S01.E06: Choices

[FishyJoe]

It really didn't look like they came close to finding anything out. The biggest problem I have with ol' Sheriff Pope cutting the brake line in 2014 is there was no way to guarantee that Theresa and Ben wouldn't have been killed in the resulting wreck. Would they have then been written off as collateral damage? "Oops! Sorry, Ethan, we tried to make it a survivable accident, really we did!"

 

Now that I think about it, it's a really stupid way to get somebody into an accident. If you cut the brake lines, there is still the hand brake which is independent of hydraulics. Also, there is engine braking if you turn the engine off and lower the gear. And who is to say Teresa wouldn't feel the brakes giving out in a relatively straight part of the road and just pull over. A warning light would have probably shown an error anyways since it's relatively modern car.

[Texasmom1970]

I have not read the books , but like many here I am hoping there is some twist. Watching this episode I kept thinking that's it, they are in the future and trying to save mankind. How boring.

The first few episodes there was a chance at conspiracies, government secrets, then the strange creatures. Now it's just kind of meh. I am sticking it out because I will watch Melissa Leo in anything. I just hope I don't regret watching it when it's over.

[grandemocha]

 

The first few episodes there was a chance at conspiracies, government secrets, then the strange creatures

This is just me personally, but I am so so thankful the show didn't go the cliched "the government is responsible" route. It's been done to death. Same as "it's all a dream/aliens are behind it/psychological experiment/they're all dead" and more. All of that has been played out in shows I've seen before, so I'm glad to have something new. I can easily excuse tiny things like cars that held up really well for years an years, but having the answer be aliens would have been too much and made me roll my eyes.

[JenE4]

This is just me personally, but I am so so thankful the show didn't go the cliched "the government is responsible" route. It's been done to death.

But isn't the government involved? What about all of the people at the CIA who knew what was going on when Pilcher spoke to them directly and when Theresa went snooping? And someone "at the top" must have okayed this plan that all of those kidnappings weren't fully investigated and people are secretly blasting out an entire mountain. Yeah, I think they'd need some permits for that! Lol.

[SlackerInc]

I have not read the books , but like many here I am hoping there is some twist. Watching this episode I kept thinking that's it, they are in the future and trying to save mankind. How boring.

The first few episodes there was a chance at conspiracies, government secrets, then the strange creatures. Now it's just kind of meh. I am sticking it out because I will watch Melissa Leo in anything. I just hope I don't regret watching it when it's over.

 

It was certainly a bold choice to get to "The Truth" so early in the season.  If, as I suspect (and again, I'm not spoiled), there are no more major reversals, it will indeed look even more bold and risky in retrospect.  Personally, I don't like when shows or movies keep piling twists on top of twists, such that you have to take everything as a red herring unless it is happening in the last ten minutes of the long-planned series finale.

[grandemocha]

 

But isn't the government involved? What about all of the people at the CIA who knew what was going on when Pilcher spoke to them directly and when Theresa went snooping? And someone "at the top" must have okayed this plan that all of those kidnappings weren't fully investigated and people are secretly blasting out an entire mountain.

I honestly don't think I can give a definitive answer to this without being a spoilery jerk :) Technically the CIA hasn't really been mentioned: Ethan, Kate, Bill Evans, and Adam Hassler (their boss) are a part of the secret service. We only saw Pilcher interact with Adam Hassler and no one else really.

Edited June 29, 2015 by grandemocha

[JenE4]

I honestly don't think I can give a definitive answer to this without being a spoilery jerk :) Technically the CIA hasn't really been mentioned: Ethan, Kate, Bill Evans, and Adam Hassler (their boss) are a part of the secret service. We only saw Pilcher interact with Adam Hassler and no one else really.

I meant Secret Service then--whatever government agency Ethan, Kate, and Bill worked for. And thanks for not being a spoilery jerk. ;-)

Edited June 29, 2015 by JenE4

[jhlipton]

B) She isn't any of those things and that side of her is all pretense in service of whatever the larger goal is. I forget, was she one of the people they showed looking distressed and disgusted during whassername's execution? My memory tells me she was.

This has been answered, but ass I recall the only three disgusted were Kate, Audrey and some random dude (18 to 20-something).

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I don't have a lot of faith  that Ethan's kid ( Ben?) has what it takes to handle the reality of Wayward Pines. 

[mostlylurking]

I finally caught up on this episode and I enjoyed it. I am liking the pace of this show and that we actually get some answers, unlike most multi season shows where it's just question after question. That in itself is unsettling to me, I'm always suspicious of everything.  Lol.

It kind of makes sense to me now why Pilcher had to kidnap the people and not just get volunteers. If a scientist guy came to me in present day and told me he thought the world was going to end and ask me to volunteer to be frozen for 2,000 years to continue the human race, I might this he was a bit of a sketchball. Sure, I am sure there would be many people willing to volunteer, but maybe not all would be the type of people one would want for a new civilization. They most definitely would have at least a few screws loose to believe him in the first place. So it makes sense he took most of the people against their will, although that's pretty messed up.

I wonder now if people are going to think Ethan is the crazy one, given his hallucination history or whatever happened to him after he fucked up that CIA job. Maybe he is? I'm looking forward to the next episode!

Edited June 30, 2015 by mostlylurking

[Free]

It was certainly a bold choice to get to "The Truth" so early in the season.  If, as I suspect (and again, I'm not spoiled), there are no more major reversals, it will indeed look even more bold and risky in retrospect.  Personally, I don't like when shows or movies keep piling twists on top of twists, such that you have to take everything as a red herring unless it is happening in the last ten minutes of the long-planned series finale.

 

Well that's why I'm suspicious, especially since it's not a mini series, so I'm wondering where they'll go after this.  They're doing all 3 books this season, so anything else will have to be made up.

[grandemocha]

 

Well that's why I'm suspicious, especially since it's not a mini series, so I'm wondering where they'll go after this.  They're doing all 3 books this season, so anything else will have to be made up.

As of right now, yes it is a mini series. I haven't seen any news that they've received a second season. All 3 books in 10 episodes.

[KDeFlane]

It kind of makes sense to me now why Pilcher had to kidnap the people and not just get volunteers.

 

One thing I noticed is that Pilcher seems resigned to taking his book tours and slowly recruiting volunteers -- until he meets Megan.  The hypnotherapist touches his hand in a meaningful way and tells him, "Find a way, please."  The next scene is Pilcher recruiting Arnold Pope, in the rain, joking about how, "I may need an ark." 

[radishcake]

Whoops guys we should probably move over to the Media topic since our conversation isn't about this episode.

[LittleGreyCells]

I don't understand how the toy store owner got a package of bomb-making parts. Doesn't everything come from the supply center? If so, they must know what was in the package - right? And therefore they know about the plot.

 

Unless Amazon, having managed to stay in business for 2000 years, sent it. I wonder if they ever turned a profit?

[jhlipton]

I don't understand how the toy store owner got a package of bomb-making parts. Doesn't everything come from the supply center? If so, they must know what was in the package - right? And therefore they know about the plot.

 

It's possible to make a bomb out of fairly common items.  If Person A gets a clock, Person B gets some wires, Person C gets some fertilizer (a key component, and what was used in the Oklahoma City bombing), etc., they can combine their supplies.

[KDeFlane]

A tiny detail was changed in this week's episode, visible in the background on Main Street.  Early in the episode, they use their stock footage looking into the town from the Welcome sign, from which we can see that the Pines theater marquee still says "WPA RECITAL" (and some date/time line I can never quite read). Later, in the actual episode scenes, that sign now says "WPTC [presents?] / OUR TOWN" -- i didn't get any better view of it.  It is visible twice, first when Henrietta is storming out to her car, and then later leading into the meeting between Kate and Theresa at The Excellent Bean.  I'm guessing WPTC = Wayward Pines Theater Club.

 

For the completionists out there, David Pilcher's book title was "THE COMING CRISIS: Human Adaptation to Environmental Pressure"

 

I didn't see any useful meaning in all of the numbers on those hibernation chambers.  The font they used made it hard to read some of the digits, too.  The child Amanda Loman was behind 65.2384.179 and I think 51.2490.537 or 51.3490.537 looks like was duplicated on at least two chambers as well, and another said 14.2648.291 (and in some other notes I have either 94.5014.746 or 34.2014.746 but i forget which scene that was from).

 

oh, and the framed sign with "The Rules" which was posted next to the front door of Ballinger's Toys is now sitting on the counter, propped against the bottom of the cash register.  Random fiddling with the props?  Surely a continuity intern needs to be informed of these details.

Edited July 8, 2015 by KDeFlane

[KDeFlane]

If you don't mind my double-posting, I wanted to talk about the scene in which Kate and Harold take a moment to reconsider their commitment, both to the plan and each other.  I remember in the early days of the series thinking Harold was Kate's monitor, not to be trusted, but now I see he was just being a protective husband. And after that first Reckoning, when Kate offers to make him a cup of tea and touches his shoulder, we see that they've been through tough times together.

 

When Kate talks to him about getting back to the outside world and finding Harold's fiance, well, it touches me.  You can tell they really are a couple now, bonded by their years in captivity.  It's sweet. It's a well-written scene, with real people and real emotions buried in all of the wild fiction and plot distractions.