Season 1: Episode 3THE GAS MASK MAN |
Don’t beat yourself up too much, Vic McQueen. Even if you listened to Maggie Leigh, you might not have been able to save Haley. That Charlie Manx is a cruel old fox and you’re just starting out. Others have faced him and failed, and you might well have done no better. But we’ll never know for sure, will we? The good news is, Haley won’t be needing a cat-sitter while she’s off in Christmasland.
Oh, and hey: who the hell is the silver-haired lady with the roller skates??? Fans of the novel will instantly recognize her as… a complete stranger, because she isn’t in the book. Jolene skated into this story from a corner of the NOS4A2 universe I never explored in the novel. Tell you something else: we haven’t seen the last of her. She may have more to tell us about Charlie Manx. It’s just possible she’s in on a few of his secrets. Remember: Vic and Maggie and Charlie aren’t the only folks with unique powers. There are others.
For me, the highlight of the episode is that bit where Vic and Drew Butler visit the Rhode Island School of Design. You don’t need to be a genius to see that NOS4A2 is all about escape. Vic’s bridge is a broad metaphor for the way your imagination can take you away from a humdrum existence and on to something better. I have this notion that people need to escape their everyday lives almost as badly as they need food or drink. It’s very close to a basic need. And Vic yearns for a way out even more than most of us: she has so much she wants to leave behind. With that in mind, I dug when Vic arrived at RISD and for one bright, glittering moment, she was allowed a glimpse of a happier future, one that might be attained without supernatural powers. All that’s required is a smidge of talent and a lot of passion. Some people like stories where the heroes are sullied, remorseless hard-asses, but not me. I think good horror is about empathy, not brutality, and works best when we have some heroes we can cheer for and admire. We want RISD for Vic. We want all the best for her; which means we’re also ready to stick with her while she faces the worst. (Or so goes my theory) Course you know how it goes when you’re the hero in a horror story… don’t get your hopes too high for four peaceful years of study at RISD, Vic. If you wanted lasting happiness, you should’ve got a show on some other channel. Turns out Art School is going to be almost as hard to reach as Christmasland, and all the things Vic is running from—her toxic home life, her impossible powers, her responsibility to use her gifts to stop Charlie Manx—can’t be fled. When a financial aid officer gently encourages Vic to acknowledge she comes from an abusive home, the whole RISD daydream smashes like a dropped vase. She can’t do it, and anyone who’s had even a taste of codependency gets why… the rules of love and loyalty forbid telling on the people who hurt you. Our heroine reels away, overcome by another raggedy vision of Charlie Manx. Vic staggering into traffic while she’s assaulted by psychic flashes was, for me, a powerhouse of a moment. It’s not in the book, but I wish it was. One other thing I noticed about the show, an aspect I’m only just picking up on, even though I’ve seen each episode a good 5+ times. In the last newsletter, I mentioned how I love seeing Vic and Maggie together; they create a Butch-and-Sundance crackle of energy. It strikes me now, though, that the show is full of these vital duos. Charlie and Bing are the Laurel and Hardy of murder, a pair of obscene and vile killer clowns. Chris McQueen and Linda McQueen are another matched set. Think of them as the salt and the pepper—or the bullet and the gun. Maybe that’s a functional thing: characters come alive when they have a foil, someone to verbally spar with. I am reminded of a favorite quote, the playwright Tony Kushner’s remark that “the smallest individual unit is two people, not one; one is a fiction.” It is for sure harder to make drama with only one person standing on stage. One person is a flint with no steel to create a spark. Put some of our favorite pairs together, though, and you can set fires. Vic and Manx are a duo, too. He’s Christmas forever and she’s the fourth of July. He wants to put her on ice and pretty soon she’ll be looking to light his ass up by the rocket’s red glare. She better take care, though. Vic ain’t the first lady to risk getting on Charlie’s naughty list: just ask Jolene. |
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