Saturday, March 19, 2016

Wayward Pines, Season One, Episode Ten: Cycle


The season finale of Wayward Pines is absolutely action packed.  When we last left the remains of humanity, David had turned off the power leaving the townspeople vulnerable to an invasion of aberrations.  A frantic Ethan manages to get a hold of Pam and she tells him to get the people off the street because six aberrations have already breached the wall and more are amassing outside.  David gets the attention of the panicked citizens and instructs them to head to the underground bunker which Theresa found.  Theresa decides to head to the hospital to get Ben.  Ethan heads to the police station with Kate and her people to gather guns.

At the station, the First Generation which were locked up after killing Howard and the other insurgents are smug about the situation, saying rather childishly that David warned them this would happen.  With the threat of aberrations hanging over the town, the adults don't have time to talk and they grab what they need, including a bomb and take off.  Ethan heads to the hospital and Kate and her people cover the escape of the townspeople with their weapons.

On the mountain, a desperate Pam tries to talk David into turning the power on in the hope of saving the lives of at least some of the townsfolk.  David however is done with the townsfolk saying that next time they won't make the same mistakes and will not awaken a person like Ethan.  David wants to make plans for awakening group C, saying that they will be able to reopen the town when the aberrations migrate south for the winter. Pam keeps pushing David to see reason but he calls security on her.  Not only does security grab Pam, they round up the entire surveillance team.  David decides that as punishment for their defiance, they are to be placed back in stasis.  Pam tries to talk sense to the people but she is knocked unconscious for her trouble.

Some of the next generation arrive at the jail and release those who have been locked up. It seems that the plan is to head to the arc which David created for them as a fail safe because he felt that something like this would happen.  Once they arrive, they find it stocked with food and water and others of the their cohort waiting for them.

Ethan makes it to the hospital in time to save Theresa, Ben, and Amy, from an aberration.  They all make it to the underground bunker and Kate arrives shortly afterwards.  They know that they cannot stay there because the door keeping the aberrations on the outside is flimsy at best.  Kate starts talking to Hope, trying to find out where the tunnel leads but even now, Hope is convinced that David will come and save them because to her, he is pretty much a God. It's Ben who pokes holes in her theory suggesting that it was David who turned off the power otherwise they would have been notified that something had gone wrong.  As horrified as Hope is, she steps out of her comatose state long enough to give everyone the information they need.  The townsfolk start to walk through the tunnel and Hope decides to stay behind in case some of the first generation show up.  She's afraid that they will die if they arrive at the bunker and no one is there to open the door for them.

Everyone makes it to the elevator doors and Ethan and Kate decide to go up first in case David has placed soldiers there to block their escape.  When they get to the top, Ethan and Kate quickly kill a few soldiers and disarm the rest.  A guard uses the distraction to free Pam from stasis.  Ethan takes the elevator back down and leaves Kate behind to confront Pilcher.

Kate finds Pilcher in his offices and tries to convince him to turn on the power. David absolutely refuses, saying that he is going to remembered for what he did and that his way of doing things is the only way.  Clearly, this man is determined never to change.  Pam enters the room and shoots David point blank and I have to admit that I cheered. David needed to go and Pam has joined team good guy.

Ethan conducts the rest of the people into the elevator and they start the trip to the top of the mountain. Suddenly the elevator stops and the people realise that the aberrations are in the elevator shaft.  Ben opens the hatch and climbs on top of the elevator. He notices that alongside the elevator are a set of stairs.  Everyone gets on top of the elevator and starts climbing the stairs.  Ethan asks Theresa to always stay close to Ben and they kiss before he gives her a hand climbing to the top of the elevator.  Ben reaches in to help his dad out because Ethan is the only one left.  Ethan suggests that they work as a team and promises that he will be right behind Ben.  Ben climbs and reaches to the top with everyone else.  When the aberration start to break through the bottom of the elevator, Ethan sets off the bomb. The elevator crashes to the bottom of the shaft and bursts into flames killing Ethan and the rest of the aberrations.  A piece of debris hits Ben, knocking him unconscious.


Kate meets with Pam to request a place to sleep for the townsfolk and some food and water.  Pam immediately agrees to arrange it.  Kate says that she wants to help and jokes about how she always does better when she knows what is going on.  Pam takes Kate to the stasis area to show her the people they still haven't unthawed and Kate is amazed.

Ben awakes in Wayward Pines three years later and Amy is there and acting as his nurse.  Ben is shocked to learn that he has been out for so long.  Amy explains that the people didn't want to wake him because they blame Ethan for what happened to the town. It seems that the first generation has placed all of the adults into stasis. Amy cautions Ben to be careful because they are being listened to.  Ben demands his clothing and leaves the hospital. When he hits the main square, Ben sees a huge statue of Pilcher and the first generation kid that Ethan shot for killing Howard is now the town sheriff.

It's clear that when season two comes we are going to get a complete reboot.  P|art of the problem is that Fox had the actors under contract but let the contracts run out before they aired Wayward Pines.  It seems that though they filmed every episode, clearly they weren't confident that it would be a hit. It's also worth noting that the writers are now on their own their own given that with the end of the first season, they are officially out of source material.  What worries me about this situation is that this resets puts everything back to square one.  The only saving grace is that those who are awake already know that society is gone and that the aberrations are all that is left of humanity. Still, I cannot see how they are going to make this story different than the first.