NBC’s supernatural drama Midnight, Texas returned to kick off season two on October 26, 2018 with an episode titled “Head Games.” It’s nighttime as season two episode one begins and Manfred (Francois Arnaud), clad only in boots and briefs, drags a shovel down the middle of Midnight’s main street. The streets are deserted as he heads to the outskirts and begins digging in the dirt.
Manfred digs a grave and then returns home, standing over Creek (Sarah Ramos), asleep and snug in her bed.
Of course it’s just a bad dream, and apparently Manfred’s had a few of those recently. Creek suggests a change in diet and then breaks the news she’s thinking of moving away from Midnight. She follows that up with the bombshell that she’s applied to college. If she gets in, she wants Manfred to move with her.
After a minute of stunned silence, Manfred finally responds, “Home is where you are.”
Their sweet little moment is interrupted by a nosebleed. Once in the bathroom, Manfred discovers dirt under his nails and is shocked to see his boots are caked with mud.
Elsewhere, there’s a little “sex magic” going on between Fiji (Parisa Fitz-Henley) and Bobo (Dylan Bruce). Filled with sexual bliss, they get all chatty about what they have been up to in the two months since Fiji lost her virginity. The term “frequent flyer miles” is tossed around.
Mr. Snuggly basically coughs up a hairball as a way of expressing his disgust with their sexual shenanigans.
Our first season two glimpse of another loving couple comes next. Olivia (Arielle Kebbel) returns home from a hit, puts away her knife, and returns her wedding ring to its proper place. She then wakes up her slumbering vampire hubby, Lemuel (Peter Mensah), with a kiss.
Also getting their kiss on are Joe (Jason Lewis) and Chuy (Bernardo Saracino). Joe jogs up to Chuy who’s practicing yoga near the road a mile from town. Chuy’s attempting to keep his demons at bay, a super difficult task given they live in Midnight, Texas.
A while later, the gang’s gathered for breakfast when Manfred hears a voice in his head commanding him to pick up the knife. Only the arrival of an offer of a fresh cup of coffee keeps him from actually doing as instructed.
Olivia’s the late arrival at breakfast and she’s the bearer of what might be bad news. They gather around as she shows them the new website created by the owners of the hotel. They’ve renamed the place Crystal Desert Hotel & Spa, and in a really bizarre twist they’re already booked up for the next month.
Bobo doesn’t find this as suspicious as Olivia. She’s figured out they’re booked solid because of healer Kai who has a huge following. Olivia thinks he’s a fraud right off the bat, based mostly on the fact he’s wearing Lululemon in the promotional photo on the website.
As they talk, Creek rests her hand on Manfred’s shoulder. He has a vision of his dream and digging the grave. Olivia notices Manfred looking a little off and he claims it’s because he’s not sleeping well.
Manfred tries to put his friends’ minds at ease about the hotel. He reveals it’s haunted and thinks it’ll probably be out of business in a couple of months. Olivia remains suspicious about the new owners and declares they’re all going to attend the grand opening. (No one would dare argue with Olivia.)
Manfred’s heads out alone, driving his van to the middle of nowhere. He looks up his symptoms online and texts Creek he’s got a reading in Dallas and won’t be home that night. He then duct tapes his phone to his bare chest to track whatever he does while he’s sleeping.
Olivia returns home, exhausted, and Lemuel’s already drawn her a bath and has a drink ready. It’s all part of their psychic connection that came from her drinking his blood. Olivia’s ecstatic Lemuel knows her every want and need before she has to express it. (Such a good vampire hubby!)
Manfred startles himself awake and discovers his phone’s recorded he walked seven miles to Blanco Canyon while he was asleep. He drives the distance and finds that he dug eight graves. His grandmother’s ghost shows up, admits she was resting in peace, drinking wine, relaxing, and then she heard about his nighttime excursions.
Manfred confesses he’s been having urges. “Let’s just say I shouldn’t mix loved ones and sharp objects,” he says. Grandma suggests he tell his friends, but he can’t or he’ll lose their trust. She knows it’s all connected to what she calls, much to Manfred’s embarrassment, his demon gang bang. She’s proud of her grandson for swallowing six demons, but Manfred would rather they never talk about it again.
Grandma wonders if there might still be a demon inside him, so they head to a church. He dips his hands in the Holy Water and nothing happens. He’s not possessed but he’s also no closer to knowing what’s going on.
Manfred makes it back to town in time for the hotel’s grand opening. None of the gang are happy about hipsters invading their town but they attempt to keep open minds (except for Olivia).
And now it’s time to welcome two of the new key characters of season two. Patience (Jaime Ray Newman) introduces herself as co-owner with her husband, Kai. Olivia asks the big question: why are they in Midnight, Texas? It turns out they’ve chosen it as a spiritual center to call home after spending years on the road.
Manfred’s still hearing the voices as Rev (Yul Vazquez) approaches him at the party. Unable to control himself, Manfred grabs Rev and plunges his head under the water in the lobby pool, killing him.
Of course, that didn’t happen and Manfred beats a hasty retreat from the hotel before Kai (Nestor Carbonell) arrives to walk on water. Kai’s introduction to the hipsters and townies is interrupted by a man in a wheelchair who asks the healer to make him walk. Kai commands the man to enter the pool without his wheelchair, and he stumbles/falls into the water. Kai holds him and then breathes in the man’s exhale. The man rises to his feet, healed!
Olivia is skeptical, but Rev appears impressed.
Manfred and his dead grandma go through her books to find out what’s wrong with him. She doesn’t trust him around Creek since night’s about to fall. Manfred concedes he’s probably not to be trusted.
Over at the saloon, Bobo and Joe are having a good time bartending. Lemuel handles the bouncer duties, protecting the female customers. Fiji arrives and she’s impressed with Bobo’s hard work. “I still can’t believe you took a watering hole for Nazis and turned it into Cheers,” admits Fiji.
Fiji surprises Bobo with the key to her place and they kiss to celebrate.
Olivia and Chuy share a table and drink beer. She’s convinced Kai’s a con man, but Chuy thinks if he is then he might be a harmless one.
Lemuel tosses out a guy who’s acting inappropriately, but the drunk quickly returns. He bumps into Joe and gets rude, and then flashes his red demon eyes. Lemuel escorts him outside again.
Manfred’s also at the bar drinking dozens of shots. He calls 911 on himself, reporting a naked drunk guy outside the saloon.
The drunk naked guy (Manfred) is tossed in jail, and it’s clear Manfred planned this so that he’d be behind bars and unable to murder any of his friends. Grandma joins him in his cell, complimenting him on his plan. He falls asleep in her lap.
The next morning, he wakes up and he’s in bed. His hands are bloody and there’s also blood on the pillow and sheets. He calls out for Creek, but she doesn’t respond.
He heads to the diner and Creek’s alive and well and serving coffee. He confesses he spent the night in jail because of Bobo’s two-for-one Tuesdays. However, Creek isn’t fooled and knows there’s something going on. He claims there’s not, but she’s not buying it.
As Creek questions him, Manfred hears the voices and spots a cop at the counter. Manfred focuses on the cop’s gun and clenches his fist. He comes to and can’t concentrate, asking Creek if they can finish their talk later.
Olivia’s doing reconnaissance on the hotel. She’s supposed to be relaxing with crystals on her body but instead wanders the halls searching for clues. She hears Kai and follows him to a room where she sees he’s talking to a painting of a woman wearing a veil.
Manfred returns to his van and discovers a clue in a book that was owned by his Uncle Barnie. Barnie’s ghost arrives to explain that possession comes at a cost and the black fluid Manfred’s experiencing is demon residue. If it’s not removed, it’ll take over his body. Once it reaches the brain, hallucinations occur. Then, he’ll lose his mind. Barnie tells his nephew to kill himself before he can kill someone else. (Barnie shot himself to stop from losing his mind.
Bobo and Fiji return to the pawn shop and are about to add more frequent flyer miles when Bobo notices a broken window. They check and the money’s still in the safe. He doesn’t know what was stolen.
Ahhh, but grandma does. Manfred left jail, broke into the pawn shop, stole a trunk, and brought it back to his place. Manfred opens the trunks and it’s loaded with weapons. Now truly concerned he’ll do something horrible, he tells his grandmother it’s time to confess what’s happening to his friends.
Oops, it turns out grandma is not actually grandma. Manfred figures that out when grandma suggests he go ahead and kill his friends, starting with Creek. Manfred also figures out a ghost shouldn’t be able to enter his house and he’s been hallucinating this whole time.
Manfred’s veins darken and his neck cracks and bends to an unusual side angle.
Outside the bar, the demon attacks Joe while he’s taking out the trash. A fist fight breaks out and Joe’s momentarily got the upper hand. He loses the advantage when the demon’s buddies arrive to join the fray. Fortunately, a handsome stranger in a cowboy hat arrives to fight on Joe’s side.
Joe rips the first demon’s heart out and then focuses on the remaining two. The cowboy compliments Joe on his ‘work’ and the fight continues. While fists are flying, the cowboy introduces himself as Walker (Josh Kelly), a demon hunter. He’s human but he’s got a really cool weapon that functions the same as Joe’s angel hand. Walker rips out one demon’s heart and Joe takes out the third demon.
They hold the removed demon hearts in their hands and shake with the ones that aren’t being used to hold aloft internal organs.
Back at Manfred’s place, Creek has arrived home and finds the black oily tissues in the trash can. She snaps a photo and texts it to Fiji. She’s about to leave the house when Manfred stops her. He won’t allow her to leave and now he has the black oily stuff in his teeth. He admits all he wants to do is gut her, and he proves the point by thrusting a large knife her direction.
Manfred taunts Creek and then raises the knife, ready to stab her. She tases him and then flees before he can get back on his feet.
Meanwhile, Fiji and Bobo are doing inventory at the pawn shop to figure out what was stolen. Fiji receives Creek’s text and immediately recognizes the substance.
By the time Bobo and Fiji arrive, Creek and Manfred are gone.
Manfred somehow convinces the always skeptical Olivia to drive with him to find Creek. He lies and says they had a fight and he believes she’s hitched a ride to Blanco Canyon. Olivia doesn’t believe Creek would do that. What Olivia doesn’t realize is Creek is tied up in the trunk of the car.
They arrive at Blanco Canyon and Olivia remains on edge. They’re out in the middle of nowhere and there’s no reason Creek would have hitched a ride at night to this desolate place. Manfred pretends to hear something and as he walks away the veins in his neck darken.
Olivia has, wisely, withdrawn her knife and is ready to attack. Manfred just smiles at her threats.
Olivia’s no match for a possessed Manfred, and he knocks her out and kicks her body into one of his freshly dug graves. He returns to the car to retrieve Creek, but she’s managed to escape. Creek hits him repeatedly with the tire iron and then tries to drive off, but Manfred’s got the keys.
Manfred, who was only pretending to be injured, holds Creek down, strangling her. She puts up a fight but she’s losing when Lemuel arrives. Lemuel holds onto Manfred and Manfred falls to the ground, unconscious, while Lemuel spits out what he absorbed from the touch.
The psychic connection allowed Lemuel to feel that Olivia was in trouble. Both Creek and Olivia survive, thanks to Lemuel.
Returning to town, Manfred’s chained to a chair while Fiji tries a spell. Unfortunately, it doesn’t free Manfred from the demon. Fiji’s right that the black substance is demon residue but she’s out of ideas on how to get rid of Manfred’s demon.
They’re running out of time. Manfred’s nose, eyes, and ears are dripping the black fluid, but Creek’s still able to connect with Manfred somewhere deep down inside. He begs his friends to kill him, but they refuse.
Kai and Patience arrive, invited by Rev. Rev doesn’t have any doubts about Kai and sensed the energy at the hotel the second he entered the place. Rev wants them all to have open minds, and Kai describes Manfred as “afflicted.” The healer believes that without his help, Kai will die.
They agree to allow Kai to help and he places his hand on Manfred’s head. “Be at peace. Be at peace, brother,” says Kai in a calm, soothing voice. Manfred immediately calms down. Suddenly the black fluid gushes from his mouth like a mud volcano. After the liquid stops flowing, Kai places his lips on Manfred’s and sucks the demon from his body.
Manfred’s back to normal and he thanks Kai for saving his life – and the lives of their friends. Kai and his wife say they’re happy to be part of Midnight.
Manfred apologizes for lying to his friends and betraying their trust. He didn’t want to tell them what he was going through because he didn’t want to lose what he tried so hard to gain. Joe and Chuy assure him he wasn’t himself and doesn’t need to apologize. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” replies Manfred.
Fiji reminds Manfred he only suffered through this because it was a side effect of saving them from Colconnar. She asks that if it happens again, he come to them for help.
Creek left during the apology and Manfred finds her packing her clothes. She’s decided she’s going to Austin, even if she doesn’t get into college. Manfred joins her in packing, acting as though nothing’s wrong and he’s ready to move with her.
Creek stops him, confessing she’s reached her limit and can’t take any more. She doesn’t want to be with him. Manfred promises he’s fine and begs her to believe he’d never hurt her. “I’ve witnessed too much violence and I’ve had to much fear,” says Creek. She’s determined to leave Midnight alone, and if he loves her he’ll let her go.
The next morning Manfred wakes up in bed, alone.
Bobo tries out the house key Fiji gave him, and they look incredibly in love. They declare themselves soul mates and kiss before he carries Fiji over the threshold. She welcomes him home. As they kiss again, the leaves fall off her plants.
Back at the hotel, Kai stands in front of the painting of the veiled woman and then slides it aside. The severed head of a demon is hidden in the compartment behind the painting, and Kai promises the demon he’ll avenge him.
