‘NOS4A2’ Season 1, Episode 7 ‘Scissors For The Drifter’ Recap: Inescapable

Last week’s episode was one of NOS4A2’s best episodes so far. And though this week’s episode doesn’t quite live up to the thrill of the previous one, it still gives a little flare. If there’s one thing I can appreciate about it, it’s the emotional aspect of the show. Unfortunately, this is also where NOS4A2 starts to fall apart. Every time the show’s momentum picks up, the plotlines just separate barely scraping one another until they’re inevitably brought together again at the end of the episode. This somehow worked at the beginning but, with NOS4A2’s season finale coming up quickly, it’s getting a little worrisome.

NOS4A2 focused on the fight among victims and perpetrators last week. And, this week, it’s focused on a different kind of fight. Vic (Ashleigh Cummings), no matter how much she loves her dad, is forced to confront the ugly truth of her dad’s trainwreck parenting. While on the other hand, Manx (Zachary Quinto) is racing to fix his Wraith for the sake of his life after the destruction Jolene caused it. And after that, there’s bound to be someone who’ll pay very dearly. It won’t be NOS4A2 if there isn’t.

A Phonecall From Christmasland

Vic wakes up to the loud ringing of the telephone in the middle of the night. Confused, she goes down to find that her mom doesn’t hear one lick of it. Only Vic can hear it. And when she picks it up, she hears Haley’s (Darby Camp) voice along with another of Manx’ children. Both of them are demanding to know where Manx aka Father Christmas was. And no matter what Vic says, she’s the bad guy to them.

The next day, Vic wakes up to a very unpleasant surprise. Her mother has sold off her dirt bike without any permission. Desperate, Vic calls Maggie (Jahkara Smith) and orders her to asks her tiles where to find it. Sadly, Maggie insists that she’s done with that business. She’s thrown out her tiles like her will to fight. What’s worse is she’s spiraling down a tunnel of self-destruction with drugs.

The next person Vic calls is her father. All this time, he knew Linda sold the bike and that Vic was in the hospital. But, he didn’t do squat for both of them and he could only afford cheap excuses to his daughter. The only consolation for Vic is when Chris agrees to take her with him to Bike week.

The Dying Wraith

On the other hand, Manx is facing his own conundrum with his knife. He is having trouble repairing it himself. So, he hauls his old decrepit ass up and hitches a ride into town with a father and son. When they drop him off, Manx offers the kid his signature candy cane. But, the dad doesn’t allow any more sugar for his son for the day. Inside the store, Manx calls up Bing (Olafur Darri Olafsson) for his help. When Manx turns around, he finds that the kid has followed him into the shop. This time around, the kid takes the candy.

At school, Vic confronts Bing on his usual janitorial rounds demanding to know where Manx is. When Bing refuses to answer, she shoves the record of Manx’ last henchman who died by his boss’ hands to his face. Bing violently shoves Vic against the lockers and warns her not to lie. But, the information visibly bothers him. When he came to Manx’ aid, later on, he sulked. Like a child, he asks if Manx was going to do the same thing to him. And Manx pours him all the reassurances his pea-sized brain needed for him to get back to work.

When they get to the car repair shop, Manx could barely speak and keep himself upright. The wraith’s damage has taken its toll on him. So, Bing does all the talking and working for him. Unfortunately for them, the car repair shop they went to was owned by the very same old lady Maggie and Sheriff Bly (Chris McKinney) went to before, Mrs. Myers (Brenda Wehle). And Mrs. Myers remembers what Manx did to her son and grandson. So, as soon as Bing turns away, she calls up Sheriff Bly.

Facing the Ugly Truth

Ever since Maggie came back, Sheriff Bly has been everything fatherly to her even pestering her to stay with him. And after he received Mrs. Myers’ call, he excitedly relays the news to Maggie. However, he finds Maggie stoned by the side of the road. So, he just takes her home.

Meanwhile, Drew (Rarmian Newton) and Vic are having a nice little walk out in their own town. But, when Vic mentions her dad, the conversation goes sour. Being the sweet and honest boy he is, Drew musters up the courage to lay out all of Chris’ misgivings right in front of Vic. And as Vic tries to counter each and every one of them, it becomes more apparent that she has turned a blind eye to them. If not, she’s afraid to acknowledge them. It all ends up in Vic leaving Drew alone. And when Chris comes by to pick her up, she masks it all up all over again.

At the Bike week event, Vic couldn’t find one bike that feels right. Urging her to take a break, Chris drags her with him to grab a bite. There, he apologizes for the nth time for allowing Linda to sell Vic’s bike. This time, Vic just doesn’t take it with a smile. Everything else he did or didn’t do was just brewing on the surface of her mind. So, after snapping at him for his drinking, she decides to walk it off. Unfortunately, she hears the same loud ringing again. And when she picks up the bar’s phone, she hears the same kids looking for their father. This time, they’re telling her to come to them.

When Apologies Don’t Work Anymore

Distressed more than ever, Vic comes back to the table to find that Craig (Dalton Harrod) has joined her dad. She doesn’t even say anything before straight up chugging down one can of beer. Then, she opens the floodgates. All at once, she releases everything her dad did or didn’t do that hurt her – for buying her first bike as an apology for a big fight between him and Linda, for abandoning her, for not visiting her in the hospital, and for every single time he chose booze over his own child. Between the two, it wasn’t her job to be the adult. And Chris only had one thing to say “I hope you never have to feel what it’s like to disappoint people that you love.”

Vic storms out and Craig follows her. Even outside, Vic can’t stop everything rushing out of her. But, Craig stops her and asks about how SHE really is. This seems to click in Vic’s mind. And she manages to calm down. Diverting the conversation, she accepts the souvenier Craig offered to her before everything just went sideways with her dad. Then, she asks him to take her home. Craig takes her back to his place. And in his room, Vic gets her first taste of weed. As she curls up on his bed, she takes his arm and wraps it around her.

A Narrow Escape

As for Manx, it seems that things have taken a turn for the worse. He’s already blind and withering away. And though they have the parts they need to repair the wraith, the police are already within earshot. Just before Bing completes the last step of the repairs, he asks Manx for a promise to take him to Christmasland. But, Manx puts some sense into the oaf telling him that he can’t take Bing anywhere if they were both in prison.

Once the wraith has been repaired and is up and running, Manx’ starts drastically growing younger right before Mrs. Myers’ eyes. Seeing the transformation, the old lady suffers from a heart attack. And Manx and Bing get into the wraith just in the nick of time right before the police arrive. The strange thing is that the police doesn’t see or notice the wraith. All they see is the old lady on the ground. And they didn’t even have a clue that the culprit has literally driven away right under their noses.

Later that night, Maggie wakes up in Sheriff Bly’s house. But, she doesn’t find him anywhere. Seeing his patrol car outside, she goes out to check it. To her horror, she finds a candy cane clipped to the car’s swipers. Through some kind of drug perhaps, Manx managed to abduct Sherrif Bly. He takes him into Christmasland and introduces him to his children. Oblivious, Sherrif Bly welcomes the sight and even hugs Daniel when he sees him. Then, the children start playing Scissors for the Drifter. One by one, they come forward to start brutally stabbing Sherrif Bly. And Manx only watches as his children finally start tearing into Bly’s skin and enjoying the meal their father has taken home to them.

NOS4A2 continues Sunday, July 21st with “Parnassus” at 10/9c on AMC.