The House of Sleep (episode)

## The House of Sleep

**The House of Sleep** is the fourth episode of the first season of AMC's *NOS4A2*. It is also the fourth episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

Vic seeks the Wraith and learns she must trust her gift. A body surfaces in Haverhill.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania, Christmas Day, 1978. The Partridge family is unwrapping gifts. A young Bing Partridge unwraps his final gift from his father. It’s a gas mask from his time in the war. It was him up against three yellow men on the dirt. That mask is the last thing they ever saw. In an aggressive tone, John demands that Bing put it on. He does as told as it would appear that both Bing and June are frightened by John. With the mask and helmet on, Bing takes cover behind the couch and begins shooting back and forth with his father. John then knocks Bing to the ground and calls him a "retard." June hears this, but is too frightened by John to stand up for Bing. He pretends to shoot his mom. She plays along and tells him that she loves him more than anything.

Now a teenager, Bing uses a nail gun to hang Christmas ornaments around the exterior of the house. John persistently insults Bing to the point of him shooting his father in the head with the nail gun and killing him. Bing drags his father’s body into the garage, where he cries hysterically until being found by his mother. June comforts Bing and ask him what he did.

Present day, Haverhill, Massachusetts. Vic gives Mittens’ body to Steve, who tells Vic that the cops think Sharon took Haley and left him, however, he knows she would never do that. Maggie arrives soon thereafter, and Vic tells her how Charlie Manx took Haley and her mom. Maggie apologizes as she thought that Manx was after Vic, however, she didn’t know that Haley knew about the Shorter Way. And her stutter appears to worsen. Vic rides off to find them, riding over the Shorter Way. Inside the bridge, written in green spray paint is "House of Sleep." Vic goes over her bridge, surrounded by bats and white noise. She finds herself outside Bing’s house. He asks if she’s lost. Vic claims she was going to Craig’s house and got lost. When Bing gets lost, he reminds himself "Go forth to the North, then left is West." Vic nervously thanks him and leaves.

Bing pours a glass of milk and cookies to take down to Sharon, who he has tied up in his basement. Sharon demands to know where Haley is. Bing doesn’t answer. He does recite a rhyme however. "Sticks and stones. Pins and tacks. Only good mommies get tasty snacks." He puts on his gas mask and sprays Sharon with gingerbread smoke, enough to make her susceptible to suggestion. She then says that she loves him more than anything while under the influence of the smoke.

Haley wakes in the back of Manx’s Wraith on the road to Christmasland. She demands to be released, but there’s no escaping the Wraith. Manx assures her that he’s never hurt a child and doesn’t intend on hurting her. He saved her from her mother, who never had her best interest in mind. With Manx, Haley will never feel unwanted again. Haley looks outside the window to see passing by deer skeletons wrapped in Christmas lights. They’re currently traversing the St. Nick Parkway. It’s his own private thoroughfare to Christmasland. Manx claims it’s filled hot cocoa, candy and toys galore. However, before he can take her, he needs to know about the Shorter Way and the Strong Creative who rides it.

Vic returns from to the Shorter Way, but it takes a toll on her. The high-pitched ringing in her head returns every time she rides it. Vic meets back up with Maggie at the Smith house. Vic informs Maggie how the bridge took her to Bing’s house and that there’s no way he’s the Wraith. Maggie suspects that he may be just a henchmen. However, Vic refuses to believe that is so. She’d rather believe the bridge made a mistake even as Maggie explains that Inscapes don’t make mistakes. Maggie wants Vic to trust her gift.

Vic arrives at her mother’s house. While Vic can barely stand, she explains to her mother that Haley and Sharon are missing, though Linda’s more concerned with Vic, as her eye is red, and she appears to be in pain. Linda takes Vic upstairs and puts her in bed. She insists that Haley and Sharon are fine, surmising they’re likely in Florida with Sharon’s mother. As she sleeps, Vic envisions the Wraith and Haley with sharp fangs.

Haley pulls out one of her teeth and asks what Manx is doing to her. He doesn’t respond, rather playing a trick on her, which Haley appears to be amused by, but not impressed. Taking it up a notch, Manx makes it snow inside the car, which Haley points out tastes like sugar. He claims he can teach her how to make it snow and so much more once they get to Christmasland, but first he must know the name of the girl with the bridge. In that time, Haley loses three more teeth, telling Manx that she wants her mom.

Maggie calls Sheriff Bly and tells him that she’s in Haverhill after getting a tip from her Scrabble Bag that the Wraith was there. Maggie informs him that the Wraith took another kid, and she needs him to put out an Amber Alert, but Joe can’t do that for another state. He could put out a national alert, but Joe doesn’t want to take that risk in case that Maggie’s wrong. It could cause panic and chaos. Maggie insists that she’s right though.

Linda checks in on Vic while she sleeps. Craig knocks on the front door in search of Vic. Linda tells him that Vic’s not feeling well. While she sympathizes with Craig, given his mom’s situation, but she believes that Craig is sending Vic down the wrong path and refuses to allow that to continue. Linda remarks that Vic came home with red eyes, leading her to believe that Vic and Craig were smoking weed in the woods. Craig insists that Vic would never do that and that Linda doesn’t know anything about Vic. Still, Linda asks that he stay away from Vic.

Vic comes downstairs and overhears her mom on the phone with her dad complaining about her bike. Linda claims its the reason that Vic’s been sick. She wants Chris to try and get through to Vic in spite of them not being the best example. Vic joins her mom in the kitchen and asks when was the first time her father hit her. Linda claims she doesn’t remember. They were so young and wild when She first met Chris. Even wilder when Chris got back from the Gulf. They liked to get drunk, and when they got drunk, they’d fight. And sometimes Linda would wake up with a fat lip. She stayed because it wasn’t all the time. Also, because sometimes she’s the one who started the fight. He also used to promise her he would lay off the hard liquor, and she’d believe him.

Suddenly, it had been years, and she had Vic. At that point, her life with him had been longer than her life without him. So, she stayed. She tried to keep believing that he’d change. She asks how long Vic has known. She replies not that long, but looking back, she always had a feeling. She kept it a secret because she needed to believe her dad was a good guy. Linda explains that Chris is both a good guy and bad. People can be both. The trouble is, you only ever see the good. Linda then leaves for work, though she’s packed Vic a bag with some of her things that she’d want over at Tiffany’s. Inside the bag is a comic book, among other items, bringing Vic’s suspicions of Bing back to the surface.

On the road to Christmasland, Manx and Haley, who appears to be undergoing some kind of transformative process, discuss their similarities. His mother, Fanny Manx, was very much like Haley’s mom. She banished him to the outdoors so she could indulge in selfish pleasures. They lived in a mining town, so there weren’t many children around. And those who were there, thought he was odd, given that they lived in the back of a mortuary. From breakfast to sundown, Manx played by himself, sledding in his Fantom, building snowmen. He was a lonely child, which he knows Haley can relate to as the only friend she has is Vic, who Manx attempts to degrade in hopes that Haley will tell him who she is. He promises Haley that in Christmasland she will always be loved and will have plenty of friends. Enticed by Manx’s offer, Haley reveals Vic’s name. He rewards Haley for her honesty and then takes a detour.

Vic returns to Bing’s house under the guise that she’s there to give him back his comic book. She invites herself inside, where she finds an abundance of lotion, tissue, and Playboy magazines at various locations throughout the house, which she pretends not to notice. As she takes a look around, she asks Bing about his job. He claims it went well and that he’s working security. Vic says that there’s a rumor going around about him being involved in something bad. Bing starts to panic, but he maintains his composure. Vic agrees to leave, but asks for her comics back first, hoping to buy herself sometime while he retrieves them from his car. Vic begins going room-to-room, eventually finding herself in his basement. Bing catches Vic searching for Haley. "Those who sneak and those why spy, get punished when they try to lie."

Vic pulls out a knife and demands to know where Haley is. Bing claims he never touched her. The phone rings. It’s Manx. He tells her that Vic is the girl he’s been searching for and that he wants to talk to her. Vic grabs the phone from Bing. Manx, who is now youthful once more, tells Vic that he’s been looking for her. He knows of her and her Inscape, same as she knows of him. Manx introduces himself as Vic only knows him as the Wraith. Manx assures Vic that Haley is well taken care of. He’s only interested in Vic and her bridge. Manx arranges a face-to-face meeting between him and Vic for a later date. Bing tells Vic that Haley is better off with Manx than she was with her mother, who was as he put it, dirty. Bing claims he helped her and made her clean. When he doesn’t reveal where she’s at, Vic leaves. He recites "Bing, you thing... what have you done?" over and over.

Flashback to June Partridge consoling teenage Bing after murdering his father, John Partridge. Bing forced his mother down and rapes her. He then kills her with the nail gun, same as his father.

Present day, Vic uses the Shorter Way to take her to Sharon Smith. She finds her body buried in a field, underneath a pile of dirt.

Manx stops by a supermarket to buy a couple dozen pine scented car fresheners. Just outside, a woman gets an Amber Alert for a 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith. She spots Manx’s vehicle, and Haley trapped inside. She extends her hand and Haley pulls her in and attacks her with her new set of razor sharp teeth. Manx returns to the car and drives off.

Vic calls the police to report her discovery of Sharon’s body. Before long, the scene is covered with officers and news reporters. Maggie arrives not long after, just in time to see Vic leave with Linda.

Bing wakes from his sleep to find that Sharon’s body has been discovered. He instantly starts to panic.

Vic and Linda don’t speak on the ride back to Tiffany’s. Chris greets them as they arrive, and Vic heads inside without so much of a word. He follows Vic up to her room. Chris tells Vic that Linda’s worries about her and thinks that she needs to go see a doctor, but Vic insists that she’s fine. Hoping to take Vic’s mind off of recent events, Chris wants the two of them to take a ride up to a bike show in Plaistow. Vic agrees, though not once during the conversation does she look at her father. he assures her that cops will find Haley and catch the person responsible, though Vic knows this isn’t true. Vic locks her door and cries after her father leaves.

Manx arrives at Christmasland with Haley. Daniel Moore welcomes her with a gift; a pair of scissors. They’re for a game the children of Christmasland play called "Scissors for the Drifter."

## Cast

* Olafur Darri Olafsson as Bing Partridge
* Jahkara Smith as Maggie Leigh
* Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Chris McQueen
* Virginia Kull as Linda McQueen
* Zachary Quinto as Charlie Manx
* Chris McKinney as Sheriff Bly
* Ivan Hoey Jr. as Teenage Bing
* Darby Camp as Haley Smith
* Asher Miles Fallica as Daniel Moore

Co-Starring* Larry Mitchell as John Partridge
* Miriam Silverman as June Partridge
* Owen Burke as Steve
* Elizabeth Stanley as Sharon Smith
* Matthew Evegan as Young Bing
* Mam Smith as Middle-Aged Mom
* Sean Michael Rogers as Cashier
* James Wilcox as Bald Man

## Trivia

* House of Sleep is a reference to Bing Partridge's house, where he takes his victims.

## Multimedia

### Videos

'The House of Sleep' Next On Ep. 104 NOS4A2'The Bridge Will Only Open for Me' Sneak Peek Ep. 104 NOS4A2'I Never Touched Her' Talked About Scene Ep. 104 NOS4A2

## References

1. ↑ NOS4A2: New Photos and Synopses For First Four Episodes Released - ComingSoon