Abhiroop Das
Created by Jami O’Brien, the sophomore season of ‘NOS4A2‘ continues Victoria “Vic” McQueen’s journey down the proverbial rabbit hole. In a world governed by magic, she struggles to separate the line between her reality and imagination, allowing nefarious figures like Charlie Manx, the seemingly immortal entity, to capitalize on it. In the previous season, Vic’s showdown with Charlie ended in her victory, but it was not without cost. Her lover, Craig, meets a harrowing end, and with Charlie in a comatose state, the whereabouts of the many children he kidnapped remains hanging in the balance. In season two of this Fantasy Horror series, Vic expands both the scope and meaning of her abilities and tests how they interact with the ever-shifting world around her. Still, with enemies silently creeping up in her blind spots, it is a matter of time before she has to embark on a trying journey once again. SPOILERS AHEAD.
NOS4A2 Season 2 Plot Recap
Eight years have passed since Charlie’s defeat and subsequent brain death, and things are going relatively well for Vic. She leads a quiet life in Gunbarrel with her partner, Lou, and son, Bruce Wayne, but the lingering effects of her battle have led to an enduring alcohol addiction. Along with that comes frequent bouts of paranoia about Charlie’s potential return, and when news of his death reaches her ear, she can hardly believe it. However, when Bing learns of this fact, he drops his fake identity and forces a mechanic to fix his master’s car, the Wraith. As the engine roars back to life, Charlie opens his eyes, and his remaining injuries soon heal thanks to Bing coming prepared with a child for sacrifices. Conscious and youthful once again, the immortal entity sets out for revenge, with his primary target being Vic and everyone she cares for.
Using his Inscape, Charlie begins a psychological warfare, specifically isolating Wayne, as his next potential victim. Although Lou narrowly manages to save his son, Vic realizes that the only way out of this nightmarish battle is by destroying the Wraith for good. When she fails in that endeavor, however, Charlie only grows more confident, and rifts begin to appear in her family. Meanwhile, the children trapped in Christmasland sense Charlie’s arrival. But his daughter Millie has questions, many of which pertain to her freedom. One reason behind the shift in their dynamic is the ghost haunting Christmasland, who is revealed to be Charlie’s deceased wife and Millie’s mother. A flashback to the immortal man’s past reveals that she was killed by her own daughter, and that suppressed memory brings subtle changes in Millie’s thought processes.
As the game of chess between Vic and Charlie intensifies, more players get added to the equation. One of his associates, known simply as the Hourglass man, holds the ability to control people’s movements. Upon being pitted against Maggie, he reveals that the side effects of Inscape can be contained by harming oneself or someone else in advance. It is that distinction that separates the two camps, and ultimately, Maggie gains the upper hand. Meanwhile, Bing realizes that Charlie lied about his promised trip to Christmasland, and in a fit of rage, the serial killer backstabs his master and winds up behind bars. With all his allies gone, Charlie takes on the final battle with Vic alone. This involves kidnapping Wayne and siphoning his energy. Desperate to get her son back, Vic joins hands with Maggie and reenters the dreaded Christmasland, this time with a plan not just to defeat Charlie, but to strip him of his supernatural powers entirely.
NOS4A2 Season 2 Ending: Is Charlie Dead for Good? What Happens to the Wraith?
Season 2 of ‘NOS4A2’ ends with Vic defeating Charlie, seemingly once and for all, by destroying his Inscape from within. As Charlie gives her and Maggie chase on the Wraith, Vic cleverly lures him out of his lair and onto the Shorter Way Bridge, a realm over which she has complete control. While she has always used her Inscape for teleportation, at this moment, she realizes the bridge’s true function is as a canvas capable of bringing her deepest desires to life. In keeping with this discovery, she stops in the middle of the bridge, explaining to Maggie that letting Charlie go any further will only bring harm to their loved ones. Instead, by keeping the fight on her turf, Vic is able to stop him dead in the tracks by launching an entire colony of constructed bats in his direction. Dazed, Charlie loses all control of his vehicle, and before long, the bridge buckles under its weight, taking both the car and Charlie down in the process.
Notably, as the bridge begins to crack, we get a clear glimpse into what appears to be an ocean of static that provides shape to these imaginary constructs. As such, Charlie and the Wraith being swallowed by this expanse likely renders them unable to push back. On a symbolic level, the presence of static also implies an absence of imagination, which furthers the reason Charlie lost this final fight. In the days following this clash, Charlie’s body is discovered in the middle of the lake, alongside his car, which is in pieces. However, unlike the last time, Vic does not take any half-measures and takes the remains of the Wraith to a scrapyard, where it is crushed to rubble. In the same vein, Charlie’s body is cremated, leaving behind very few, if any, ways that he could be resurrected. However, the crushing process leaves behind the car’s angel-shaped hood ornament, which may be a Horcrux in disguise.
As the show has established horcruxes as a narrative device capable of sealing and securing a person’s soul, there is a distinct possibility that Charlie’s remaining consciousness is trapped in the hood ornament and might be released at any point. Moreover, the fact that he originally did not require the Wraith to channel his vampiric abilities proves that Charlie may not be as easy to dispose of as everyone in Gunbarrel believes. However, what ultimately defeats him in the season finale is not a loophole in his magical defenses, but Vic and Maggie’s sheer force of will. The fact that he is attacked by bats, a symbol traditionally associated with vampires, holds two layers of meaning, showing how Vic holds the unique ability of flipping his expectations on their heads, and that leads to his fall. At the same time, the bats also call back to her love for Bruce Wayne, who is named after the superhero. Thus, a blend of love, imagination, and pure grit is what ultimately brings Charlie down.
Are the Missing Children Found?
With Charlie out of the picture, the binding magical force that traps all the children in Christmasland also ceases to exist, opening a path to escape. The destruction of his Inscape creates a complete rupture in reality, and the outflow of children ends up triggering unexpected circumstances. Given that Charlie’s corrupt influence on the children’s psyche has turned them into violent cannibals, their release into society as is can do more harm than good, but ultimately, it is Tabitha who finds a solution. As Vic’s son, Wayne becomes the primary lens through which to examine this conundrum. Consequently, healing him paves the way for all of the children to be healed as well. Tabitha, along with Lou, discovers that the tree full of Christmas ornaments has a psychic connection to Wayne, and by extension, Charlie Manx. It takes Lou no time to figure out from there that the ornaments likely serve as Horcruxes, and that destroying them can potentially return the children’s consciousness.
Notably, the bat ornament is the first one to be destroyed, and that act likely falls in sync with Vic’s use of bats to hold Charlie off. To that end, each destroyed Horcrux erases a chunk of Wayne’s powers, helping in his eventual defeat. The effects don’t stop there, as each broken ornament also directly hurts Wayne, showing the extent to which Charlie had spread his roots into the young boy’s mind. Nonetheless, the plan works, as Tabitha discovers that not only are all the missing children out of Christmasland, they are also back to their original selves, with their souls free of the immortal man’s control. However, escaping that feverish life is only the first step in their recovery from trauma, and in the flashforward, we learn that not every child has been equally fortunate. While some make steady progress, others are stuck in a cycle of foster homes, with their collective experience within that harrowing environment likely leaving some deep after-effects.
Are Bruce Wayne and Millie Manx Still Possessed?
While most of the children are freed from Charlie’s immediate grip, Millie Manx is an exception, as we see her silently escape the scene with her ornament, a cat, still intact. The fact that she still bears her vampiric fangs means that her father’s curse hasn’t left her system just yet. In the days that follow, we learn that she is the only remaining heir to his abilities and philosophy, despite being one of the earliest people to question it. Part of this irony is seemingly a conscious choice on her end, as she chooses to hold tight to the Horcrux containing her soul. This act can be interpreted as the result of her lingering trauma, showing that her father’s cruelty still informs her choices in life. In the show’s final scene, we see Millie Manx attack a couple who are making fun of Charlie Manx, who has since become an urban legend. This not only sets her up as a potential antagonistic force but also brings the tragedy full circle.
Unlike Millie Manx, Wayne bears no physical or spiritual connection to Charlie, due to the destruction of the ornaments. Vic and Lou go one step further by shifting out of Gunbarrel in the hopes of distancing themselves from its twisted legacy. However, over time, Wayne begins to exhibit strange behavioral patterns, indicating that his ties with the supernatural are not over just yet. What begins as a lack of desire to eat ultimately converts into his excessive craving for sugar, which seemingly recalls his experience of eating candies in Christmasland. This reversal serves as a lens to his behavioral changes, as Vic realizes, to her horror, that Wayne misses his life at Christmasland. When Millie and Wayne meet in secret, they promise to create a Christmasland of their own, and yet her distinction of calling him Wayne McQueen instead of Wayne Manx shows that she is not necessarily being driven by Charlie’s brainwashing, and instead wishes to carve out her own path.
Where is Maggie Headed? What is in the Elevator?
In the final moments of season 2, we also get a glimpse into what the future has in store for Maggie. Prior to her fight with the Hourglass man, she learns that one way to counteract the effects of Inscape is by hurting oneself or another, and here we see her fully capitalizing on that trick. However, burning her wrist in order to use her abilities is not without symbolic connotations, and this bold decision sets the tone for what she truly desires. Using her magic tiles, she figures out her future, leading her back to the Provincial Hotel, where she met and battled the Hourglass man. Upon returning there, she heads straight for the elevator, and on the journey downwards, it begins to flicker, signaling a transition to the supernatural realm, potentially leading her to a brand new Inscape. If the Parnassus bar represents a collective consciousness fueled by negativity, this new space might serve as its antithesis, opening Maggie’s creative horizons.
While Vic has had her fair share of experiences with unique Inscapes, Maggie’s ability doesn’t always allow for the same level of flexibility. Unlike Vic, whose the Shorter Way Bridge not only manifests, but also connects invented realms, all of the magic in Maggie’s case happens inside a pouch. This hidden nature of her ability also reflects her introversion and hesitation to make leaps of faith. However, after taking part in the campaign that brought down the feared Charlie Manx, Maggie is now both emboldened and curious about the limits of her Inscape and magic in general. To that end, this journey through the elevator marks her first foray into the wider world outside the handful of towns we have seen. Additionally, it also broadens the show’s worldbuilding, both in place and in its thematic structure, as Maggie’s relationship with pain and magic is likely to magnify as she interacts with new, potentially more powerful Strong Creatives.
Read More: Where is NOS4A2 Filmed?
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