S01.E08: The Friendliest Place On Earth

[Julie23]

Could they have found an actor that had any LESS emotional range than the guy playing Ben? He is awful. And since I don't like him, his girlfriend, Bad Teacher or Dr. Megalomaniac, I am totally team rebel!

[legaleagle53]

Could they have found an actor that had any LESS emotional range than the guy playing Ben? He is awful. And since I don't like him, his girlfriend, Bad Teacher or Dr. Megalomaniac, I am totally team rebel!

 

Come to think of it, Cameron Diaz might have made a much better Mrs. Fisher.

[racked]

If this turned out to be true, it might be the only thing that would redeem the series for me. It would explain why when Ethan went over the fence, there was one Abbie quietly watching him from behind a tree, but not attacking or summoning the others; Pilcher wanted Ethan alive to use for his own purposes, so he ordered the Abbies to scare him but not kill him. It also makes all the giant plot holes and inconsistencies less important because everything that happened is just a function of Pilcher's power grab. Maybe it's 4028, maybe it isn't; it's all just happening in some version of Pilcher's basement, so it doesn't matter. I want the last scene of the series to be Pilcher having an afternoon tea meeting with the Abbies, who all speak with posh accents, and Pilcher doing a MWAH HA HA kind of laugh as the closing credits roll.

 

 

That would be so interesting.  One thing I can't remember is, when Pope was killed, how did an Abbie come out from behind the fence to get his body? Why did they retreat so quickly instead of going for Ethan and Ben and running loose in town to get as many more humans as they could?

[iMonrey]

Nothing thus far has been more jarring than the previously empty hospital suddenly teeming with nurses, doctors and even specialists. Man - this show has really fallen apart since episode 5. 

 

What's so bizarre (among everything else) is that Ethan seems to be working at cross purposes with David and Pam yet the latter allow him to go about his business even when it contradicts their own plans. They set up this whole street festival and phone everyone to show up or else, then Ethan gets up and tells everyone it's a bad idea, blows their cover story of the gas leak and sends everyone home, and David has nothing to say about it. WTF? Ethan has clearly been telling people it's the future, there's nothing beyond the wall, and David and Pam are still acting like it's a pre-Ethan era even as they continue to refer to Ethan as though he's working with them. Huh?

 

And I know teen boys all think with their dicks, but c'mon! How dumb is this Ben kid supposed to be, anyway? Could his teacher be more creepy? The kid's known his dad his whole life and all it takes is one caustic warning from creepy teacher to turn this dipshit against his father when he knows damn well what's going on in this crazy town. Idiot.

 

 

Who is ready for a Theresa v. Megan rumble?

 

I am. I want someone to wipe the smug right off her face.

 

But - that's another thing. Is Creepy Teacher actively working against David and Pam? Because she's been presented to us as one of the "loyalists" to the cause, yet David and Pam seem to be relying on Ethan to work with them while Creepy Teacher is trying to undermine him.

 

This show is such a mess. It's kind of like one person wrote the first five episode then left the show, and someone else stepped in and wrote the next five episodes without bothering to watch the first five, maybe just skimming the cliff notes.

Edited July 10, 2015 by iMonrey

[dlr]

I would have appreciated the Kate flashbacks a bit earlier too. We would have known for sure that she wasn't some pod person, or at least known she was an awesome agent for keeping things unreal for a dozen years or so while helping lead an underground rebellion. ( Still, I wonder about the narcing on Beverly. Personal grudge?  Just a part of their protective covering? It would have been nice to hear something about that. Not an episode's worth, just a couple of lines about why tattle on Beverly.)

I seem to recall something about 'if it wasn't Beverly to be turned in then it would have been Ethan'. I.e. she was protecting Ethan.

 

Some other random thoughts:

* Does anyone know the ratings on this show? If they are good I will say that the Abbies get in, destroy the town, and then next season its time for Group C to give it a go :-)

* Is the dump truck lodged in the wall such that it is blocking entry?

* What is the process for getting to and from the bunker and town? And how long does it take? It looks like the bunker is miles from town and up on a giant hill - I would think that it would take at least an hour or so with vehicles.Have any WP people ever followed bunker-ites and seen this? What is the process for moving items to the town, is there a staging building where stuff comes from the bunker and is then moved by our favorite delivery guy from there? 

 

If this turned out to be true, it might be the only thing that would redeem the series for me. It would explain why when Ethan went over the fence, there was one Abbie quietly watching him from behind a tree, but not attacking or summoning the others;

 

 

I noticed this before. Also I thought that Pilcher wasn't that worried about getting back in the helicopter when the abbies were closing in. A reveal like this might help to save what's left of this show.

Edited July 10, 2015 by dlr

[jhlipton]

Either the nerve center volunteers are hopelessly incompetent, or Pilcher is right and someone was/is actively helping them from the inside.

Both?

 

 

Wasn't 12 years. The flashback with Kate and the proto group of rebels meeting in private and discussing their pasts had Kate with the same short haircut she had when she first arrived in Wayward Pines. So she likely faked adjusting soon after the padded room scene we saw, met other like minded individuals, married Harold, and had to continue therapy sessions with Jenkins/Pilcher which we saw her with long hair.

I was giving them the benefit of the doubt: she didn't form the Rebel Alliance 12 years ago because she was in White Walled Wackoville until recently. Another good ret-con destroyed!

 

 

I want the last scene of the series to be Pilcher having an afternoon tea meeting with the Abbies, who all speak with posh accents, and Pilcher doing a MWAH HA HA kind of laugh as the closing credits roll.

Yes, please. So glad my little throw-away turned into something so beautiful!

 

 

The kid's known his dad his whole life and all it takes is one caustic warning from creepy teacher to turn this dipshit against his father when he knows damn well what's going on in this crazy town. Idiot.

Ben had turned against his father even before he and his mom left for WP. When Theresa was talking to her friend, I think she said something like "Ethan might be in trouble" and Ben said "Good".

[grandemocha]

EDIT: Blehh, never mind. 

Edited July 10, 2015 by grandemocha

[meep.meep]

This show would be much better with a tiny red cow.

 

Am I the only person who can't remember the name of the show?  I go through Whispering Pines and Wandering Pines and Windward Pines and eventually get to the right title.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Who is ready for a Theresa v. Megan rumble?

I am. I want someone to wipe the smug right off her face.

 

Let's have them go at it ThunderDome style -- fight to the death.  Two women enter, one woman leaves.  And I think Theresa would clean Hypnoteacher's clock.

[FishyJoe]

Megan reminds me of a second rate Lisa Kudrow web therapist.

[riverheightsnancy]

This show would be much better with a tiny red cow.

 

Am I the only person who can't remember the name of the show?  I go through Whispering Pines and Wandering Pines and Windward Pines and eventually get to the right title.

I absolutely "Dig" this reference and I approve!  ;)

[beeble]

The stupid:

Kate should have noticed that Ben, Ethan, and Theresa have not aged 12 years. That's just loopy.

 

Devil's avocado:

Creepy teacher is a hypnotherapist, so somewhere she has hocus-pocused the teenagers to think she is the shizzle.  As a teacher, I wish I could do that.

 

The hilarious:

I'm going to gather everyone together to scare them into understanding that security is the most important thing in the world! Everyone - get away from your monitors and listen to me! Hey you - don't look at that dump truck, look at me - your benevolent tyrant!!

[JenE4]

This show would be much better with a tiny red cow.

Am I the only person who can't remember the name of the show? I go through Whispering Pines and Wandering Pines and Windward Pines and eventually get to the right title.

I FINALLY can say/write Wayward Pines without thinking about it, but it took at least 5-6 weeks of thinking White Pine Bay and then correcting myself that that's Bates Motel's town.

[theatremouse]

The thing that gets me when this sort of stuff happens is, I can imagine the director, the DP, and the "script girl" being preoccupied with other details to the point that human error occurs. But I can't figure out why the actor wouldn't call it to someone's attention. He's aware on a highly visceral, experiential level of the presence or absence of a backpack on his shoulders, you'd think.

If they shot the scene near the truck one day and the scene walking down the road another, he might not notice. Although usually it's someone's job to have polaroids of the actors in costume with or without props to make sure it lines up. Although if they shot the "with backpack" scene after the "without" that's be a totally different fuck up. Or they just (badly) cut the moment when he tossed it.

[jhlipton]

Or they just (badly) cut the moment when he tossed it.

 

It would have been even funnier if the backpack suddenly appeared as he was walking down the road.  "Where did that come from?" "Don't worry, in this age of people poring over the smallest detail, no one will ever notice!"

[KDeFlane]

For no good reason, the set designers changed the marquee on The Pines Theater again.  Now the WPTC presents "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" -- please tell me this is not an important Easter Egg.  I could take this to the speculation thread, but it's not so much a theory as some conflicting feelings I have.  I don't want to overthink how any proper theater troupe could mount a new production of a play every week -- in fact, my college had a summer rep season with six plays in six weeks, put on by overlapping casts.  I can't believe that Pines marquee is important in ANY way to the reveal of plot points.  And yet... someone on the staff of this show made the decision to change that display, and there must be more than random chance behind the selection of titles.  Right? There MUST be a logic to all of this, I demand it!

[Actionmage]

Devil's avocado:

 

Aw, now you made me miss Foggy Nelson! (Daredevil reference)

 

Now the WPTC presents "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" -- please tell me this is not an important Easter Egg.

 

 

I'm unsure as well. Last night's marquee was prominently in the background in several sections of the episode. Then again, it could just be someone trying to get us to chase a red herring.  I don't remember the other productions, but then, I don't think they were as in your face as last night's marquee. (Obviously, I may be wrong on that.)

 

The hilarious:

 

Exactly!  I just don't know how to take this anywhere near as seriously as the show takes itself. David has a hissy over his prisoners lying to him, multiple times, and one of his volunteers just wants some folks to be treated like the humans they are.  So gather up everyone away from the above-everything-else important surveillance to bury one of their own. While the wall is opened up. To abbies.  Brilliance at work.

 

I could have bought the calling everyone  together if it was like supervisors or the peon-level folks, but that wasn't expressed. So yet another instance of making supposedly brilliant people dumb to fit the plot, which is lazy.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Now the WPTC presents "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" -- please tell me this is not an important Easter Egg.

I'm unsure as well. Last night's marquee was prominently in the background in several sections of the episode. Then again, it could just be someone trying to get us to chase a red herring.  I don't remember the other productions, but then, I don't think they were as in your face as last night's marquee. (Obviously, I may be wrong on that.)

 

Took at look through the various episodes and came up with the following list.  Not sure if it means anything, but the marquee has had three different postings.  Between the night of the sex truck bombing and the next afternoon's Fellowship Gathering, someone changed the marquee.

 

Episode 101 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 102 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 103 -- <no marquee spotted during episode>

Episode 104 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 105 -- <no marquee spotted during episode>

Episode 106 -- WPTC Presents Our Town

Episode 107 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 108 -- WPTC Presents A Mid Summer's Night Dream

[legaleagle53]

Took at look through the various episodes and came up with the following list.  Not sure if it means anything, but the marquee has had three different postings.  Between the night of the sex truck bombing and the next afternoon's Fellowship Gathering, someone changed the marquee.

 

Episode 101 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 102 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 103 -- <no marquee spotted during episode>

Episode 104 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 105 -- <no marquee spotted during episode>

Episode 106 -- WPTC Presents Our Town

Episode 107 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 108 -- WPTC Presents A Mid Summer Night's Dream

 

So much for Easter eggs/hidden clues.

 

Oh, and really good CGI effect there at the end.  I'll bet what's-his-name thought those holographic Abbies were so lifelike that he could actually imagine them ripping his body apart with their fake bare hands and teeth as he screamed until he died.  I tell you, Pilcher's a genius with his technology!

[Dewey Decimate]

My $.02 on the nonsensical stupidity of the details of this nosediving show: rebel chick defiantly crumples up the meds script, but how is it possible that they're spying on everyone's bedroom yet NOT aware of what kind of drugs are actually being distributed? "Hey, local druggist, need some more uppers for Kate Toymaker?" "Huh? I haven't seen her in years!" Gah. Yay to only two more eps.

[janie jones]

But at the same time, she should assume she's being watched and just have the prescription filled, instead of crumpling up the prescription in the hallway where there is surely a camera.  Luckily the guy who monitors that hallway doesn't believe in medication or something and just deletes that part of the recording.

[slothgirl]

The supreme irony is that in a show with plot holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through, the literal driving of a big truck through a hole was not one of them.

 

It's a continuity error, not a plot hole,

The plot hole is that they've been scheming & planning & bomb-making in order to escape, and all it took was having plans A & B fail so that they were forced to resort to Plan C which was simply driving out in a stolen dump truck.. no elaborate measures required.

 

So at the least, they're so stupid not to have just done that all along (and years ago) that I think they were really the "C" ship of Golgafrinchans sent to crash land on earth. Given the uselessness of some of the residents (cough creepy real estate agents, cough) it would make sense (more sense than anything else on this show is making)

Edited July 11, 2015 by slothgirl

[slothgirl]

Episode 101 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 102 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 103 -- <no marquee spotted during episode>

Episode 104 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 105 -- <no marquee spotted during episode>

Episode 106 -- WPTC Presents Our Town

Episode 107 -- WPA Recital -- Mon-Fri 8pm

Episode 108 -- WPTC Presents A Mid Summer's Night Dream

It would have been fun if the had changed it every week just to insert a sly joke/commentary.

 

If I could remember episode 6, I might be able to think of how some aspect of Our Town would tie into it. There are many possibilities given the nature of the play. AMND could refer to Kate's nightmare.

 

But for that to have worked and been fun, they would have needed to do it consistently and the recitals just don't add anything.

This show would be much better with a tiny red cow.

I'd like to see Red leading a rampage of animals from Zoo attacking the town and killing all humans/humanoids.

 

Then Red and the little evil terrier dog could go live together under a cat tree.

 

That would be a nice finale

[jhlipton]

Oh, and really good CGI effect there at the end.  I'll bet what's-his-name thought those holographic Abbies were so lifelike that he could actually imagine them ripping his body apart with their fake bare hands and teeth as he screamed until he died.  I tell you, Pilcher's a genius with his technology!

 

Oh, hush!  LOL

 

But at the same time, she should assume she's being watched and just have the prescription filled, instead of crumpling up the prescription in the hallway where there is surely a camera.  Luckily the guy who monitors that hallway doesn't believe in medication or something and just deletes that part of the recording.

 

"Like, these meds have mercury or aspartame or something, and they'll give you autism! AUTISM!!!  Good thing Kate is on to Big Pharma!!!" [Erase]

[SlackerInc]

I thought this episode was pretty good, and explained how people were getting away with stuff despite the surveillance. The main issue I had with it relates to something we were talking about on another thread: the way individual episodes can be good, but not align with the continuity previously established. In this case, there was a wild diversion in character continuity. There is no way in my mind to reconcile the Pam we saw in this episode with the one we saw in the first half of the season.

So, Ben is basically fine, but Amy now complains about a headache? Yep, I'm calling it: her injury will end up being worse then they thought, and she's either going to die or be put out of commission.

I agree, that was Chekov's headache for sure. My money is on her suddenly dying from a brain bleed they didn't catch. This will set Ben off in a fury against his father.

The problem is the outcome doesn't matter, we, the audience, already know the truth, so constantly keeping them in the dark doesn't change their hopeless situation either way. It's just a battle between the dumb crazies vs the dumb rebels and it doesn't matter which side 'wins'. We can get a bajillion sob stories from these people and it really doesn't matter knowing what we know, especially this late into the season.

To me, it does matter which side wins. I don't want Pilcher's increasingly unhinged fascism to carry the day, but neither do I want all the nice townsfolk to die and for humanity to be wiped out. But given what happened to group A, it's a difficult dilemma and I like that about the show.

I do hate the development of "I only cheated because I had the sads that I couldn't explain to you because reasons. But I could to my partner. With my penis."

Heh, this made me literally LOL. I agree that this is a lame rationalization, but not because I really hate marital infidelity. I just hate when people try to explain it away with these weird emotional rationalizations. To me, it's a lot simpler: people are sexually attractive to others, and all the more so when they provide variety.

One thing I can't remember is, when Pope was killed, how did an Abbie come out from behind the fence to get his body? Why did they retreat so quickly instead of going for Ethan and Ben and running loose in town to get as many more humans as they could?

I think this one is actually reasonable. A wild animal is going to be hesitant to get itself trapped inside an artificial enclosure. And that is actually the proper instinct: if a few Abbys got in, but Ethan pressed the door close button before being devoured, they would indeed be trapped. They might inflict a lot of carnage on the town, but the security personnel from the compound would ultimately kill them. A "top predator's" evolutionary imperative is not to go on a suicide mission to kill as many members of a cousin species as possible, but to survive, eat, reproduce. Edited July 11, 2015 by SlackerInc

[JenE4]

Of course the prescription begs the question where does the medication come from? Do they have a Pfizer chemical plant inside that mountain (right next to the grazing buffalo) or are they ingesting 2,000-year-old pills, which is probably not the best idea since most medications have a one to two year shelf life--and then what happens when they run out? I suppose we're to accept they had a medical chemist volunteer who somehow has all of the 2,000 year old supplies to make medications. (Shrug)

Nice catch on the marquee! I agree that a Midsummer Night's Dream and Our Town are a nice Easter egg for the episode themes, but it does seem like a miss that they didn't do it consistently. I suppose they didn't want to make it that obvious or it would become cheesy, though.

[Free]

 

To me, it does matter which side wins. I don't want Pilcher's increasingly unhinged fascism to carry the day, but neither do I want all the nice townsfolk to die and for humanity to be wiped out. But given what happened to group A, it's a difficult dilemma and I like that about the show.

 

But that's why it doesn't matter, even if they do defeat Pilcher, they still have the abbies to deal with it, not to mention they're still stuck in a post apocalyptic future and who knows what else might endanger/kill them.  So it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, it's also why I have a hard time caring especially after that twist, everything else feels so trivial: Lot 33, the rebels, the abbies, etc.  They're doomed no matter what.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Free

[KDeFlane]

Someone needs to add WP to the "gas leak excuses" list on TVTropes. Sometimes its a cover-up for an actual explosion from other causes; sometimes it's used to get people to evacuate an area; sometimes it's a way to convince people that they were hallucinating. Maybe we're all under the influence of noxious gases.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GasLeakCoverup

[photo fox]

Just a reminder that brief references to the books are okay, but this is the episode thread and should be mainly about the episode. Please take in-depth book/show comparisons to the "Book vs. Show" topic.

[Milburn Stone]

There is no way in my mind to reconcile the Pam we saw in this episode with the one we saw in the first half of the season.

 

But the "Real Pam" that we've known ever since discovering her in that rescue helicopter has always been different from the "Nurse Pam" she presents to the townsfolk. No?

Edited July 11, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[samzilla]

The stupid:

Kate should have noticed that Ben, Ethan, and Theresa have not aged 12 years. That's just loopy.

 

This is a very good point.  I'll attempt to make up an explanation, haha:

 

-in an earlier episode, Ethan tells Kate that it's been weeks, not 12 years, since she's been missing (at least I think he did, if he didn't then this explanation is screwed)

-Kate believes she's in some kind of experiment

-she could rationalize that part of this experiment is somehow having an Ethan, Theresa, and Ben that haven't aged 12 years since their story is it's only been weeks

-after all, if Ethan bursts into town saying it's only been weeks, but he and his family look 12 years older, how is his weeks story believable?

-how does she rationalize the experiment achieve this?  well, it's sci-fi, so there's lots of possible explanations:

-eg. perhaps Kate's thinking the 12 years are now maybe some kind of false memory

-eg. in flashbacks, she did ask if the experiment was social or medical, and this could have a top-secret medical explanation

-eg. perhaps these are the best body doubles/actors she's ever met

-eg. simply leave it as a mcguffin

Edited July 11, 2015 by samzilla

[jhlipton]

if a few Abbys got in, but Ethan pressed the door close button before being devoured, they would indeed be trapped. 

 

But a few Abbies did get in -- long enough to take Pope's body.  These Apex predators could have slaughtered Ethan, Theresa and Ben in a second (according to HypnoTeach), instead they politely went back for tea and jam.

[LittleIggy]

How do they know that there are no other communities of humans? There could be people in Australia or NZ, for example.

[beeble]

Do the residents of WP watch TV? Don't they demand CNN or The Daily Show?  I assume that no, Pilcher does not broadcast any shows to people other than news from his creepy headquarters. But nobody talks about pop culture, which technically isn't a reference to the past, it is a reflection to the current state of affairs:

 

Citizen 1"This is beyond a little weird that we are completely cut off from the rest of the world and Goddamnit, I can't even watch The Bachelor! Who is Jason going to pick?"

Citizen 2: "What do you mean Jason? We're on Brad now."

Citizen 3: "Whoa - you are both wrong. It's Chris now and I miss slut shaming all of those crazy ladies."

Citizen 1: "What does slut-shaming mean?"

 

And so on. Some people are going to use phrases and references very current to their time, which means that some folks will sadly think that "Bad hair day" is a funny thing to say while others will mention "Queen Bey" and others will sing a Taylor Swift ditty and still others will ask nobody to spoil The Wire season 2, etc. etc. 

 

And no internet? Don't get me started.

Edited July 11, 2015 by beeble

[starri]

And no music, either.  God, let the Abbies eat me, I'd lose my mind.

 

I think at some point when I watched the episode, I finally snapped and realized this show isn't any good.  Especially since it seemed to feature the nice, friendly Pam from the mirror universe.

[theatremouse]

speaking of ratings, i watch on a streaming site that's not hulu or netflix. does that get counted at all?

Are you a participant in the Nielsen program? (Don't answer that, being rhetorical and I think you're not supposed to share while active.) Point being: if you're in their sample households, yes, their devices are probably tracking that. If you're not, nope.

I was irritated the whole episode that they don't have a zillion camera angles on the gates in the wall at all time and highest high security on that rather than just the town.

Edited July 12, 2015 by theatremouse

[Free]

 

I was irritated the whole episode that they don't have a zillion camera angles on the gates in the wall at all time and highest high security on that rather than just the town.

 

Exactly, they implant tracking device, monitor the town, etc. but does nothing with the actual gate except for a sign and a wall that was easily penetrable by a truck.

[jhlipton]

And no music, either.

They have the WPA! Recitals every Monday through Friday. Every. Damn. Monday. through every. Damn. Friday. Whether you're a performer or part of the [assuredly mandatory] audience, you'd be calling for the Abbies in a week, I think!

[KDeFlane]

Music, music, music!

They have the WPA! Recitals every Monday through Friday. Every. Damn. Monday. through every. Damn. Friday.

And they get the piano stylings of Hector Gaiter (Gaither?) piped over the P.A. system in the forest for your late-night strolling enjoyment.

 

(And Beverly did have the radio in the Biergarten.  We did briefly discuss music in the "extraordinary town" thread several weeks back.)

 

Now that Ben's "broken" arm has healed -- how much time has passed? -- he can serenade his lady on that new guitar.  I'm rather curious about what tunes the kids play for their Battle of the Bands.

[lucindabelle]

If there's no Irish trad music and I ssume there isn't, get me out,

Did they freeze instrument teachers? Because if not bow is there a battle of the bands? Is there a violin or flute in the house?

Did we ever find out why the bartender pretended he'd never heard of Beverly? It's like the creepy from the first few episodes ahs all vanished and now it's just a weird dystopian prison series tha makes zero sense.

Again, I really th k if that guy knew there was no San francisco to run to he would not. Be running. I just don't buy the despair of wp one. Too many times in history we e had benocide and isolated cultures and people didn't go mad. Think of Africans being captured and out on slave ships and ending up in a foreign country where they knew no one and didn't speak the language. People were unhappy but kept going. Ditto survivors of Khmer rough, holocaust, Rwanda.

I would certainly be depressed if I woke up one day and it was the future and I had no family or friends with me, which again is why it would make sense to freeze whole family groups, and groups of friendsl if they were there, I'd just try to live in the new reality,

Don't speak about the past should be a rule of thumb, not a command.

I keep wishing there's gonna be more to this but this episode convinced me otherwise. I may stop watching and just read comments. The show has officially tanked.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Don't Be A Reggie In Wayward Pines / Wayward Pines tells us who watches the watchmen, and also what dweebs the watchmen are.

[jhlipton]

If, indeed (as seems certain), Amy does have Violetta Valéry Disease (incorrectly called Ali McGraw Disease by Roger Ebert, who should have known better), it won't make much of an impact on my, since we know (and care) so little about her.  I almost hope that she has an Abbie growing inside her, ready to burst free like a fur-clad Minerva!

[KDeFlane]

Did they freeze instrument teachers?

Yes, at least one that we know of.  In the first episode, Ethan steals a car from the street out in front of a house where a lady was giving piano lessons to a boy (as i recall).

[slothgirl]

we e had benocide

We need a benocide on this show.

;)

[starri]

Yes, at least one that we know of.  In the first episode, Ethan steals a car from the street out in front of a house where a lady was giving piano lessons to a boy (as i recall).

That doesn't necessarily mean she was a piano teacher in her life before Wayward Pines, any more than Kate was a rocking-horse saleswoman.

 

This show is a textbook example of why thrillers shouldn't tip their mysteries too early.

[SlackerInc]

But that's why it doesn't matter, even if they do defeat Pilcher, they still have the abbies to deal with it, not to mention they're still stuck in a post apocalyptic future and who knows what else might endanger/kill them.  So it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, it's also why I have a hard time caring especially after that twist, everything else feels so trivial: Lot 33, the rebels, the abbies, etc.  They're doomed no matter what.

 

Huh, I guess MMV but I didn't think humanity was doomed on BSG when they were down to around 50,000 survivors fleeing in cramped ships and the vast majority of the billions of population they started with (not to mention all their cities, and wildernesses, etc.) was wiped out by the Cylons.  "Where there's life, there's hope."  (There are geneticists who believe that the population numbers of Homo sapiens dropped to as low as 2,000 during the Stone Age and stayed there for as long as 100,000 years.) 

 

But the "Real Pam" that we've known ever since discovering her in that rescue helicopter has always been different from the "Nurse Pam" she presents to the townsfolk. No?

 

What does she gain by appearing to be a sadistic fascist?  She's a nurse, after all--and when we very first met her, she actually pretended(?) to be nice.  Why threaten Ethan with surgical torture (for an operation he apparently didn't need)?  Why be so anxious to reckon realtor Justin Kirk if she's not really a bloodthirsty hardass?

 

Did we ever find out why the bartender pretended he'd never heard of Beverly? It's like the creepy from the first few episodes ahs all vanished and now it's just a weird dystopian prison series tha makes zero sense.

[snip]

I just don't buy the despair of wp one. Too many times in history we e had benocide and isolated cultures and people didn't go mad. Think of Africans being captured and out on slave ships and ending up in a foreign country where they knew no one and didn't speak the language. People were unhappy but kept going. Ditto survivors of Khmer rough, holocaust, Rwanda.

 

(1) I defend this show to some degree, and I don't think the post-reveal show "makes zero sense".  OTOH I've been irked by things like the bartender for a long time.  Also filed under that category: the aforementioned brain surgery and hospital escape; the bodies in the dilapidated house; Ethan waking up outside instead of in the hospital; the hotel clerk demanding payment for Ethan's room; and some other stuff that's not coming to mind ATM.  Sadly, it looks like the only possible explanation is "gaslighting the TV audience for a while to make a creepy/mysterious/paranoid atmosphere".  Which actually means the show post-reveal makes more sense than those first few episodes did.

 

(2) You don't buy the despair, but just above, in my same reply, I responded to someone saying there's essentially no point to trying to survive if all the other humans in the world are dead and everything outside of WP is a post-apocalyptic wasteland dominated by vicious, bloodthirsty Abbies.  I don't agree, as I said; but clearly some people do feel this way and that matches with the reaction of Group A.

[Free]

 

This show is a textbook example of why thrillers shouldn't tip their mysteries too early.

 

Exactly, they could've given us some other mysteries, but they basically blew their load only 5 episodes in on a game changing twist and they don't really seem to have much else interesting going on since we're way ahead of the other characters in the dark.

 

 

Huh, I guess MMV but I didn't think humanity was doomed on BSG when they were down to around 50,000 survivors fleeing in cramped ships and the vast majority of the billions of population they started with (not to mention all their cities, and wildernesses, etc.) was wiped out by the Cylons.  "Where there's life, there's hope."  (There are geneticists who believe that the population numbers of Homo sapiens dropped to as low as 2,000 during the Stone Age and stayed there for as long as 100,000 years.)

 

That's a terrible way to live and that's assuming there's nothing else out there that we know of, that's certainly not hopeful.

[beeble]

If, indeed (as seems certain), Amy does have Violetta Valéry Disease (incorrectly called Ali McGraw Disease by Roger Ebert, who should have known better), it won't make much of an impact on my, since we know (and care) so little about her.  I almost hope that she has an Abbie growing inside her, ready to burst free like a fur-clad Minerva!

 

 

From RogerEbert.com:

"She doesn't appear terribly ill; perhaps she has Ali MacGraw's Disease, first identified in "Love Story," where the only symptom is that the patient grows more beautiful until finally dying." 

 

If Amy had coughed, I would have spotted this a mile away. I figured "headache" was the weak ass result of the weak ass bomb that was planned by a weak ass rebellion.  The idea being that something had to happen to Amy but she's too important to have anything really bad happen, so let's just give her some vague symptoms. But I much prefer the idea that she is dying from some mysterious and awful disease only to turn into an Abbie.

[starri]

What I can't wrap my head around is why Pilcher decided that Emergency Reserve Humans had to go on ice in the early 21st century, against their will, when we saw that human civilization continued for at least another hundred years.  If he'd spent enough time, there's no reason why he couldn't have attracted a cult of followers that would have willingly frozen themselves with him.

 

I get that he's a control freak.  But even assuming that humanity stopped immediately after that coin was minted, every single person in Wayward Pines (with the possible exception of some of the kids) would have been dead.  I wouldn't want to live in the ruins of a dead world when I could have just lived out however much time is given me.

 

I don't need an in depth discussion of the books, but are they this stupid?

[Free]

 

For me, this is the main problem with the show; I don't care about any of the remaining characters at all.

 

Agreed, they're just a bunch of bland cardboard cutouts being pushed along from plot point to plot point but without adding anything interesting at all to the story/plot.