NOS4A2 Review: Sleigh House/Gunbarrel (Season 1 Episodes 9 and 10)
Vic and Charlie Manx finally come to blows resulting in devastating losses for both sides on NOS4A2 Season 1 Episodes 9 and 10, “Sleigh House” and “Gunbarrel.”
On another show, “Sleigh House” and “Gunbarrel” might make a perfectly fine capper to a season. That’s still technically true for NOS4A2. The twofer is moderately satisfying on a narrative level — even though what is actually accomplished is rather minimal in the grand scheme of things — and has a nice kinetic energy that the series doesn’t normally have.
The problem is that this show hasn’t necessarily earned whatever satisfaction the finale gives. It has been a middling (at best) series practically since its first episode, and it only now is able to shift into another gear because it has something to do.
Can a good finale save a show? Sometimes. Can it in this case? Not particularly.
That isn’t to say there aren’t good moments throughout these two episodes. But they don’t really add up in a cohesive manner to the show that we’ve all been watching for eight episodes before this.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks is that the series assumes we care terribly about Craig and what might happen to him. This a character that, even by the show’s own standards, has really been off in the periphery for much of the story.
There hasn’t been an awful lot of work put into that character beyond a basic understanding that he’s in love with Vic, as evidenced by the many puppy dog eyes he shoots her way durng the last few episodes. We’re told they’re best friends and apparently love each other, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of build up to that, aside from a couple of choice scenes.
Craig, in general, isn’t a character we have a very good sense of at all and certainly not one that we’d be terribly worried about. There’s certainly a very real sense of danger on “Sleigh House” and “Gunbarrel,” and there’s not much reason to be invested in his survival past knowing that Vic wants him to live.
This is supposed to be a scenario where we ask ourselves what happens if Vic isn’t able to save Craig, but there’s not really any reasons for us to. If this had been a character like Maggie, for example, we’d definitely be much more invested, because that’s someone we’ve at least spent a lot of time with and are somewhat interested in.
On the flip side, “Sleigh House,” in particular, is an episode where we really see for maybe the first time how creepy and off-putting this show is supposed to be when Vic gets trapped inside Charlie’s house and tries to escape while it burns down around her.
It’s an excellent use of suspense and terror as she contends against not only Charlie but also the latest boy he’s abducted who is trying to chase her down. The scene loses a little something because this is a boy that we’re meeting for the first time, and there’s not a connection of any kind to him.
That whole sequence would undoubtedly be much more terrifying if that was someone like Hailey, who we know Vic has a strong history with and would have to reconcile what she is now versus the girl she knew. Also, what it all culminates into with Vic trying climb a ventilation shaft is pretty dumb on the face of it, despite whatever it’s trying to do thematically.
After a certain point during “Gunbarrel,” when Charlie Manx is taken off the board and there’s a long laborious collection of scenes wrapping up the season, the show just really comes to a standstill and is remarkably dull as it deals with the aftermath. The slower stuff in Haverhill is always going to be the weaker part of the show, which is unfortunate since it’s the bulk of it.
Ultimately, this is a fine end to the season, even if it’s really clear how it’s setting the board for the next season.
What did you think of this episode of NOS4A2? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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NOS4A2 airs Sundays at 10/9c on AMC.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.