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'NOS4A2' Season 2 Episode 2 'Good Father' Review: Manx kills 4 as flashbacks explain what influenced his actions

Paving the way for Episode 3, this chapter explains Millie's mother's death and how the 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith and Christmasland came to life
PUBLISHED JUN 29, 2020
Charlie Manx (AMC)
Charlie Manx (AMC)

Spoilers for 'NOS4A2' Season 2 Episode 2 'Good Father'

The second episode of 'NOS4A' Season 2 not only took the gore up a notch but also established a true beginning to Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto) determination for revenge.  Interestingly enough, Vic McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings) isn't seen in this episode, rather viewers were taken back and forth from past events to present to establish the bond that Manx shares with his daughter Millie Manx (Mattea Conforti.)

Episode 2, titled 'Good Father' sees Vic's worst fear come true – Charlie Manx is alive. With the help of Bing Partridge (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) and a sweet innocent boy named Michael, Manx not only makes it back to Christmasland but also sets his claws into Wayne McQueen (Jason David). 'Good Father' most definitely beats the premiere episode because the fear that Vic has of Manx being alive is clearly validated in this chapter. We also find out where Millie's mother went, how the 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith and Christmasland came to be and how Millie ended up in Christmasland.

The start of the episode sees Manx wake up in the autopsy room, where he had been laying with his organs exposed. In Episode 1 titled, 'Bad Mother' we saw Vic use her motorbike and The Shorter Way Bridge to go to the morgue where Manx was and stab a blade through his heart. Quite easily, Manx removed that blade and while leaving the room, killed the security guard who had taken a selfie with his dead body. Death count: 1. Manx, who still very much looks like a corpse tries to staple his open cuts together before viewers are hit with nostalgia. 

Manx remembers a time with his wife when she was pregnant with Millie. At that time Manx's wife was worried that her father, a man that her husband used to work for as a driver, would not be happy to be feeding another mouth. "It's his grandchild, it should count for something," Manx, who had tried to soothe his wife's anxiety, said. When Manx and his wife had eloped, Manx's father-in-law didn't approve but allowed the duo to stay with him, in his mansion. With that memory in his mind, we see present Manx's corpse call Bing telling him to "put a child in the Wraith and meet me at Sleigh House" – a house owned by Manx. The 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith is Manx's Knife, an object that allows Manx to cut the fabric between the real world and the "world of thought", giving him the ability to access Christmasland – an inscape. Inscapes are imaginary worlds dreamt up by "Strong Creatives" – in Christmasland every day is Christmas and unhappiness is illegal. 

Manx's wife and Manx (AMC)

We are taken back to the past as Manx daydreams of Christmas Day Millie and how his father-in-law had ignored his need to take care of his wife and new child by shooting down his business model. "The very qualities that made you a good driver makes you an insufferable son-in-law. There is something off about you. What do you do? You have no people, none I've heard of," said Manx's suspicious father-in-law. He tells Manx that he doesn't have to worry about Millie as she'll get a trust fund with a "considerable inheritance" released to her on her 18th birthday. In the present, Manx's corpse escapes the morgue but not before killing another security guard – Death Count: 2.  Bing, on the other hand, has managed to get a child named Michael into the Wraith by telling him in Christmasland, "no one ever picks on you ever again."

Manx meanwhile makes it to a phone booth and calls Millie telling her, "The lights will never go out again, one way or another, I'm on my way." He tries to tape himself up in the bathroom where he, unfortunately, takes the life of another man for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Death Count: 3. As police enter the bathroom, we see Manx open the door of a stall revealing him in his human form, not a corpse anymore. 

Manx' corpse (AMC)

Manx makes his way to Wayne playing in a park but Wayne ends up running away after Manx screams at him, "Where's your mother? She's the one that told you about Charlie Manx, isn't she? So your mother is a liar." Manx tells Wayne he knows his real name is Bruce and has seen him in a dream before. At that moment, Manx starts to bleed.

By this point, Bing has managed to lure Mike into the Wraith and made his way to Manx, getting him to the Wraith resulting in all of Manx's wounds healing. Here we see Mike has officially become a child of Christmasland with his horrid pointy teeth. 

Through his flashbacks, we find out about how Manx's daughter killed his wife and the birth of Christmasland. When Manx had bought the Wraith, years ago, he had promised his daughter it would take her to Christmasland as his wife had continued to worry about the family's next meal. Desperate for a stable life for her daughter, Manx's wife decided to leave him and go to her sister's home with Millie. Offering to take the duo to Aunt Beatrice, Manx ended up making his way to Christmasland causing Millie's appearances to change and her teeth to fall off. Now, a child of Christmasland, she had bit her mother to death. 

Wayne McQueen (AMC)

The end of the episode sees the present Manx make his way to "his children" in Christmasland giving the kids the dead body of the seller that sold the Wraith to Bing, to feed on. Death Count: 4. While Millie is upset her father is not there to stay, he promises her he'll be back as he meets Bing at what looks like a graveyard. There we see Wayne McQueen's grave that reads, "without a parent's guiding hand, he's better off in Christmasland," with the duo agreeing that Wayne must be "saved."

The episode was an interesting watch since we see Vic nowhere and wonder how quick it would be for Manx to kill Wayne. 'Good Father' not only explored the complicated relationship between Millie and her father but also gave viewers a context on the past – explaining what heavily influenced Manx's actions. It was a background check into an immortal who likes to feed of the souls of kids but possesses the kind of vile that leaves him with no guilt. 

The episode established Manx as a character, what he's capable of and how far he's willing to go to make sure Millie is safe in Christmasland, where he's determined to keep all the lights on. The story made way for Episode 3 to possibly finally allow Vic and Manx to meet in Season 2, as we wonder if Wayne tells his mother about his encounter with Manx. With the Wraith now with him, Manx is not only fearless but also seems unstoppable. He's not only craving revenge against Vic who tried to kill him, but also the soul of Wayne McQueen.

Millie Manx (AMC)

'NOS4A2' Season 2 episodes air Sundays at 10 pm ET on AMC. 

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