S01.E09: A Reckoning

[Tara Ariano]

Harold's failed attempt to break past the fence surrounding Wayward Pines leads to questions from Ethan about other insurgents who have gone off the grid; Amy's health takes a turn for the worse; Nurse Pam pushes Theresa to investigate Plot 33; and Ben is encouraged by his teacher to speak publicly about current events.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Harold's failed attempt to break past the fence surrounding Wayward Pines leads to questions from Ethan about other insurgents who have gone off the grid; Amy's health takes a turn for the worse; Nurse Pam pushes Theresa to investigate Plot 33; and Ben is encouraged by his teacher to speak publicly about current events.

 

That is the oddest episode description considering what happened in the final scene of last week's episode.  Wouldn't the abbies start piling through the hole in the fence along the sides or over the dump truck (after they finished snacking on Rebel # 2 and poor dead Eric) ?

 

I'm curious how Harold's plan was a failure -- the dump truck punched a hole in the fence.  Mission Accomplished.  Pilcher and the people in the mountain would have to go apeshit that there was a hole in the fence.

 

Why is Nurse Pam pushing Theresa in check out Plot 33 ?  Has Nurse Pam changed her ways after what happened with Reggie ?  Does she want to take down her brother ?

 

Hypnoteacher encourages Ben to do some public speaking -- sure, why not ?  Ben's not awkward at all, and the added pressure of speaking in public will just make things even better. </snark>

 

No one cares if Amy lives or dies.  If we're lucky, she'll die off-screen.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Harold's plan was a failure in that Harold himself is in custody and Random Rebel #2 is not enjoying sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge as planned but rather is being digested by a half-dozen Abbies.

[Free]

 

Hypnoteacher encourages Ben to do some public speaking -- sure, why not ?  Ben's not awkward at all, and the added pressure of speaking in public will just make things even better. </snark>

 

He'll do whatever she says and I mean everything.

 

 

No one cares if Amy lives or dies.  If we're lucky, she'll die off-screen.

 

We didn't even care when this little contrivance happened to Ben, so now we have this pop up right after he was ok.

 

ETA: I guess we fully have a new group of evil students in full swing now (which are completely trivialized by the coming abbies), Ben continues to not think for himself, Kate finally knows what we already knew episodes ago (yeah, keeping people in the dark still doesn't work), Pilcher and the other are still bewildered by the fact that people took out their chips (it took him this long to figure this out), and the abbies are coming (just kill them all, it really doesn't matter at this point).

Edited July 16, 2015 by Free

[ottoDbusdriver]

The previouslies has WAY too much Adam Hassler in it.  Oh yeah, and the truck breached the fence, remember that ?

 

As the town gathers, a group of rebels comes down the street led by the hotel clerk.  Ethan asks the crowd "Is this what you want ?".  As the rebels, get their weapons into position, of course Ethan is going for a fakeout to draw out the rebels.  Funny thing, there is no placecard saying something like "12 hours earlier" before the next scene to indicate that the reckoning was a future event.

 

Back at the breach in the fence, the abbies are enjoying their manwiches and one abbie decides to crawl under the truck and into WP.  Ethan shows up and hits the abbie with his police truck (I'm still trying to figure out how Ethan's truck was repaired repaired so quickly after hitting that dumpster the previous night -- how exactly ?), double-taps the abbie and then spots two more abbies coming under the truck.  Ethan shoots out the truck tires and crushes the abbies.

 

Meanwhile, the rebels in jail are bitching about lack of food and how they are going to get killed. And as Arlene babysits them, 3 members of Class 1 from WPA show up. They are ... disappointed ... that Sheriff Burke hasn't reckoned the rebels in the jail cells already (it's only been about a day) and they proceed to make threats that if the Sheriff doesn't do his job, that they will.  Where have these guys been for the previous 8 episodes if all of a sudden now they have an axe to grind about law enforcement ?  All we've been hearing about is 1st Generation, where did this Class 1 nonsense come from ?

 

The chalkboard in the Sheriff's office now says "The Friendliest Place on Earth" -- if Arlene isn't writing this stuff, then who is ?

 

The dump truck is moved and the mountain men are already putting up a new gate -- in record time no less.  And no further sign of any abbies trying to get in.  Weird.

 

Pilcher and Ethan have a chat about how things are working, Pilcher is convinced that they aren't -- and that Ethan needs to reckon Kate or people will start taking things into their own hands.  As Nurse Pam watches the fence rebuild from a camera mounted in a tree pointed directly at the gate.

 

Meanwhile, the 3 WPA Class 1 students are going on a long drive to somewhere in the middle of the night.  It's never shown where they were going, so why bother showing that scene at all ?

 

For some reason, there is a cut scene of a bicycle abandoned in the street and a merry-go-round (that looks like it has seen better days) also abandoned.  What the hell that has to do with anything I have no idea ?  Is it another flash forward ?  And why is the merry-go-round aged so much ?

 

Ethan finally interrogates Harold and reveals that Nameless Rebel #2 (who was apparently named Alan) made it 50 yards outside the fence -- Ethan shows him crime scene photos of the remains of the Alan and Eric (did Pilcher's people CSI that scene ?  Because Ethan has a stack of 8x10 color photos of the remains) and wants Harold to name the rest of the rebels. 

 

Ethan to Harold: "Maybe I'm a psychopathic cannibal or maybe ... maybe, I'm telling the truth".

 

Nurse Pam is browsing through a notebook and finds a picture of her and David Pilcher as kids.  Why would this be in a notebook at the hospital in the first place ? Considering that she has been taking notes for 14 years, why would it be so close to the front of this particular notebook ?  Nurse Pam closes the book and gets a strange look on her face and heads out.

 

Theresa is still sitting bedside with Ben, and Pam tells Theresa about the fence breach and the two deaths.  And as they chat Pam palms something into Theresa's hand and recommends she take a long way home to "see what she can find".  Turns out Pam gave Theresa a restricted access pass.

 

Ethan gets a list of 14 rebels from Harold, but when he shows the list to Pilcher and they try to track them down they all "appear" to be at the Biergarten, but when they check the CCTV none of them are in the bar.  Pilcher gets the bartender to check the bar and finds an empty beer glass with tracking chips in it.

 

Theresa head back to Plot 33, and notices a security camera on the fence, but goes in anyway.  As the security person tracking Theresa on-screen spills her coffee and attempts to clean it up, she doesn't notice Theresa destroy the camera with a piece of pipe. Theresa enters the dilapidated shed on Lot 33 and finds a hole with a ladder going down.

 

Ben has woken up and appears to be enjoying a bowl of mayonnaise, when there appears to be an emergency a few rooms down from him (again, where are all these medical people coming from ?) and it turns out Amy has taken a turn for the worse.  Nurse Pam consoles Ben about Amy that they will do all they can.

 

As Pilcher's staff searches for the rebels, Ethan is suddenly worried about a blind spot despite the 5000 cameras available to Pilcher's security.  Has Pilcher's people never thought of this ?

 

Out of nowhere, Hypnoteacher rushes to the hospital to console Ben -- apparently she already knew about Amy's turn for the worse.  Hypnoteacher seems a little too invested in Ben.  As they are talking, Ben hears a noise outside the hospital window -- and discovers a group of WPA students pounding their fists into their palms (which just seems odd).  Hypnoteacher goes on to talk to Ben about sharing his tale with the others -- and pushes for more reckonings of the rebels.

 

I'm starting to think that Hypnoteacher has the WPA students under her control and plans to use them as her own private army to seize control.  Is anyone really surprised by that ?  Seriously, could someone just reckon Hypnoteacher already.

 

And when Ben tells the crowd what's going on, one of the students that approached Arlene about reckonings earlier gets all heated and stomps off.  Probably to do something impulsive -- oh, those rascally teenagers.

 

Theresa gets to the bottom of the hole and finds an old tunnel with motion-activated overhead lighting with a access controlled door at the end -- good thing she has that keycard from Nurse Pam.  Swiping the keycard gets her access to F Level -- Admin.  Wouldn't this set off alarms that a seldom used (and hidden) tunnel door was suddenly accessed ?  These security guys really are shitty at their jobs -- were they all spilling coffee on their desks ?

 

The hotheaded WPA students head back to the Sheriff's office -- and Arlene locks the door, but they brought baseball bats to take care of that.  As Arlene tries to call for help and looks to the cameras for help, Jason tells her not to look at the cameras because "they are on our side".  Somehow I don't think so.  Arlene spits on Jason's face and he roughs her up and locks her to the filing cabinet, and as Jason arms himself and his friends with shotguns and Kate tries to reason with him.

 

But despite his friends starting to believe that they have made their point, Jason waves it off and takes 3 of the rebels out of the jail cell.  Jason believes that they are the defenders of WP at all costs -- and he is looking like he has kind of snapped.  I'm surprised that they all know how to load and operate shotguns considering that none of them has likely touched a gun in their lifetimes (then again, who knows what they are teaching them at WPA ?).

 

Kate tries to plead with Jason, but he hits her with the stock of the shotgun.  Harold tries to tackle Jason, but gets slugged in the gut and goes down.  Jason makes them all get on their knees and repeat the rules, and then shoots Harold in the back of the head with the shotgun, scattering blood all over Kate.  Then he promptly shoots the other three rebels.  Gotta be proud of the 1st Generation -- they are model citizens of WP.

 

As Jason prepares to kill Kate by pointing the shotgun at her head as she lies on the jail cell floor, Ethan enters the sheriff's office and shoots Jason in the abdomen.  Not sure if Jason died or not, but he isn't mentioned again in the episode.

 

As Arlene's hands shake while trying to play cards at her desk and act like everything is normal, one of the WPA students -- now in the jail cell -- tries to talk to her (but nothing ever comes of that, so why was that scene even there ?).  Ethan sits down with Kate in the interrogation room and asks for more info about the missing rebels -- but Ethan comes up with a plan.

 

Theresa shows up at the sheriff's office up from her adventure in the tunnels -- she has something she needs to show him and Kate should see it too.  Theresa found an unlocked workstation (sure, why not ?) chock full of video files.  One clip is of Adam Hassler near the remains San Francisco that shows the skyscrapers of San Francisco, the Golden Gate bridge and a sunken ship in the bay -- after 2000 years, not very likely.  Plus, how did all these videos get back to WP from the wilds ?  Satellite upload ?  The Cloud ?

 

Apparently there are hundreds of video journals from cities from all the country from multiple groups that were sent out to explore. Ethan instructs Theresa to get as many people as she can down to see the videos before midnight -- because there will be a reckoning (the scene that was shown at the start of the episode).  Question -- why would that workstation be partially abandoned (it was covered in spider webs) in a secret tunnel ?  And where do all the other tunnels that Ethan mentioned go to ?

 

Ethan sits down with Pilcher and discusses having one last reckoning -- of Kate.  Cut to the scene from the start of the episode, and Ethan doesn't go through with the reckoning. Ethan explains the truth to the crowd.  And while there is some dispute, multiple people come forward to confirm they have also seen the truth.

 

Of course, Hypnoteacher bitches out Kate for slurring David Pilcher's good name.  As Hypnoteacher continues her defense of Pilcher and slagging of Kate as a terrorist, Theresa slaps Hypnoteacher.  Finally !!

 

All of a sudden, the power goes out in the town, and even Nurse Pam doesn't know what's happened (surprisingly, the security cameras are all on a separate power source and continue working just fine).  Pilcher kills the power to the fence as well -- and the episode ends with an abbie climbing up the outside of the fence.  I'm curious, do the abbies never sleep ?  And how would they know that the lights going off on the fence meant it was safe to climb ?

 

Amy's pretty much screwed because she was on a ventilator -- and with no power to keep her breathing, she's toast unless there was some battery backup.

Edited July 16, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Free]

 

I'm starting to think that Hypnoteacher has the WPA students under her control and plans to use them as her own private army to seize control.  Is anyone really surprised by that ?  Seriously, could someone just reckon Hypnoteacher already.

 

She doesn't need to try for these brain dead kids to follow anything.  I wish the abbies would reckon everyone.

[FishyJoe]

Probably the biggest problem I see with WP is the character of David Pilcher. One moment they show him as some nutty college professor, next moment he is the creator of WP. We really know little to nothing about him, yet the entire show is about him. I guess there is one more episode for them to show us something, but horse is already dead and the cart has sailed.

[zibnchy]

I don't understand how they managed to make the show boring. Well, I do know how they managed it (Ben and Amy for starters) but I don't know why. The premise is not boring. There must still be a few talented writers in hollywood. I'm only watching because I hope next week everyone dies. Everyone. No more show. No possibility of a second season. Just let us all forget.

[Cheetosandchoc]

       I laughed at the rousing game of rock, paper scissors,..........KILL! the kids were playing.

[zibnchy]

I don't understand what happened to the Nurse Pam character. In the first couple of episodes she was so menacing. Delightfully menacing. What happened to her to turn her all soft and sentimental (over that old photo)? In that scene with Theresa I was afraid for a second that she was going to giggle. Did I miss an episode where they thawed out Pam 2.0?

[LittleIggy]

So advanced weapons couldn't take care of a bunch of naked guys with big teeth? Even if they are fast, that doesn't fly. And I thought the downfall of civ as we know it happened in 2095. How is that Adam guy there? WTF.

[Primetimer]

With one week left until the finale, and the destruction of titular town at hand, Alex Zeidel weighs everyone's chances of survival.

Read the story

[elzin]

I know it's not like great tv, but I enjoyed this episode a lot.  It's popcorn tv and that is ok.  I think I liked it because we've had some answers and stuff is happening, rather than skulking and glowering and conspiracies.  It was scary, it was dark. Sure, it was also predictable and Pilcher is like every bad movie villain, but I liked it.

[JenE4]

Oh, thank goodness for the stuffed buffalo head in the police station! I've been harping on the buffalo burgers since , what was it--episode 3-ish? I  will accept that they addressed that buffalo still exist and are accessible to Wayward Pinesians--and ignore the possibility that they had it in storage for 2,000 years.

Pam now WANTS Theresa to investigate? So she had a complete change of heart against her brother. That settles that.

Interesting to see the first class of the first generation. I guess we should have seen them coming, but i hadn't thought that they have 14 years' worth of graduates in the first generation. (Though shouldn't they be late twenties?) The brainwashing worked. And they have class rings! But they still wear the class uniforms? Weird. Creepy pounding their hands.

That guy in the surveillance room is cracking me up with his fake typing that consists of wiggling each finger up and down in rapid succession--left and right hands simultaneously--and not moving his fingers off of the same 8 keys. 

Theresa found the hatch! Nothing labeled Dharma Initiative yet.

Wait, these kids are still "in class" and they're the first class? That doesn't make sense. We saw the slide show of the first kids from 14 years ago. Did I mishear them say the first class? 

Yikes! There go the rebels--and Jason! RIP, Harold.

So Hassler was frozen, too, and lead one of hundreds of expedition groups. Ok, that's a cool reveal that the population wasn't just limited to WP, but we can assume no one (or few) survived on the outside against the Abbies.

Reckoning at midnight? Why did I think it happened at 10:00?

Jeez, these people are screaming like a WWE match. Especially that "Do it!!!!!" guy. Pilcher's  like, "Oh, yeah, you don't like me? I'm shutting down the town and going home, nana-nana-boo-boo!"

Abbie apocolypse! 

[slothgirl]

I get the feeling that this show got heavily edited onto the cutting room floor after filming, probably to make room for more commercials. Seriously, is it just me or does it seem like the commercial breaks are longer than the scenes shown between them?

 

After that episode ending, I'm wondering if the 1st group of thawee's actually flipped out, or if Pilcher destroyed them himself when he couldn't have absolute power and control over them anymore. It seems he's bent on destroying THIS group, perhaps with the mindset of starting over... again. I never bought that hogwash about everyone committing suicide.

 

Ethan continues to be a moron when it comes to convincing anyone of what he's trying to tell them. "Something bad ate your buddies... here's a photo of what's left. No, actually I DON"T have a picture of what ate them, even though there were several dead ones for me to take pictures of...."

 

I nearly choked on my sandwich when the security gal knocked over her coffee and didn't see Theresa going up to smash the camera. What on earth good would it have done to smash the camera if you were seen walking up to it to smash it? Theresa had no way to know that it would unattended at EXACTLY that moment for her to get away with it! Stupid deus ex machina there.

 

The abbies are more dangerous than velocirapters, but there's no problem at all while repairing the fence.

 

I'm glad someone upthread knew who the leader of the hachet gang coming to the reckonning was, because they made a point of showing him several times, and I couldn't remember him at all.

 

I'd like for everyone to die except Pam, who then thaws out a new group and starts over. I'm only watching ep 10 in the hopes that they reveal just what her agenda is. Maybe it's because I'm binge watching Homicide DVD's, but I think Melissa Leo is the only bright spot in this mess. I don't care if she's good or evil or complex.. I just want more of her and less of everyone else.

Edited July 17, 2015 by slothgirl

[Mysis]

Ugggh. Between the townspeople and their thirst for a reckoning and if those kids represent the future, I'm on team Abbie for the win. On another note, what do abbies normally eat. Are there tons of wild animals roaming the earth and repopulating constantly? The abbies can't seem to pass up a meal if something crosses their path. Do they run in groups/tribes and eat rival groups?

I hope it wraps up and doesn't come back for another season. I like the idea of a mini series with a beginning and end.

[slothgirl]

Ugggh. Between the townspeople and their thirst for a reckoning and if those kids represent the future, I'm on team Abbie for the win. On another note, what do abbies normally eat. Are there tons of wild animals roaming the earth and repopulating constantly? The abbies can't seem to pass up a meal if something crosses their path. Do they run in groups/tribes and eat rival groups?

Have we seen any female abbies? I guess that would be too awkward to film because abbies woouldn't be clothed, but we can't see topless women in Primetime on Network.

 

I'm thinking maybe the series Zoo (which is FAR superior to this mess) is the prequel to Wayward Pines. The abbies are what homosapiens had to become to combat the takeover by the animals, or maybe what humans became when they all got infected by the "defiant pupil". (see Zoo for explanation)

Edited July 17, 2015 by slothgirl

[Actionmage]

Pilcher's  like, "Oh, yeah, you don't like me? I'm shutting down the town and going home, nana-nana-boo-boo!"

 

Aaaand that's where the show lost me as any kind of engaged viewer.  I know that shady folks carry the day in real life at times, but in this series, with the relentlessly beaten down, Big Brother Is Watching citizens who get killed over the smallest infraction and teens are expecting to be obeyed without question? I needed a little more hope. I'll be watching the end, just not as closely as I might have before Ol' Doc Pilcher showed us he really is that petty a bitch.

 

Also, sadly, I was hoping for more than a slap of HypnoTeach, but I'm glad that Theresa got to do the honors. Yeah, Megan, one of the almost "murdered" kids? Her son, so maybe just stop. The Emperor is nekkid and no amount of spin from you is helping.

 

I just wanted to give Arlene a hug. She is a strong woman. I will have to see if I can remember to use skee-daddle more often.  Speaking of badass, Kate facing down the punks? The leader didn't want someone to look at him earlier in the scene? Too bad, dude. You want to blow my head off, you have to look at my face to do it. I wouldn't want to die that way, but those kids were so arrogant and self-righteous. Rubbed me the wrong way. ( So good job, you guys! *g*)  RIP Harold and the others, indeed.

 

I think I just want Pam and Kate to survive. Maybe Ethan and Theresa too, but mostly Pam and Kate.

 

PS: Also Arlene. She needs to survive.  With her friend, Canadian H!ITGal, Teryl Rothery ( aka Dr. Janet Fraiser, SG-1)

Edited July 17, 2015 by Actionmage

[Tabasco Cat]

The Cloud ?

 

LOL. Pilcher should have gone down to the reckoning and addressed the crowd with two of his burly security goons at his side thusly:

 

 

So you all know who I am now? Good.

 

SAY MY NAME.

 

First Class Jason even had a bit of a Hitler hairstyle going on there. I agree with the poster above who wants to see everyone in town killed in the Abbieocalypse next week. All of them.

[Happytobehere]

I have never seen a bunch of people more worthy of death than the hand picked dengerates of Wayward Pines. I hope the show ends with the whole lot of them, especially that whining brat Ben, and his sicko teacher, dead.

The moral of the story seems to be they removed Pope in favor of the great, white, hope and the whole towns goes to hell in a hand basket in a matter of what, days, weeks at the most.

At least the end is upon us, and Wayward Pines can join the endless list of shows that ten years from now people will think back on when mentioned and be able to say, " Oh yeah, I remember that show, it was the one where everybody could be trusted to know there were tracking chips embedded in them, but they couldn't be trusted with THE TRUTH."

Edited July 17, 2015 by Happytobehere

[Free]

I don't understand how they managed to make the show boring. Well, I do know how they managed it (Ben and Amy for starters) but I don't know why. The premise is not boring. There must still be a few talented writers in hollywood. I'm only watching because I hope next week everyone dies. Everyone. No more show. No possibility of a second season. Just let us all forget.

 

The premise is interesting, but the characters are dull and bland, especially once they stop trying to be mysterious for no good reason pre-twist.  If the next episode really is the last like the promo suggests, then it's for the best considering how much worse it could get.

[Valny]

Was it just me or did Ben's cuts and scrapes(yeah right,that's all the outer injuries he got from a BOMB!)   look worse when he was in in hall with Pam freaking out about Amy? I swear they looked worse than when he was lying in bed.

Thanks for the recap ottoDbusdriver, I totally fell asleep somewhere a half into it, and I woke up about  five minutes left.

When they were showing Ethan doing the voiceovers talking about his plan, I was thinking he staged the reckoning and that he told all the people to act like that so Pilcher would see but then I didn't know what that would accomplish exactly so I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

Could they show a little more on those previews for next week?! Geez, way to give away most of the episode promo guys!

Amy's pretty much screwed because she was on a ventilator -- and with no power to keep her breathing, she's toast unless there was some battery backup

 

 

damn it, too bad they showed her alive in the previews.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Valny

[HunterHunted]

I'm more inclined to believe that Pilcher axed the first Wayward Pinesians because they didn't want to follow him. He is a megalomaniacal little shit.

I'm not really sure what's going on with the Wayward Pines Academy kids. Pitcher's reactions all made it seem like he was shocked by their actions and that the kids might be going rogue. But the exact thing he would need to keep control would be a private army who believes you're a veritable God whose parents would be especially resistant to killing. Yet he's just going let the kids get eaten by Abbies.

The huge packs of Abbies make no sense. Humans can alter our surroundings; we don't have to rely upon natural predator prey dynamics for survival. The abbies don't have these same advantages. Once they killed all of the prey, they really should have thinned out their numbers because there just isn't enough food for them.

[mercurius]

 

At least the end is upon us, and Wayward Pines can join the endless list of shows that ten years from now people will think back on when mentioned and be able to say, " Oh yeah, I remember that show, it was the one where everybody could be trusted to know there were tracking chips embedded in them, but they couldn't be trusted with THE TRUTH."

 

I think, though, it wasn't about trusting or not trusting anyone to do anything. Pilcher clearly didn't really care about the town, or the people, hence powering down not just the defenses but also life support and so forth. He didn't want to create a stable, long-lasting town and save humanity. He wanted to be the person responsible for saving humanity. Some of those true believers saw him like a god and wanted him to be revered as such. He saw himself as a god. He wanted the volunteers to revere, obey, and not question. He wanted the people in the town to obey and not question, and he seemed to take pleasure that they didn't realize he was their 'master'. If it was about saving humanity he'd have gone about this differently. He wanted to create, or recreate, humanity in his own image.

[Free]

 

Could they show a little more on those previews for next week?! Geez, way to give away most of the episode promo guys!

 

Yup, they did the same when Ben was hurt.

[Milburn Stone]

Could they show a little more on those previews for next week?! Geez, way to give away most of the episode promo guys!

 

And that's why I never watch previews.

[willco]

I was really hoping that this whole thing was some sort of test for Ethan, by the government or FBI, to see how he'd respond to certain situations. But I think that dream is dead, unless they pull a fast one in the last 10 minutes of the last episode. When they showed that clip in the previouslies with the guy saying maybe they shouldn't do this ( something like that) I thought it was a clue that it was a test/simulation. For some reason I thought that guy was some kind of government agent. But he was in the town, right ? I swear, between this show, Under the Dumb, The Following ( which I still loved even though it was dumb), I think my brain has begun to mush because I'm not following plots very well. Or maybe I'm just not paying attention anymore. Add me to those who've hoped for this to be one and done. I was excited when it started, I love a mystery, but I'm not thrilled with how it's gone.

[Free]

 

I swear, between this show, Under the Dumb, The Following ( which I still loved even though it was dumb), I think my brain has begun to mush because I'm not following plots very well.

 

If anything it's the writers that have mush for 'brains'.

 

 

Add me to those who've hoped for this to be one and done. I was excited when it started, I love a mystery, but I'm not thrilled with how it's gone.

 

Exactly, it's not something that should be long term, UTD is a great example of that.

[Accidental Martyr]

5000 cameras? ...but they never saw those guys steal a dump truck and drive it through the fence.

That was supposed to the entire town at the "reckoning"? It looked like there were maybe 100 people there.

[jhlipton]

Two wonderful pieces of timing -- Gail spilling her coffee at the exact moment Theresa whacked the camera, and Ethan coming to the station Just In Time to save Kate but no one else.

 

Speaking of time, let me see if I got this right:

Harold leaves his buddies (1 alive, 1 dead) to hobble back to town

Ethan picks up Harold

Truck smashes through fence

Ethan drops Harold at the station
Abbie starts to wiggle through because none of these "apex predators" can climb over a dump truck!)
Ethan arrives just in time to smash Abbie 1
Abbies 2 and 3 are wiggling under the truck
Ethan shoots out the tires of the semi, squishing Abbie 2
Class 1 arrives at the station to threaten rebels

Class 1 leaves without doing much
Pilcher, CSI team and repair crew arrive at fence
Ethan comes back to town to question Harold
Ethan goes to the bunker
Class 1 arrives at the station to kill rebels
Ethan arrives at the station just in time to kill Hitler Youth 1

 

Was it just me or was Ethan zooming all over the place this episode?

[thuganomics85]

RIP, Harold.  Can't say I'm surprised: I'm really use to Reed Diamond characters not getting a happy endings.

 

So, this is it.  The episode before the final showdown.  And basically all that happens is Ethan finally gets proof that everything outside the wall his hell (OK, it was actually Theresa.  With help from Pam, which is kind of interesting, I guess), stages a Reckoning and gathers everyone, and then tells them all.  Again, thanks to Theresa showing whoever she could the videos, so they have a couple of folks backing them.  Find, that's decently smart of them.  But then it all falls apart because Pilcher throws a temper tantrum and shuts all the power down, which will no doubt let the Abbies in.

 

And, this is when I realized why I have had problems getting into this last half: Pilcher isn't a good antagonist.  I think Toby Jones is one hell of an actor, but Pilcher?  He's just a baby, and instead of feeling like a solid bad guy throwing down the gauntlet, it felt he was mad he got beat at Monopoly, so he's taking his toys and going home.  Lame.  Meanwhile, on the flip side, Pam was a hoot as a bad guy early on, but now she's suddenly an ally to Ethan and Theresa, and is freaking out over what Pilcher is doing.  I would have found it much more satisfying if this series ended with Pam as the ultimate bad guy, while Pilcher remained a flawed, but well-meaning guy. I just feel like all these twists haven't been earned.  Maybe if some of the past episode focused more on these two, it would have worked, but for what we got, I just didn't buy it.

 

Speaking of not buying, why do they keep pushing Ben and Amy, like I'm suppose to give a damn?  Ben sucks and Amy never moved past being a flirty love interest of his.  And don't even get me started on that hilarious scene with the Wayward Academy folks "supporting them", but slamming their first into their palms, like they were gearing up for the World's Lames Rock, Paper, Scissor contest.

 

Hessler sighting.  I hope Tim Griffin at least found other work during the big-ass gap when he wasn't needed.

 

It was a Hatch!  Ha!  You didn't let me down on that front, show!

 

Best part was easily Theresa smacking Hope Davis.  She just needed to do it a few more times, and it would have made me bump the episode up another letter grade.  Still, I'm kind of surprised Theresa might be one of my favorite characters right now. 

 

At least the previews claimed that next week is going to be the "Series Finale", so I hope FOX actually goes through with that.  The ratings have been decent, so I was worried they might to keep this thing chugging along.  Maybe there is a chance it will wrap up well.  Then again, maybe they'll pull an Under the Dome or something, and have everyone cocooned or some dumb shit.  It could go either way!  So exciting!

[Dewey Decimate]

God, that murderous little Hitler-lite was an awfully over the top actor. He actually reminded me of Niedermeyer from Animal House. ("Is that a PLEDGE PIN??)

 

Can't wait for all to be decimated. Especially the One-Potato-Two-Potato club.

[Free]

 

At least the previews claimed that next week is going to be the "Series Finale", so I hope FOX actually goes through with that.  The ratings have been decent, so I was worried they might to keep this thing chugging along.  Maybe there is a chance it will wrap up well.  Then again, maybe they'll pull an Under the Dome or something, and have everyone cocooned or some dumb shit.  It could go either way!  So exciting!

 

I hope so if it's true, I'd actually like a series to end when it needs to.

[SlackerInc]

"Just a headache"--knew it!

 

It's a hatch!

 

For a moment, when Teresa brought them down to that underground office with the computer, I thought they were going to do a reveal like many on these boards have been expecting: that it was some sort of experiment, and it was really still the 21st century. But I'm glad that was not the case.  (Cool image of the Golden Gate Bridge in ruins.)

 

I really liked this episode overall, but there were a couple of weird editing choices.  At the beginning, I agree with Otto: they should have used some kind of "X hours earlier" title card to make it more clear that the reckoning was a flashforward (or other stuff was a flashback, depending on how you look at it).  And later on, the brief flashback to what we had seen three minutes earlier, when Ethan called and then told Pilcher he needed everyone there, was really strange and pointless.

 

I wondered at the reckoning--especially when Megan the hypnoteacher tried to play counterrevolutionary--where the "First Generation" stood with all of this.

 

The previouslies has WAY too much Adam Hassler in it. [snip]

 

Meanwhile, the 3 WPA Class 1 students are going on a long drive to somewhere in the middle of the night.  It's never shown where they were going, so why bother showing that scene at all ?

 

For some reason, there is a cut scene of a bicycle abandoned in the street and a merry-go-round (that looks like it has seen better days) also abandoned.  What the hell that has to do with anything I have no idea ?  Is it another flash forward ?  And why is the merry-go-round aged so much ?[snip]

 

Definitely agree about the amount of Hassler in the previouslies.  But I do not recall the other stuff you are talking about at all.  I am a "cord cutter" and watch on Hulu: could they have messed up the version you saw, and corrected it by the time it was posted online?

 

I don't understand what happened to the Nurse Pam character. In the first couple of episodes she was so menacing. Delightfully menacing. What happened to her to turn her all soft and sentimental (over that old photo)? In that scene with Theresa I was afraid for a second that she was going to giggle. Did I miss an episode where they thawed out Pam 2.0?

 

Word to this.  The recapper made a similar point: 

 

"By giving Theresa the keys to Lot 33, she solidified her position as a Burke ally. It's too bad, though, because Pam started off such a fun, campy villain. When the series rebooted itself halfway through, so did Pam, and without much explanation. Her earlier, sketchier behavior (demanding Justin Kirk's death; telling punny jokes about Juliette Lewis's execution) was written off as overcompensation for the part David instructed her to play in WP, but that never tracked with me."

 

MMV, but personally I am a lot more willing to buy into some of the technical stuff, like preserving technology for two thousand years, than that Pam would pull such a 180.

 

Abbie starts to wiggle through because none of these "apex predators" can climb over a dump truck!)

 

There was no room on top: the truck was wedged in there real good, and it was sparking against the electrification anyway.  If anything, I'd take the opposite tack: that it was strange that they'd even try to crawl under.  (Same goes for Otto's point about why they'd start to crawl over just because the lights went out.)

 

I will defend them on the abbies not getting in when they were repairing the fence, though.  There were multiple security guys with rifles shown standing guard.

[shrewd.buddha]

So, if Ethan had a clue, wouldn't he realize that the person most in need of a reckoning is David Pilcher ? Seriously - it is not as if Pilcher is displaying any sort of genius with regards to planning or reacting to threats - real or imagined. Yes, he had the money and means to populate a town full of kidnap victims, but now seems completely lost as to how to proceed -- and he seems to have no concept of how human behavior works. 

 

The jailhouse slaughter was brutal - a real game-changer for this slow moving show ... but Ethan seems to running things as if he is living in Mayberry "Oh, I reckon' I'll mozy on down to the office now ... I know we have all these cameras and phones and fake townspeople  .. but why bother using them?" 

 

Now we are left with five groups :

1) Cowardly, in denial townspeople

2) Nazi-type teenagers, now with guns 

3) The behind-the scenes technicians

4) The rebel fighters with Kate

5) The Abbie-normals 

 

..And I have no idea who to root for ...  (but definitely not the Nazi schoolkids) 

[ottoDbusdriver]

But I do not recall the other stuff you are talking about at all.  I am a "cord cutter" and watch on Hulu: could they have messed up the version you saw, and corrected it by the time it was posted online?

 

In the version I saw, the scene with the abandoned bicycle and merry-go-round appeared right before Ethan dragged Harold into the sheriff's office.

 

The scene with the 3 WPA Class 1 students going for a drive occurred after they left the Sheriff's office and was edited in while Pilcher was talking to Ethan at the fence about WP town folks demanding retribution or they will take the law into their own hands.  We never did find out where they were driving to, I guess it was just to reinforce that these were the people that Pilcher was talking about.

[SlackerInc]

Huh, I dunno...maybe I blinked and missed those shots.

 

Now we are left with five groups :

1) Cowardly, in denial townspeople

2) Nazi-type teenagers, now with guns 

3) The behind-the scenes technicians

4) The rebel fighters with Kate

5) The Abbie-normals 

 

For #2, don't you mean "Nazi-type teenagers, briefly with guns, until Ethan came in and shot one and took the others into custody"?

[ottoDbusdriver]

One followup question about Plot 33 -- Theresa initially finds something metallic underfoot in the yard and bangs on it with some rebar.  When she goes back and finds the tunnel opening in the floor of the shed, you can see that the hole goes down a long ways.  So what was the metallic thing she found out in the yard if the tunnels appear to be made of concrete ?

 

I'm assuming that will be just one among the litany of things that go unanswered in the finale, like:

• why were the dates on the secret file folders in the Sheriff's office written backwards
• what's with the triangular bar codes
• why were the bodies of Bill Evans and Beverly left in that abandoned house
• why was that house abandoned when nearly all the other properties in WP looked taken care of
• where are the buffalo burgers coming from
• how was the sheriff's truck fixed so quickly after hitting the dumpster, appeared to have no damage to it and was completely drivable the next day
• who cleaned up the fuck truck bomb scene, and why didn't they CSI the hell out of that like they did the scene outside the fence, because Ted died in that "accident"
• who keeps putting the messages on the chalkboard in the sheriff's office
• where is all the booze and food coming from -- while we saw silos of staples in that food warehouse, someone has to be making the wine, beer, scotch, etc. and where is all the fresh produce and milk products coming from
• where is all the garbage being disposed of, and where do the sewer lines end up.  It's got to go somewhere.
• where is the reckoningmobile normally parked

 

And many others.

Edited July 17, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[janie jones]

If there are all these other Pilchertowns all over the place, why is he spending all of his time in Wayward Pines?  (At least, that's my understanding based on the Adam Hassler video, that there are people all over the country, and that many have made video diaries of their escapes.  It can't possibly be that he made it all the way from Wayward Pines to San Francisco, mainly because of the abbies, but partly because Pilcher told Ethan that he made it farther than anyone else did.  Which of course could be a lie.  But why would he even try to go to San Francisco if he was coming from Idaho?  After Boise did he discover Seattle was gone, and then Portland?)  Who is overseeing those towns?  What's it like there?  And if there are multiple towns, this means there were thousands of volunteers. 

 

And Adam Hassler was obviously in on it.  So why was he trying to escape?

 

And also, why didn't that kid line Kate up along with the other guys to execute her?  I know why, for plot purposes, he didn't kill her, but there's no reason they couldn't have had Ethan show up at the last second to save her when she was the last person in line.

 

Also, that kid looked way old.  Was he supposed to be in high school?  Maybe the first kids in the first generation are expected to hang around the school brainwashing the younger kids.

 

How was Ethan going to and from mission control so quickly and easily?  I thought you had to take a helicopter.

 

Between the townspeople and their thirst for a reckoning

I don't think they have a thirst for a reckoning, I think they're playing along.

Edited July 17, 2015 by janie jones

[SoothingDave]

 

The abbies are more dangerous than velocirapters, but there's no problem at all while repairing the fence.

 

 

I think they would have guns and chase any away.  No predator is going to keep coming after a few have been shot/killed.  They are like wild animals, not mindless zombies or White Walkers.

 

 

 

MMV, but personally I am a lot more willing to buy into some of the technical stuff, like preserving technology for two thousand years, than that Pam would pull such a 180.

 

 

It seems to me that Pam's motivation is preserving her brother.  She knows he gets a little excitable (especially when his blood sugar drops, ha) and is trying to manipulate people/events to prevent Pilcher from going down the insane path that he now seems to be on.

 

That is, I don't think she is motivated by wanting to join the rebels, or by having a change of heart.  She does what she does because she believes in the project and knows the faults of her brother.  From previous experience.

 

Still unexplained is the "I've always believed you" from Juliette Lewis to Ethan in episode one.  My contention is that Pilcher has re-booted Ethan more than once.  This iteration of WP and Ethan we are watching is not the first time he has bee woken up and become sheriff.

[janie jones]

Still unexplained is the "I've always believed you" from Juliette Lewis to Ethan in episode one.  My contention is that Pilcher has re-booted Ethan more than once.  This iteration of WP and Ethan we are watching is not the first time he has bee woken up and become sheriff.

If that's the case, then why wouldn't Beverly tell him that?  "Do you know you keep showing up in town like you've never been here before?"  Why wouldn't Kate have said something by now?  There are at least a couple people who have no motivation to pretend they hadn't met him before.  And I think they'd have to have thawed Teresa and Ben, too, because if they waited too long after Ethan, there's no way those two wouldn't have noticed he'd age, and it would be a lot harder to get a pre-existing family not to talk to each other about the past.  And what about Pope?  My understanding from his flashback was that his arrangement with Pilcher was to be sheriff from the get-go.

Edited July 17, 2015 by janie jones

[plurie]

I don't understand why the other people in the mountain would let Pilcher get away with this.

[SoothingDave]

If there are all these other Pilchertowns all over the place, why is he spending all of his time in Wayward Pines?  (At least, that's my understanding based on the Adam Hassler video, that there are people all over the country, and that many have made video diaries of their escapes.  It can't possibly be that he made it all the way from Wayward Pines to San Francisco, mainly because of the abbies, but partly because Pilcher told Ethan that he made it farther than anyone else did.  Which of course could be a lie.  But why would he even try to go to San Francisco if he was coming from Idaho?  After Boise did he discover Seattle was gone, and then Portland?)  Who is overseeing those towns?  What's it like there?  And if there are multiple towns, this means there were thousands of volunteers.

And Adam Hassler was obviously in on it.  So why was he trying to escape?

 

 

The idea I got was that there were multiple groups of people frozen in multiple locations.  WP is the only one that is left.

 

Hassler was unfrozen at some point and explored what was left of the world.  As did other teams in other locations.  He wasn't escaping.  He was a volunteer.  

 

If you woke up after 2000 years it only makes sense that they would want to venture out and explore the world.  It would be really stupid to wake up after 2000 years and go about rebuilding civilization if civilization was fine.  They had flying cars and cancer cured and you're living in a bunker eating 2000 year old buffalo jerky?

 

Why everyone was killed in the other groups is not explained.  Perhaps they didn't have a good bunker like WP has.  Perhaps Pilcher went crazy and killed all his volunteers in other locations.  Who knows?

 

The point is that there were multiple "Arks" in multiple locations and that they all failed after being awoken.  WP is all that is left.

 

If that's the case, then why wouldn't Beverly tell him that?  "Do you know you keep showing up in town like you've never been here before?"  Why wouldn't Kate have said something by now?  There are at least a couple people who have no motivation to pretend they hadn't met him before.  And I think they'd have to have thawed Teresa and Ben, too, because if they waited too long after Ethan, there's no way those two wouldn't have noticed he'd age, and it would be a lot harder to get a pre-existing family not to talk to each other about the past.  And what about Pope?  My understanding from his flashback was that his arrangement with Pilcher was to be sheriff from the get-go.

 

 

I think Beverly is a special case.  She knew Ethan was a rerun.  She had some special role to play in getting Ethan to investigate and come to want to be sheriff.  Her role is not well explained.

 

The rest of WP, including Kate, that is *this version* of WP hasn't seen Ethan before.  Remember, Pilcher or events wiped out previous incarnations of WP.  It's not Ethan's first time, but he doesn't know that.  And for everyone else there (except Beverly) it's their first time.

 

You are right, Theresa and Ben would have had to have been with Ethan in previous incarnations.

 

Pope was to be sheriff, but Pilcher obviously had a reason to want Ethan around "just in case" things got out of hand.

Edited July 17, 2015 by SoothingDave

[SlackerInc]

If there are all these other Pilchertowns all over the place, why is he spending all of his time in Wayward Pines?  (At least, that's my understanding based on the Adam Hassler video, that there are people all over the country, and that many have made video diaries of their escapes.  It can't possibly be that he made it all the way from Wayward Pines to San Francisco, mainly because of the abbies, but partly because Pilcher told Ethan that he made it farther than anyone else did.  Which of course could be a lie.  But why would he even try to go to San Francisco if he was coming from Idaho?  After Boise did he discover Seattle was gone, and then Portland?)  Who is overseeing those towns?  What's it like there?  And if there are multiple towns, this means there were thousands of volunteers. 

 

And Adam Hassler was obviously in on it.  So why was he trying to escape?

 

And also, why didn't that kid line Kate up along with the other guys to execute her?  I know why, for plot purposes, he didn't kill her, but there's no reason they couldn't have had Ethan show up at the last second to save her when she was the last person in line.

 

Also, that kid looked way old.  Was he supposed to be in high school?  Maybe the first kids in the first generation are expected to hang around the school brainwashing the younger kids.

 

How was Ethan going to and from mission control so quickly and easily?  I thought you had to take a helicopter.

 

I think there are some misunderstandings here.  My sense of what is going on:

 

--There are no other Wayward Pines type towns.  Those diaries were not of escapes but of recon missions to see if any humans survived anywhere.

--Pilcher telling Ethan he made it farther than anyone else was in reference to people who escaped the town.  Those who travel via helicopter or with other "official" help don't count.

--The "kid" said he was from the "first class".  Presumably that means the first class to graduate from WP High.  So he could theoretically be in his mid-twenties; OTOH he's probably no more than 21 due to Kate saying he was at most ten when she remembers selling him a toy (and she's been there 12 years but didn't play along right away).

 

It seems to me that Pam's motivation is preserving her brother.  She knows he gets a little excitable (especially when his blood sugar drops, ha) and is trying to manipulate people/events to prevent Pilcher from going down the insane path that he now seems to be on.

 

That is, I don't think she is motivated by wanting to join the rebels, or by having a change of heart.  She does what she does because she believes in the project and knows the faults of her brother.  From previous experience.

 

But that doesn't explain why she acted so heinous in the early episodes.  Insisting the realtor be killed, making sarcastic jibes about Beverly's reckoning, threatening Ethan with torture.  It was not necessary to go that far just to "play along".

 

I don't understand why the other people in the mountain would let Pilcher get away with this.

 

He locked them out of the system.  The guy who seems like the head of operations was furiously trying to do something about it, but Pilcher was shown in his office (presumably behind some very secure doors) having shifted all control to his terminal.

 

ETA: Dave, I think you're wrong about "multiple arks", but I thought this was on point and very funny:

 

If you woke up after 2000 years it only makes sense that they would want to venture out and explore the world.  It would be really stupid to wake up after 2000 years and go about rebuilding civilization if civilization was fine.  They had flying cars and cancer cured and you're living in a bunker eating 2000 year old buffalo jerky?

 

Edited July 17, 2015 by SlackerInc

[Clanstarling]

So advanced weapons couldn't take care of a bunch of naked guys with big teeth? Even if they are fast, that doesn't fly. And I thought the downfall of civ as we know it happened in 2095. How is that Adam guy there? WTF.

Frozen, like the others.

 

So, if Ethan had a clue, wouldn't he realize that the person most in need of a reckoning is David Pilcher ?

That's what I thought would happen when Ethan wanted EVERYBODY at the reckoning - a bait and switch and Pilcher getting reckoned.

 

I actually liked this episode. It moved pretty quickly. It didn't answer all the questions, obviously. But taken by itself, not too bad, in my opinion.

 

Pilcher turning off the lights and power like a child in a fit of pique - well, listen to some of the politicians (around the world) and that's not too unbelievable. Crazy, yes. But there's a lot of crazy on the ground these days. I personally think Pam is going to rush in and save the day - and maybe kill Pilcher herself.

 

My take on Pilcher watching the "students" at the hospital (and then the sheriff's office) was that Hypnoteacher had gone WELL beyond her job description, and that he was not at all happy with the way they were violently enforcing the rules. Perhaps he thought they could be competition some day.

 

Someone who's trained for the FBI (though gave it up to be a mom) should have known better than to address a camera from the front. But hey, a cup of spilled coffee saved her (and apparently there is no alarm when a camera goes down).

[Actionmage]

I don't understand why the other people in the mountain would let Pilcher get away with this.

 

Maybe because they are afraid he'd allow the abbies to get into the mountain?

 

Or they are so far into the Kool-Aid punch bowl that they agree with Pilcher that they are ungrateful and deserve the town-wide Reckoning. What do they care, they are safe?

[slothgirl]

 

Someone who's trained for the FBI (though gave it up to be a mom) should have known better than to address a camera from the front. But hey, a cup of spilled coffee saved her (and apparently there is no alarm when a camera goes down).

Whats really stupid, now that I think about it, is that they didn't just build something new and shiny (like the rest of WP) OVER the hatch. They left an empty lot with a goofy shed which is bound to attract attention and look out of place, and then put a camera on it with someone assigned to watch the feed from that camera to make sure no one explored it. If they didn't want anyone to find it, why make it so damn obvious?

Maybe because they are afraid he'd allow the abbies to get into the mountain?

 

Or they are so far into the Kool-Aid punch bowl that they agree with Pilcher that they are ungrateful and deserve the town-wide Reckoning. What do they care, they are safe?

I would think that what happened to Reggie would give them pause. It certainly seemed to affect Pam.

[SoothingDave]

Oh, I could be wrong about multiple arks.  It wasn't well explained.  I thought it made more sense to have people wake up in different locations then end up being killed by abbies.  Than it does that they made it all across the world/continent/country successfully and then got killed at scenic locations.

 

No explanations for how the video feeds were collected/transmitted.  Or why the videos are all on a computer in a tunnel under a shed in an abandoned lot in the perfect little town.  Couldn't the tunnel entrance be in someone's garage?

 

Pam, i think it ultimately a pragmatist.  She's creepy nurse authority figure in the town when she needs to be.  She encourages the people in town to behave the way she wants them to.  But she also knows that David's way leads to tragedy, so she is trying to clue in Theresa.  Pam is an interesting character.  She is not set in her ways, which is the flaw of David Pilcher.

Edited July 17, 2015 by SoothingDave

[ottoDbusdriver]

Whats really stupid, now that I think about it, is that they didn't just build something new and shiny (like the rest of WP) OVER the hatch. They left an empty lot with a goofy shed which is bound to attract attention and look out of place, and then put a camera on it with someone assigned to watch the feed from that camera to make sure no one explored it. If they didn't want anyone to find it, why make it so damn obvious?

 

Or at least put a lock on the door to the hatch.

[KaveDweller]

The idea I got was that there were multiple groups of people frozen in multiple locations.  WP is the only one that is left.

 

Hassler was unfrozen at some point and explored what was left of the world.  As did other teams in other locations.  He wasn't escaping.  He was a volunteer.  

 

If you woke up after 2000 years it only makes sense that they would want to venture out and explore the world.  It would be really stupid to wake up after 2000 years and go about rebuilding civilization if civilization was fine.  They had flying cars and cancer cured and you're living in a bunker eating 2000 year old buffalo jerky?

 

Why everyone was killed in the other groups is not explained.  Perhaps they didn't have a good bunker like WP has.  Perhaps Pilcher went crazy and killed all his volunteers in other locations.  Who knows?

 

The point is that there were multiple "Arks" in multiple locations and that they all failed after being awoken.  WP is all that is left.

 

I didn't get the sense that there were multiple arks, just that they sent people on expeditions to see the rest of the country. The fact that they did that answers a question I've had about how they know they're all that's left. Then they were reporting back to home base.

I can believe expedition teams could get far if they had trucks or another helicopter.