NOS4A2 Review: The Wraith (Season 1 Episode 5)
Charlie Manx and Vic finally confront each other on NOS4A2 Season 1 Episode 5, “The Wraith,” but it is still a bit of a meandering bore.
The word “boring” is an adjective that, if possible, should be avoided at all costs. The reason for this is it’s a supremely subjective word describing something that is already inherently subjective. It can mean so many different things to so many different people.
An exception should be made in the case of NOS4A2, however, as it is a show that is, by and large, monumentally tedious. From the start, the show’s biggest constraint is that you can’t have Charlie and Vic meet too soon, because that’s a large part of where its tension comes from.
To make up for that, the story is filled in with Vic’s unsatisfied happenings with her friends and parents. But this aspect of the show so often feels incredibly mundane and lifeless when placed in stark contrast with Charlie’s larger-than-life presence, most of which is thanks to Zachary Quinto’s performance and less so due to the writing itself.
Even Maggie, a character who on paper should approach some level of excitement, is mainly a nonentity and really only exists within the plot to tell Vic things about Inverses, knives, and other creatives. That’s a shame, because Maggie should be a rather fun character. But there’s nothing for her to do ultimately, other than getting hit by The Wraith at the end.
That all having been said, the sequence at the end where Charlie and Vic finally do meet is enthralling all on its own. It almost makes up for what a slog the rest of the series has been to get through up to this point.
On the one hand, Zachary Quinto is working on a whole other stratosphere from Ashleigh Cummings . But it’s still a wholly entertaining verbal sparring session from the hero and villain. They’re so diametrically opposed from the outset and an actual feature of the scene is the knowledge that neither of them can die from this encounter.
There’s still so much time left on the proverbial counter that it allows you to just soak up the energy and back-and-forth that these two characters are giving off. Charlie is obviously a one-note antagonist, and there’s a kind of ease and simplicity that’s able to come out of that here.
You’re not expecting more out of him than what we already know and the performance that Quinto is giving. Charlie Manx simply is what he is and this isn’t used as an opportunity to deepen him in any meaningful respect, which is actually rather refreshing.
Another great part of that scene is seeing the way in which Vic is entirely outmatched by Charlie. She is a child playing in a sandbox that she is hardly equipped for, being led around by a barely older child that isn’t much better suited than she is. She’s able to talk a big game, but she is an ant squaring off with a Goliath.
Ultimately, their confrontation is enough to save the episode, but not by very much.
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.