NOS4A2: 5 takeaways from Season 1, Episode 4

4. Bing Partridge is every bit the monster as Charlie Manx.

It was easy to feel sorry for Bing when we first met him. A lonely janitor, he only found kinship in a high school girl. Bing has never been shown to have other adult friends.

He was an easy target for Manx, especially when we learn of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. This episode shows us what happened to Bing during his childhood. His dad often slapped him around, insulted his intelligence, and generally treated him like garbage.

When Bing lashes out by shooting him in the head with a nailgun, I couldn’t bring myself to feel much sympathy for his abuser. All of this still aligned with the man we’ve seen so far.

Then the episode veers into deeply unsettling territory. Bing’s mother hears the commotion and comes out into the garage. When she sees her husband’s corpse, she tries to comfort her son. Bing misreads the signals and attempts to kiss her. As one would expect, his mom is disturbed by the action and pulls away.

The moment is weird enough as it is, but it gets worse! Bing rapes his mother, and then we hear the tell-tale sound of the nail gun once more.