Tweetable Takeaway: #WaywardPines is in revolt and falling apart at the seams.
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Airtime: Thursdays on FOX 9/8 central.
By: Jeff Iblings, Contributor
I’m really not sure what to say anymore about WAYWARD PINES. If I weren’t reviewing this show I’d have given up on it several episodes ago. I’m not sure how many sharks a show can jump in 10 episodes, but holy shit this show went from intriguing to infuriating in almost no time flat.
The show was extremely faced paced at the outset, but now I sit back and wonder what it was in such a damn hurry for? Nothing much important has happened in the last 3 episodes. In fact they could’ve just been edited into a single episode. It’s like they plowed through all of the material in the front 5, and left themselves almost nothing to work with on the back end.
Even as a dystopian show this thing really doesn’t get it right. I see what’s coming, and I understand they’ll throw off the shackles and constraints Pilcher has them under, but I’m not sure they’ll get through it without either purging Pilcher’s disciples like Mrs. Fischer or converting them like Pam. When the shit really does hit the fan, I would much prefer an ending where everyone dies and there’s no hope for redemption or a second season.
Maybe I’m being mean, or harsh, and yes I understand how hard it is to make quality television in a broadcast setting, but I can’t just tune in and turn off my brain. It’s disrespectful to viewers to assume they just be entertained without questioning the enormous holes in the plot, or the logistics and realities of the world you’ve built for us to be entertained by. Perhaps it’s the fault of FOX, they have a history of really screwing up shows that seem like sure things, or maybe it’s the curse of Shyamalan? Either way you slice it, this show does not work. I applaud the attempt, but the execution is off.
I’ll just keep flinging bile on the page, so I’m just going to go into recap mode and cool down a bit:
In the aftermath of the escape attempt, a dump truck has plowed a hole in the wall where the “abbies” can creep in after making a quick snack of the two escapees. It doesn’t take long before the monsters crawl under the truck and into Wayward Pines. The minute one sets foot inside of the fence, Ethan smashes it with his truck and finishes it with his shotgun. He then blows out the tires, crushing the other monsters trying to get in, and saves the town.
Out of complete left field comes this group of “Year One” kids who demand justice from Ethan for the terrorist attacks by Kate’s group that’s disrupted the town. They are led by a boy named Jason, who basically smashes into the Sheriff’s office, takes Kate and her friends out of their cells and executes them one by one. Kate is about to taste “Year One” justice, but Ethan shows up just in time to put a bullet in Jason.
Mrs. Fischer is the force pushing the “Year Ones” on, because she also still whispers poison into Ben’s ear. She gets him to speak to a rally of kids from school, and bends him to her ideology that Ethan is too lenient and is bad for Wayward Pines. She’s trying to drive a splinter between the kids and the parents.
Pam is conflicted about her brother. It’s clear she doesn’t go along 100% with his thinking, and soon finds herself giving Theresa an access key card to get into a secret underground area below lot 33. Theresa finds proof that there’s nothing left of society in the video diaries of people who tried to find other survivors, but all died without finding any hope. She shows what she finds to Ethan and Kate.
Ethan assembles the town after play-acting for Pilcher about “reckoning” Kate. Instead he tells the town the truth about what’s outside the walls. Mrs. Fischer tries to deny and talk down Ethan, but Theresa slaps the shit out of her. Pilcher watches his town turn against him from his fortress on high, and turns off all the power to the town, which in turn cuts off its defenses from keeping the monsters out.
More thoughts:
– I don’t know how the hell I’m going to sit through another episode of this …
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For six months out of the year Jeff is holed up in his home with nothing to do but shovel snow, watch television, write, and dream of warmer climates. Twitter: @OfSoundnVision
Keep up with all of Jeff’s Wayward Pines reviews here.
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