NOS4A2 Review: Bruce Wayne McQueen (Season 2 Episode 5)
NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 5, “Bruce Wayne McQueen,” takes a perspective-based approach to telling this episode that ultimately ends up working out for them.
One of the biggest gripes that can be laid at NOS4A2‘s feet is that not very much happens on it. It’s conceivably a horror series, but — for the most part — it’s mostly setup and little execution. It’s putting pieces on a board and slowly moving them across until they clash.
The waiting is the part that’s unbearable with this series because the interiority of it isn’t terribly interesting. It never has particularly compelling characterizations or plot intricacies so we’re pretty much just waiting for these moments where Vic and Charlie clash in some meaningful way. That’s when the show really seems to come to life.
That can easily be said of “Bruce Wayne McQueen,” but not simply because it’s the most exhilarating and action-packed episode this season. It’s also in the way that it’s delivered.
The episode is designed structurally to be within a particular character’s perspective until it switches to another farther into it. This enables us to see the same scenes from different angles and let us really be immersed in the tension and suspense presented here.
Granted, this method only takes the episode so far because it’s not telling a lot of new or even necessary in these switches. Some do feel like they didn’t need to be included at all, and it’s not always a seamless transition between POVs, but it is still a rather effective device to use for this scenario.
Ultimately, it is a rather simple episode that only truly functions to get us to the place of Wayne finally being in the possession of Charlie. It’s meant to be the culmination of the arc of hiding from Charlie at the lake house and now the show can move to its next endpoint for the season.
Despite that simplicity, the episode is still a nice breath of fresh air. This feels at least like an hour with some purpose, which this show isn’t always great at providing. It’s climactic and it has forward momentum and, if nothing else, it is perfectly engaging.
The other part of this is that we expect so little of this show that the bar is practically on the ground and as such, it wouldn’t be hard to clear it. That’s not to say that it does but it’s possible.
“Bruce Wayne McQueen” is, at the very least, a good episode and we’re certainly not going to look this gift horse in the mouth. Another one of its ilk may not come from this show for a while but we’ll certainly treasure this one.
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.