S01.E05: The Truth

[janie jones]

Beverly had a role, one assumes.  They aren't just interested in repopulation, but in having the ideal little society.  

 

And the car crash being a false memory is an interesting idea.  Arguing for it: they were not able to find any traces of Ethan's DNA in the car he was supposedly in that crashed (and killed his partner).

 

Arguing against it: Pope cutting oil line in Theresa's car.  If they were going to snatch her and Ben and implant a false memory, why the subterfuge of the "oil leak" causing Pope to stop them (and giving him the chance to create an actual oil leak)?

And also we saw Ethan's accident.

 

If people are taken for having a specific skill set, then 1) why aren't those skills being utilized?  Why wasn't Beverly teaching a computer class at the high school, for example?  and 2) Why are they so quick to reckon people?  What happens if all the tech people you froze turn out to be rabble rousers?

 

College? They would have computers full of all the best professors and classes to show the teens. Heck, with cyber schools we're already going down that path. (Does handsyhypno lady teach ALL the classes in the school?) Maybe the kids are hyper-IQ types (explains the son's bullied outsider vibe) who can take the experiment to the next level.

They have exclusively (apparently) wooden toys and no phones.  I seriously doubt they have computers.  Or else the teacher would have been giving a PowerPoint instead of a slide show.  What's more, I don't think they can have computers.  Computers become dated too quickly.  If they had computers from 1999, the 2014 (and onward) people would be irritated, at least, and if they had 2014 computers, the 1999 people would notice that the school had computers from the future.  Annnnd, I suspect Teresa's boss/coworker was taken from even earlier, so there could be a lot of people in town who aren't even from a time where computers are an everyday thing.

 

It gets exhausting hearing the same time travel theory 20 times when the show is telling us point blank that it is cryogenics/hibernation. Either accept it or don't, but then acting unsatisfied later when the truth remains the truth and blaming it on M. Night Shymalan is silly to me.

The time travel and hibernation aren't mutually exclusive.  I accept the hibernation, but that doesn't mean I don't think time travel is also involved, though I'm willing to be proven wrong.

 

Is it possible that spoiler tags aren't showing up for some people?  I was all over this thread last night and this morning, but I didn't see anything that was untagged

[SoothingDave]

Regarding technology, The phones in the sheriff's office were rotary. Not sure if we have seen any push button phones. Certainly no cell or smart phones.

[Texasmom1970]

Maybe I too skeptical to take things at face value, but I just don't buy the breakdown of civilization and we are in the future crap. There are just too many hinky things going on.

And the scene where Pilcher was trying to convince Ethan to come in the helicopter with him was odd. It totally reminded me of the scene from the original "Total Recall" movie where the doctor is trying to get Quaid to take the pill.

Edited June 13, 2015 by Texasmom1970

[janie jones]

People's phones keep getting "lost" following their accidents.

[ottoDbusdriver]

People's phones keep getting "lost" following their accidents.

 

Yeah, Big Bill at the realty office said that cone-mover Wayne Johnson lost everything, including his phone in the accident.  Which was something really odd to say.

[Guest]

Between the episode being titled The Truth and the painfully dramatic exposition by the teacher paired with both Ethan and Theresa discovering evidence of all the things she was claiming, in intercut scenes, with the 'pinnacle of suspense' score...

 

I think it's a wormhole.

[Tabasco Cat]

I liked the format where they kept switching between Ethan. Theresa, and Ben's points of view. I think Ben is eventually going to figure big in whatever happens, but to be honest the kid's not a great actor so I almost hope I'm wrong there. As for the kids as characters... you know, kids are smart. A lot smarter than they are given credit for a lot of the time. If I was in that orientation room I would have been all, "It's 4028 but all I see are these el-cheapo plastic chairs, a 1970s slide projector and a bunch of candle holders that look like the first graders made them for their Christmas party".

 

It really bites that we have to wait 2 weeks for the next episode.

 

edit: 4028 not 2048 lol

Edited June 13, 2015 by Tabasco Cat

[queenanne]

If I was in that orientation room I would have been all, "It's 2048 but all I see are these el-cheapo plastic chairs, a 1970s slide projector and a bunch of candle holders that look like the first graders made them for their Christmas party".

 

It does give off a very large whiff of "Dharma Initiative Hatch", doesn't it?  To some extent I think this is just something that is going to continue to hang out there frustrating people, because clearly FOX has not passed out an unlimited budget from which the set designers can conjure "Future Tech-Fakery".  Plus being limited by whatever the author wrote in his original source material.  

 

I probably also wouldn't necessarily have done the partial-Kidz Kult, but if you're going to drag out a storyline so that the teens have something to do, Animal Farming it buys you some extra time while other Kidz figure it out.  Plus, secret societies are fun.  (Though they should probably have Son fall for a non-insider to complicate things, I'm assuming the girlfriend he's already got is one of the 111.)

 

I knew Melissa Leo was a tremendous actress, I didn't know she could be this creepazoid, though.  Nurse Pam makes my blood run cold.  Anyone else think they're powdering her up to be extra-pale and wondering if maybe this is a clue?  I paused just now on a frame where I feel like they forgot to powder under her eyes, and it looks like she's had a Kabuki mask slapped on.

 

Also I want to know what Ethan's boss knows, and there has to be something as yet undefined creepy about the "FBI receptionist", since even if she's credited to an actress we don't know as having a role in Wayward Pines, doubtful she's manning an FBI switchboard in 4,028 AD.

[Guest]

I don't know Melissa Leo from anything else but I cringe when she comes on screen because she is made up to look like she got hit by a truck and left for dead, or at least I assume it's makeup.  She just looks supremely unwell.  

 

I don't mind the 2014-era furniture because the story is about how they built this ark in our generation and unwrapped it all 2000 years later.  It wouldn't make sense for them to have later era furniture and appliances.  

[Jel]

 Even if we ignored crazy hypno teacher, what Ethan saw with his own eyes of the long destroyed Boise, Idaho should be simple enough to back up the truth we were given.

Ironically, I think this is the kind of thing that is messing me up. I know, for example, that sites that are 2000 years old have to be excavated, they aren't just sitting out there for the eye to see. In that environment, they'd look like a hill covered with plant life after 2000 years.  Nevermind the impossibility of finding a two thousand year old rusty steel sign just lying there in that moist, lush forested environment.

 

I also know that no species "devolves"; and that evolution, by means of natural selection, takes time, lots and lots of time. Even "cavemen", the dudes who lived 25,000 years ago, who were hunting wooly mammoth and trying to avoid sabre toothed tigers were homo sapiens sapiens, the same species we are today. I am assuming the author and tv producers know these things to be true as well. So either they don't, in which case, i am disappointed, or they do, and they will explain this in future episodes.

 

I have been operating under the assumption that they do know these things, and so more truth and twists await. But, that may be a faulty assumption on my part

 

(If you disagree with what I know to be true you will have to take it up with my archaeology prof -- he always seemed a lil sketchy anyway ;)

[JenE4]

(Moved to the Theories thread.)

Edited June 13, 2015 by JenE4

[KDeFlane]

Regarding technology, The phones in the sheriff's office were rotary. Not sure if we have seen any push button phones. Certainly no cell or smart phones.

 

Ethan used the push-button phone from behind the bar at the Biergarten.  I'm pretty sure the other call he made from the sheriff's conference room was also push-button.  Maybe only Arlene got stuck with the rotary dial at the reception desk.  I'm not sure about the wall phone in The Excellent Bean.  (Sorry, drifting outside the episode now, but on the subject of phones, I think all of the ringers are bells rather than electronic ringtones, too.)

[riverheightsnancy]

I'm thinking there wasno Chris; that it is a pure propaganda story to get the kids to not tell the grown-ups ("See? Adults will not be able to Handle The Truth and kill everyone. Including YOU!")

Good point.  I was actually thinking about this yesterday. In real life, if I was told today-as a resident of the Pines, that the world and any future that I was hoping for did not exist, what would I really feel? So, all the places and things I had been working towards (e.g., to visit Paris, travel, all kinds of goals) were merely a memory of something that no longer existed, I would be devastated and probably quite depressed as well. Maybe I would want to kill myself or give up. There might be no reason to "go on" per se. If I was there by myself, I would never see anyone that I loved ever again, they were already long gone. It could be 100% isolating and horrifying. It is just like when we plop anyone from today, onto a desert island with nothing (think Castaway), or the current reality show The Island. It is hard for people who have become accustomed to certain luxuries of modern life to really step back "in time" into an environment that has all of that taken away. When the people on The Island talk, it is often about getting back to what they are missing (the food, technology, the people). It is like we cannot erase from our minds what we know has already been. Our thoughts and memories are a big impediment to acceptance (I often see this with people who get a diagnosis of something that requires massive behavioral change. they keep going back to, "I used to be able to do this back then.." )

 

Most of the Wayward Pines adults do not know that ALL of that is gone already. I think that if the adults are told about what is happening, a percentage will not take it well, and the rest would adapt or die. I wish Pilcher would give them more credit OR select more carefully. Like others have said previously, certain people might handle this better than others, the preppers, survialists. I hope the show lets us in on the selection process. If there is, as Pilcher claimed, a DNA adaptation, perhaps he has discovered those who don't have this epigenetic weakness (as it were) and they were the ones selected? Perhaps that population is REALLY small, hence the reason they have frozen so few people. These people are selected so that the abberration doesn't keep happening. I really hope they explain how they got to this point in a bit more detail, otherwise it will feel like Lost or other shows that didn't explain how they got from point A to point Z well enough. Not that it is necessarily that it is disappointing that it didn't jive with what I think should happen, it just needs to be fleshed out and thought through enough and supported for what the show says is happening. 

[photo fox]

• Is it possible that spoiler tags aren't showing up for some people?  I was all over this thread last night and this morning, but I didn't see anything that was untagged.

That's probably because my fellow mods kindly hid a bunch of stuff for me to deal with later.

Okay, folks, here's the deal. I've spent a whole lot of time on a beautiful weekend morning cleaning up this thread. So apologies in advance if I sound a little cranky. Here are the basic points:

 

• Any discussion about the books goes in the "Book vs. Show" topic.  Not only to avoid spoilers, but also to avoid being less-than-interesting for people who haven't read the books (which is apparently a lot of people).
• Previews are not spoilers, because they have aired.  But any and all interviews about things that haven't happened yet on teevee are indeed spoilers, and need to be tagged appropriately.  And since discussion in episode topics should be about that episode, and anything that hasn't aired yet by definition didn't happen in this episode, it doesn't belong in here anyway.
• Don't tell your neighbors how to post, or what they're allowed to post, or what the rules are concerning spoilers.  I just deleted a dozen or more posts that were basically people going back and forth arguing about whether info from the books are spoilers or not.
• If you see a problem post, use the report function.  Don't address the mods in the thread, simply because that's not a guarantee that it will be dealt with or even seen in a timely manner.  Using the report function sends your report to an area where it can be seen by ALL mods, and the post can be hidden quickly by any mod, and dealt with by me the next time I'm on the site.

 

Y'all may not realize, but the mods on PTV are volunteers; we're just regular people like you who value the site and want to help keep it a great place to visit. Since the government/science/extraterrestrials have not seen fit to gift me with a beautiful free home and a great well-paying job that requires very little of my time, I'm not always on the site when things start to happen.  And even if I am on the site, I have other forums that I mod as well.  So, please, please, use the report function.  It's in your best interests, as well as mine.

[Dowel Jones]

Killing a guy for spraypaint is extreme

 

It occurs to me that, if time travel/cryogenics is involved here, people who are executed could possibly be brought back again, sort of a reverse-Terminator process, where they go back further in time and pick up the intended for a return trip.  That said, the explanations would be complex, but then again, the townspeople seem to be easily buffaloed.  I myself would get just a little tired of repeated traffic accidents, though. 

 

Not sure if we have seen any push button phones.

 

Wayne's house had an original push button phone in one scene, one of those giant base phones that weighed about five pounds.

[meep.meep]

Nothing has been explained about who is listening, or why. Why do they even need the adults? Especially the ones like Beverly or Peter who don't have children in Wayward Pines.

[grandemocha]

 

Why do they even need the adults? Especially the ones like Beverly or Peter who don't have children in Wayward Pines.

.Because you can't have children by themselves. Children need to be taken care of by adults. A town full of kids of various ages would never work. Who would tell them when to go to sleep? Cook for them? Nurture them?

 

Obviously, the idea behind adults like Peter and Beverley is that they'll eventually marry and have children of their own. Like Bill Evans, remember? Ethan knew him as unmarried and childless, but at some point he married that one lady and they had a baby. But Beverley was too depressed by being separated from her daughter and Peter seemed to be sad and start tearing up at that picture of his kids.

Edited June 13, 2015 by grandemocha

[TexasChic]

Also, they need the adults to rebuild society so the "1st generation" will survive.

As for 2000 years being too short of a time for humans to devolve into abbies, maybe some sort of futuristic weapons helped things along. For instance, maybe there was a war and the use of future weapons caused mutations.

On another note, I wonder why the teacher had to use hypnosis on the Burke kid (sorry, forgot his name) before she could tell him the truth? Was it just to get him in the properly calm mode to accept what she was saying?

Edited June 13, 2015 by TexasChic

[meep.meep]

None of these kids need someone watching over them - they are teenagers. If they'd been born in the 1800s they would have been adults. If they were Jewish, they would be adults. And the adults aren't rebuilding civilization - they are stuck in some pretense that nothing has changed. If I was looking for kids to survive in a new world, I might select kids with some survival skills.

So they haven't come close to the Truth. Who is listening and why? Why would anyone bother creating a generic 21st century small American town, bring in a bunch of people, and deliberately not tell them why they are there?

[grandemocha]

 

None of these kids need someone watching over them - they are teenagers.

Firmly disagree. Most teenagers don't know shit when it comes to taking care of themselves in a successful manner. Your examples don't apply to this particular situation. It doesn't matter that teens or kids born in the 1800s would have been fine on their own, since these kids are from the 1980s-2014, in all likelihood they are used to a spoiled and coddled life with little hard manual labor and no major upsets. They need adults to survive.

 

Who would be taking care of the elementary aged kids we've seen glimpses of? Teens like Ben or his little girlfriend? Nope. Not a chance. The adults like Ethan or even crazy teacher serve a purpose. Teens need some kind of authority figure/parent they can look to for rules, comfort, and authority.

 

 

And the adults aren't rebuilding civilization

Just using context clues, I can guess that some time ago, some adults have had to have built the town we currently see in the episodes. Adult men and women would be far more useful for hard construction versus teens.

Edited June 13, 2015 by grandemocha

[Macgyver1968]

One thing I was curious about...why is the house at 604 1st street so delapidated? Supposedly this community is only 14 years old, why is there a house that shows 50 + years of wear?  It's not like it could be an original building, it would long be dust in 2000 years.  Any opinions?

Edited June 14, 2015 by Macgyver1968

[LittleIggy]

Do they really expect us to believe that the species change from humans to Abbies took place in 80 years (2015-95)? That's not how evolution works. And how did they take over the world?

I'm still wondering why they abducted a traffic cone guy! :-D

[TexasChic]

2095 is the last trace they've found of human civilization. They are currently in 4028.

Edited June 14, 2015 by TexasChic

[ottoDbusdriver]

Just using context clues, I can guess that some time ago, some adults have had to have built the town we currently see in the episodes. Adult men and women would be far more useful for hard construction versus teens.

 

Plus someone had to build the wall fairly recently too.

 

I'm still wondering why they abducted a traffic cone guy! :-D

 

No kidding.  Plus, Arlene was previously a school bus driver.

[SoothingDave]

The cemetery in the first episode was also eerily dilapidated.

[Accidental Martyr]

I don't know Melissa Leo from anything else but I cringe when she comes on screen because she is made up to look like she got hit by a truck and left for dead, or at least I assume it's makeup.  She just looks supremely unwell.  

 

Check out Frozen River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_river

[jhlipton]

Nothing has been explained about who is listening, or why. Why do they even need the adults? Especially the ones like Beverly or Peter who don't have children in Wayward Pines.

 

If they need children, why not take Beverly's and Peter's?  And I still don't get why a town of 200 to 500 people needs a full-time bar.  

 

The town we saw on the map and th town we saw from the air doesn't have any resources other than wood.  When people move into a forest, the first thing they do is burn part of it down so they have a place to farm.  But there are no farmers, or any rural types in SP, only suburban gentrified folk.  

 

So if WP isn't raising its own food, where has the food been coming from for 14 years?  is it frozen, too? (Some food just doesn't freeze well.)  And silos are good for a year or two at best, I think.  So many things just don't make sense!

[SlackerInc]

Responsing in the Theories thread.

[riverheightsnancy]

 

So if WP isn't raising its own food, where has the food been coming from for 14 years?  is it frozen, too? (Some food just doesn't freeze well.)  And silos are good for a year or two at best, I think.  So many things just don't make sense!

Soylent green folks, soylent green. ;)

[SunnyBeBe]

Why would the Abbies have no fear of the helicopter?  Even primitive creatures would be hesitant to attack a large, loud, monster.  Would't they lurk from the trees to sneak up on it, if they thought it was a food source, rather than running toward it that way?  Odd. 

[jhlipton]

Why would the Abbies have no fear of the helicopter?  Even primitive creatures would be hesitant to attack a large, loud, monster.  Would't they lurk from the trees to sneak up on it, if they thought it was a food source, rather than running toward it that way?  Odd. 

 

Because they're the "apex predator", of course!  And apex predators always wait until the big silver bird is in the air before running after it into a clearing where they can be shot and gesticulating wildly.  Just look at lions and sharks -- they do the same thing!

[janie jones]

Maybe just because the abbies act like that doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.  Maybe they know exactly what a helicopter is.

[Guest]

I too have a problem with the abbies being portrayed as basically wild animals.  They run around naked so they must have no ability to use tools.  They howl so they must have lost the ability to use language.  They seem to have one mode-- attack.  

 

I think in reality future humans are more likely to be like the ones seen in Wall-E.  

[Dowel Jones]

Because they're the "apex predator", of course!

 

That's it!  I don't know why I didn't see that before.  Their ability to chase down and kill large deer makes them  (wait for it.....)  Deer Abbies.

[jhlipton]

That explains the weird gestures hypno-teach was using -- she was guiding the helicopter by remote control.  Yes, the choppers are sisters! to the abbies -- they are Hand Landers!

[dlr]

Lots of great comments and thought in this thread. I agree that 'The Truth' is not really the truth - I would suspect that Dr Jenkins created the Abbies (maybe by mistake) during genetic experiments (his pine tree comments show that he is into genetics) maybe around year 2000. They were maybe under control for sometime, but eventually got loose. But there are still lots of questions ...

 

But to add something else,

 

(1) one thing that still bugs me is Beverly's comment in the first episode to Ethan - along the lines of 'I knew you liked it that way' and the fact that the burger was done faster than it should have been. To me, this means that she either (a) knew he would be hungry and liked burgers and therefore started cooking it before he came in, or (b) this is some type of time travel/repeated scene that has happened before.

 

(2) I don't believe that they are in the year 4098 or whatever. There is nothing around, either in the environment that Ethan discovers 'outside' or in the town, or in the town or in the warehouse area that shows any tech beyond 2015. A quarter supposedly from 2096 that looks basically the same as one today, try again!

 

(3) Maybe I missed it, but at the end of Episode 4 and beginning of 5, does it not show Ethan laying down being observed by an Abby? Why wouldn't it attack? And since Ethan can climb out of WP, certainly the Abbies could climb down into it. So maybe I will contradicting myself from before, and think that the Abbies are actors and that even the area around WP is staged. The purpose being???

 

(4) It seems like it must be some type of government experiment or test...

[grandemocha]

I don't believe that they are in the year 4098 or whatever. There is nothing around, either in the environment that Ethan discovers 'outside' or in the town, or in the town or in the warehouse area that shows any tech beyond 2015. A quarter supposedly from 2096 that looks basically the same as one today, try again!

 

Why would you expect future tech to be in WP if they have been in hibernation for a long long time? And some kind of disaster clearly destroyed the outside world..so where would you expect the citizens to get cool future gadgets from in the outside world? They've all been asleep/frozen/hibernating for centuries...meaning the tech they had when they hibernated at that time (2000s) is what we see now. Pilcher has a helicopter, I assume that at one time in the past, he and whoever works for him might have quickly flown out of WP, seen the rest of the world, and maybe grabbed those old 2095 quarters.

 

There's clearly nothing left. Ethan saw it with his own two eyes..doesn't get more believable than that. The ruins, the rusted and destroyed Boise sign, collapsed buildings..

 

Alot of your questions have been answered in the actual show.

 

 

one thing that still bugs me is Beverly's comment in the first episode to Ethan - along the lines of 'I knew you liked it that way' and the fact that the burger was done faster than it should have been.

She said "I've always believed you" ..didn't have anything to do with the burger. That line could mean they had met before, but that doesn't immediately connect to time travel.

 

 

So maybe I will contradicting myself from before, and think that the Abbies are actors and that even the area around WP is staged. The purpose being???

....Actors that furiously devour a rotting deer carcass and eat its entrails? That somehow drag the body of a full grown man away in 30 seconds?

 

And since Ethan can climb out of WP, certainly the Abbies could climb down into it.

Again, explanation given in the show. Snipers were stationed in the woods with rifles and other guns shooting outward when Ethan saw them..very easy to presume they were shooting any abbies who got too close. Along with the huge as hell electrified fence.

Edited June 15, 2015 by grandemocha

[iMonrey]

 

I still have plenty of issues with the show, like why haven't they recruited doctors or other essential professionals, like scientists? They wouldn't need a college, per se, if they had trained professionals who could teach the young in an apprentice type program. But if you are starting out with no doctors, and only one sadistic nurse, you are pretty much screwed. The so called other doctors in the hospital didn't actually exist, am I correct, or why else did Pam have to stitch up her own nose?

 

Again, just speculation, but it seems to me that if mankind is to be "saved" then Pilcher (or whoever) would have to select specific people who do not have whatever mutated gene that  eventually devolves into "abbies." Otherwise, they aren't really "saving" anyone, they're just delaying the inevitable for a select group of people. These people would also breed and over time devolve into abbies themselves if it's just some natural process for mankind. There must be a reason why these people were chosen instead of, as you suggest, professionals whose skills would ultimately service such a community better. They must have been screened somehow and found to be "pure."

 

 

Was Pam younger when she met Peter, or was the woman Peter met in the bar younger?  He said he went to bed with Denise, and he woke up in a different hotel room with a woman, and her name wasn't Denise and she was 20 years older, or something like that.

 

He never said how much older she looked, he just said she looked "older." There's nothing to indicate she went from looking like a 20-year old to a 60 year old or anything like that. "Older" could signify five or ten years.

[dlr]

Why would you expect future tech to be in WP if they have been in hibernation for a long long time? And some kind of disaster clearly destroyed the outside world..so where would you expect the citizens to get cool future gadgets from in the outside world? They've all been asleep/frozen/hibernating for centuries...meaning the tech they had when they hibernated at that time (2000s) is what we see now. 

 

Where does this hibernation tech come from and from what year? It doesn't exist now. If its from some point in the future between now and 4096 then there would be some tech advancements that would have occured to that point and we just don't see this anywhere in the show. I suppose that maybe once the Abbies started out, there was a push to create WP and generate hibernation tech in isolation from the world?

 

There's clearly nothing left. Ethan saw it with his own two eyes..doesn't get more believable than that. The ruins, the rusted and destroyed Boise sign, collapsed buildings..

Alot of your questions have been answered in the actual show.

 

 

I guess, but it could be a setup still? Maybe the map is bogus and he sees a staged area? They say they are in Idaho, but it might not be.

 

She said "I've always believed you" ..didn't have anything to do with the burger. That line could mean they had met before, but that doesn't immediately connect to time travel.

Right, that is the correct quote. The burger is a separate thing, but why is it ready so fast? And that line bothers me. 

 

....Actors that furiously devour a rotting deer carcass and eat its entrails? That somehow drag the body of a full grown man away in 30 seconds? Again, explanation given in the show. Snipers were stationed in the woods with rifles and other guns shooting outward when Ethan saw them..very easy to presume they were shooting any abbies who got too close. Along with the huge as hell electrified fence.

 

Well, you got me on these. But it does seem that the Abbies react in packs (e.g. they try to attack the heli), and if they attacked WP in numbers they would not be stopped. 

 

AND, if the whole point is survival of the human race against them, this is not how it would be done, not if they also have a warehouse for supplies, etc. Would the camp not be more fully armed/protected? The point of WP is not just for protection from the Abbies, its real purpose is something else, imho.

 

[janie jones]

Again, just speculation, but it seems to me that if mankind is to be "saved" then Pilcher (or whoever) would have to select specific people who do not have whatever mutated gene that  eventually devolves into "abbies." Otherwise, they aren't really "saving" anyone, they're just delaying the inevitable for a select group of people. These people would also breed and over time devolve into abbies themselves if it's just some natural process for mankind. There must be a reason why these people were chosen instead of, as you suggest, professionals whose skills would ultimately service such a community better. They must have been screened somehow and found to be "pure."

But still, Pam is the only medical health professional who didn't have the gene?  Looking for people who don't have the gene, and looking for people with a certain skill set don't have to be mutually exclusive.

 

 

 

Right, that is the correct quote. The burger is a separate thing, but why is it ready so fast? And that line bothers me.

Did Ethan comment on it being made fast?  (I vaguely remember him saying something about it.)  If not, how do we know it was made fast, and it wasn't just the magic of television?

[ottoDbusdriver]

Did Ethan comment on it being made fast?  (I vaguely remember him saying something about it.)  If not, how do we know it was made fast, and it wasn't just the magic of television?

 

The time from when Beverly left Ethan and went to place the order in the kitchen (as Ethan called home and left a voicemail) and when she placed the burger on the bar was ..... 35 seconds.  Ethan comments "That was fast.", and Beverly's reply was "You wanted it bloody".

 

Almost like they knew that he was going to go into the bar and place that exact order (burger, bloody, no onions).

[Red Fields]

I liked the format where they kept switching between Ethan. Theresa, and Ben's points of view. I think Ben is eventually going to figure big in whatever happens, but to be honest the kid's not a great actor so I almost hope I'm wrong there. As for the kids as characters... you know, kids are smart. A lot smarter than they are given credit for a lot of the time. If I was in that orientation room I would have been all, "It's 4028 but all I see are these el-cheapo plastic chairs, a 1970s slide projector and a bunch of candle holders that look like the first graders made them for their Christmas party".

 

It really bites that we have to wait 2 weeks for the next episode.

 

edit: 4028 not 2048 lol

Those chairs sell for $549 apiece in 2015!

[KaveDweller]

 

Where does this hibernation tech come from and from what year? It doesn't exist now. If its from some point in the future between now and 4096 then there would be some tech advancements that would have occured to that point and we just don't see this anywhere in the show. I suppose that maybe once the Abbies started out, there was a push to create WP and generate hibernation tech in isolation from the 

 

It doesn't exist now in the real world.  But maybe in the Wayward Pines 2014 such technology does exist.

 

Again, just speculation, but it seems to me that if mankind is to be "saved" then Pilcher (or whoever) would have to select specific people who do not have whatever mutated gene that  eventually devolves into "abbies." Otherwise, they aren't really "saving" anyone, they're just delaying the inevitable for a select group of people. These people would also breed and over time devolve into abbies themselves if it's just some natural process for mankind. There must be a reason why these people were chosen instead of, as you suggest, professionals whose skills would ultimately service such a community better. They must have been screened somehow and found to be "pure."

 

He never said how much older she looked, he just said she looked "older." There's nothing to indicate she went from looking like a 20-year old to a 60 year old or anything like that. "Older" could signify five or ten years.

 

If there are some people who are immune to the abby gene (or whatever) isn't freezing them doing a disservice to humanity? Maybe if those people had stayed in 2014 and produced children there would have been even more immune people who could somehow fight back against the abbies.  Taking all of them into 4028 takes away that possibility.

 

Regarding Pam looking older, when Peter was talking didn't they show a young 20-something in the first part of the story and then current Pam in the second part? That implies it was more than 5 or 10 years.

[slothgirl]

 

There's clearly nothing left. Ethan saw it with his own two eyes..doesn't get more believable than that. The ruins, the rusted and destroyed Boise sign, collapsed buildings..

There's NO WAY that sign would have not only survived 2000 years in such good condition, but also been laying on the ground easily visible to a hiker!

 

It would have at the very least rusted to the point where it would have been illegible, if not hard to tell it had even ever been a sign. And it would have been covered, if not completely buried.

 

That sign was PUT there like that. Had to be.

[jhlipton]

(2) I don't believe that they are in the year 4098 or whatever. There is nothing around, either in the environment that Ethan discovers 'outside' or in the town, or in the town or in the warehouse area that shows any tech beyond 2015. A quarter supposedly from 2096 that looks basically the same as one today, try again!

A quarter from 83 years ago (1932) looks much like today's quarter:

So there's nothing to say that a quarter 41 years from now might be the same.

As for the tech, if they can get a quarter from 2096, why not anything else? At least weaponry, if nothing else.

 

(3) Maybe I missed it, but at the end of Episode 4 and beginning of 5, does it not show Ethan laying down being observed by an Abby? Why wouldn't it attack? And since Ethan can climb out of WP, certainly the Abbies could climb down into it. So maybe I will contradicting myself from before, and think that the Abbies are actors and that even the area around WP is staged. The purpose being???

If you're an "apex" predator, you never go down!

Seriously (who, me?), that small band of Abbies could have taken out about a dozen snipers in minutes. And the deer carcass could have been left -- it sure didn't look like a band of "apex predators" had been at it.

[Tabasco Cat]

Where does this hibernation tech come from and from what year? It doesn't exist now

 

Ted Williams http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ted-williams-frozen-in-two-pieces/ would like a word with you.

[janie jones]

I don't doubt that quarters will look basically the same in 80 years (if we're still using cash by then), but I  was kind of distracted by the design on the back.  I'm pretty sure it was the Crater Lake quarter.  They'll be minting the fifty states quarters again in 2096?

Edited June 16, 2015 by janie jones

[grandemocha]

 

 

There's NO WAY that sign would have not only survived 2000 years in such good condition, but also been laying on the ground easily visible to a hiker!

It would have at the very least rusted to the point where it would have been illegible, if not hard to tell it had even ever been a sign. And it would have been covered, if not completely buried.

That sign was PUT there like that. Had to be.

Are you serious or joking? Sometimes I can't interpret sarcasm on the internet.

 

Okay. #1 This is a television show on FOX, not a real life occurrence. #2 The sign was made to appear rusted by the prop department just enough so that it would have an aged appearance, that the main character would get the message that "Oh damn. This looks really old and rusted. How much time has passed?"

 

If the sign was buried under hundreds of feet of plants and the solid earth, Ethan wouldn't see it, the audience at home wouldn't see it, and people would not get that hundreds of years have gone by. I very much disagree that the sign was put there on purpose. You can't have the sign be (realistically) illegible because then Ethan wouldn't get the point, and the audience wouldn't either...It has to have had just enough wear and tear so we could still see "Boise".

 

This isn't a documentary, and I sincerely doubt they have scientists on as consultants for the show.

[Awesomesauce]

There's NO WAY that sign would have not only survived 2000 years in such good condition, but also been laying on the ground easily visible to a hiker!

It would have at the very least rusted to the point where it would have been illegible, if not hard to tell it had even ever been a sign. And it would have been covered, if not completely buried.

That sign was PUT there like that. Had to be.

This is all just speculation, but I think people might be giving the creators of the show too much credit. These holes in the explanation that are making people think there's more to the story could just be things the creators forgot to consider, or could even be intentional creative choices, which I'm thinking is the case with the "looks more like 500 years in the future, not 2000 years" problem. Having nothing left over from the past would be more realistic, but would lack the clues needed to convince Ethan that Pilcher could be telling the truth. I think if someone escaped confinement and found nothing they expected to see at all, they would conclude that they were in a different place than they thought, not a different time, and it would be very difficult to convince them otherwise without some kind of tangible proof. They'd have to come up with an entirely different device for Ethan's discovery. A quarter can be faked, so can other things, would there be any way at all to convince a person after 2000 years that they are in the future, assuming this part of the story is true? Of course I could be wrong but for now, I'm buying the year 4028 part of the Truth. Is it the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Probably not.

And I agree with the poster who said they were reminded of the doctor offering the pill to Arnold in Total Recall (the actors even look a bit similar) but in the case of WP I'd say there's a darn good reason for the doc to be nervous as an Abbie attack is about to strike, so I don't see this as evidence that he's lying.

Was typing this before grandemocha's post appeared but I agree with him/ her above.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Awesomesauce

[iMonrey]

 

Regarding Pam looking older, when Peter was talking didn't they show a young 20-something in the first part of the story and then current Pam in the second part?

 

It was Melissa Leo in the flashback scene, carefully lighted but still, not looking drastically younger than she is now.

 

 

If the sign was buried under hundreds of feet of plants and the solid earth, Ethan wouldn't see it, the audience at home wouldn't see it, and people would not get that hundreds of years have gone by. I very much disagree that the sign was put there on purpose. You can't have the sign be (realistically) illegible because then Ethan wouldn't get the point, and the audience wouldn't either...It has to have had just enough wear and tear so we could still see "Boise".

 

I get what you're saying "artistic license" and all that, but the problem is - it's still weak writing. It fails to consider known facts and expects the audience to just go along with it, even if it doesn't make sense. That's a hallmark of lazy writing. The fact is, there are shows and books like Life After People and we know now what the rate of decay is for man-made things and know what's feasible and what isn't.

 

And it's not as if there's simply no way around this either. They could have set the show 500 years into the future instead of 2000 years. Or they could have found another way to short-cut the visual clues. The coin, for example, wasn't a bad choice. Old newspapers. Things like that, which were  preserved in Wayward Pines.

 

Asking the audience "Oh, c'mon, just go with it" is lazy.

 

That said, I'm still enjoying this show a heck of a lot more than The Whispers. I can forgive a lot when a genre show like this moves along at such a steady pace instead of stringing me along endlessly. 

Edited June 16, 2015 by iMonrey