere to be found.
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Back to Wayne’s POV, he’s come upon Charlie and ends up shoved into the back of the Wraith. With everyone incapacitated — and unaware that Vic is lurking about — Charlie seems to praise Bing for finally delivering the boy to him. Bing is so excited that he will now be going to Christmasland and tells Mr. Manx what he wants to do when they get there. Charlie assures him that there will be a feast for days. I think viewers are keenly aware that Bing will be the main course. But then Vic shows up and tries to damage the Wraith enough to seriously hurt Charlie, he rams her with the car, sending her flying and in pain as he approaches with his trusty rock hammer in hand. Unable to get up, Vic feels her body being smashed by the hammer as Wayne screams from the back seat. Bing was supposed to give the boy a little gas so he wouldn’t have to see the violence but after being bitten by Wayne earlier, Bing is in no mood to be charitable. But Wayne is smart enough to know that if Bing crosses Charlie, it won’t end well for him and he tells him that quite frankly so Bing finally gives him enough gas to put him to sleep.
It really seemed like Charlie was going to kill Vic right there but she managed to strike back, getting a hold of his hammer and gashing his face which gave her time to get up and run away towards the lake. Bing saw her make her move so he tried to pursue in his lumbering way, shooting at her but missing. Vic dove into the lake as bullets pierced the water around her. From Vic’s angle now, she can hear Bing yelling from the dock as she hides but then she also can see and hear Charlie, ranting at her about what a terrible mother she is for abandoning her child and how much happier he’ll be in Christmasland. And he’ll even call her from time to time to remind her of what a great time he’s having and how awful she is. Vic swims underwater back to the dock and comes up underneath. Bing can’t see her at first, but Charlie pushes her buttons far enough that she makes a sound that alerts Bing to her whereabouts and the two lock eyes for a moment between one of the planks.
While all that was going on, Lou had made his way to the Wraith and attempted to free Wayne but the windows are unbreakable. Wayne even tried to climb into the front seat but always found himself in the back seat again. While Bing is still trying to kill Vic, Charlie returns to the car because he has his prize. Lou is no match for him and Bing watches helplessly as Charlie pulls away, leaving him behind to find his own way out of the situation. With Bing having fled, Vic is able to make her way to the injured Lou who tells her to go after the boy. She hops on her bike and is able to catch up to Manx, attempting to shoot at the car to make it stop. I could not tell if she was shooting at the tires, but they are probably enchanted and unable to be damaged as well as long as Charlie is inside. Prior to Vic’s arrival, Charlie had turned around to have a chat with Wayne, leaving the Wraith to drive itself. It really seemed like at any moment something was going to appear in front of them to stop the car but that never happened. A pretty good fake out because in any other TV show, the car would have been T-Boned.
Instead it was Vic who got hit, this time by The Hourglass Man. Seriously injured, the next thing she knows is she’s in the hospital being wheeled down a corridor. In the emergency area she sees her father and Lou, but Lou looks to be in bad shape and they pull the curtain closed between the two areas. Now Vic, having flashbacks to when Wayne was born and nearly died at birth, is in her own personal limbo, having lost her son and possibly Lou as well.
It was a very gripping, intense and exciting episode and it certainly has whet my appetite for more.
NOS4A2 airs Sundays at 10:00 PM on AMC.
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