‘NOS4A2’ Recap: ‘The Wraith’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Personally, I am a firm believer that consequences are completely and utterly essential when it comes to telling a good story. Because while I fully understand that we use stories to escape and suspend disbelief when watching them; without consequences, the characters can never grow, and by staying stagnant in their world, they in turn cannot teach us anything of importance about ourselves and our world. And that’s why, I was supremely pleased to see that NOS4A2 wasn’t going to ignore the fallout related to Vic’s grand discovery from the last episode. In fact, ‘The Wraith’, wasted no time in showing us exactly what kinds of complications came about from Vic’s grand attempt to bring down Charlie and Bing. But what made this exploration of consequences so incredibly fascinating, is how relatable so much of it turned out to be.
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Because Vic was rattled by finding said body, as anyone with a heart would be, and the reality that someone she once trusted took Sharon’s life, without giving it a second thought, kept her up at night, as did the phone conversation with Manx and that led to some awkward moments with her parents, since they in turn, were quite worried about their daughter. Which is natural and relatable in so many ways. Because we really do rally around those who find themselves traumatized by death and do our best to keep them safe as we try to figure out what they need to properly grieve and it was nice to see this process on display by way of Vic’s parents since they really did try and help their daughter. But they were unsuccessful in their endeavors, thanks to the fact that Vic really did need to process this on her own, and exploring the immediate aftermath of Sharon’s death was perhaps the classiest and smoothest way to ease the audience into the other complications and consequences that awaited Vic over the course of the hour.

Take for example, the harsh reminder, that the law will come into play when a dead body is discovered. For the police were quite curious to learn more about how exactly Vic came across Sharon’s corpse in such seamless fashion and well, that meant that Vic had to pick and choose what facts to speak, for fear of being branded as mad, and while keeping one’s freedom isn’t exactly something to be seen as a negative, by staying silent, the real penalty came into play. Because it meant that Bing, was able to stay on the streets (thanks to an assist from Charlie) and remain an afterthought in the matter, which allowed for he and Vic to have a few angry words with one another, the kind that made it clear that any friendship they once had was destroyed beyond repair, and that little chat also gave Bing the opportunity to give Vic an invitation from Charlie, and the realization that this dangerous being could cause her great harm when they finally met, allowed for fear to take hold of her heart. 

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Which meant, she needed to find a way to cope with all of the emotions that were surging through her and she made that happen, in the most relatable way imaginable, by letting loose at a party. Because a few drinks and her first kiss seemed to finally bring Vic to a point where she could handle the danger in front of her and I call this relatable, simply because, we all have our own little escapes that we go into when the going gets tough or scary in life, and more often than not, drowning our sorrows while surrounded by other people is one that we’ve all turned to at some point or another and throwing this into the mix was a brilliant decision storytelling wise. Because it removed the heroic mystique surrounding Vic in this tale, and reminded us of her humanity and it was also a nice way to break up the darkness in this tale, something that proved to be supremely necessary since what came next was thrilling and terrifying and harrowing at all once.
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For, Vic made good on her promise to meet with Charlie, and that allowed for Mister Manx to reveal that he himself is a strong creative, one that figured out how to turn his power into life eternal and he hinted greatly that he needed some kind of an equal since he offered Vic a role in his scheme, something that Vic thankfully rejected quickly. Which did not go over well with Charlie, allowing for his darker demeanor to once again come to the surface. But sadly, their little chat, while unsettling in its own right, was interrupted by Maggie, who finally got a good look at the Wraith, and paid the price dearly for her investigation. Because the car was able to defend itself in a supremely scary, Christine-esque sequence of events and well, despite all the hardships and fallout Vic and her friends faced in this tale for trying to stand up to Charlie Manx and his twisted scheme, none of them compared to the one that Vic dealt with at the end of this tale. Because Vic finally told the truth to Detective Hutter while she watched over an ailing Maggie, and in doing so, faced the greatest consequence of all. Because her admission prompted the police and the hospital and her father to ask her to sign a voluntary commitment form in order to evaluate her mental health and that’s where we leave Vic in this story, facing an uncertain future…

If anything, I have to admit that I was supremely impressed with a great many things when it comes to this particular tale, the first one being, it did a phenomenal job of balancing out the darkness present in ‘The House of Sleep’. Because this story really was a transitional tale in its own right, one designed to give the audience a break, all while pushing the plot along and well, it succeeded marvelously in its task, yet it still managed to terrify, thanks to Charlie. For his meeting with Vic was the stuff of legend and the subtle fury present on Charlie’s face and in his eyes, still haunts me, and kudos to Zachary Quinto for putting on a master class acting wise since he exuded charm and evil on a moment’s notice and honestly, I really am impressed with this show’s versatility when all is said and done. Because it takes some phenomenal writing to make an episode like this come together in smooth fashion. So, I tip my cap to Lucy Thurber, the writer of this tale, for accomplishing wonders and well, all structure aside, this episode is going to continue to haunt me in the days to come, because I am genuinely worried about Vic. For she will likely fight the doctors at every turn, making her journey all the more harrowing and heartbreaking and powerful and well, once again I am left counting down the minutes to see what lies ahead for Vic McQueen, and this brilliant story as a whole. Until next time.  

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