S01.E10: Cycle

[Casually Observant]

Melissa Leo was great, and I enjoyed Ben getting hit in the head.  The rest is about what I expected for this show, including the ending which was as implausible as everything else about this premise.

Yes, I thought Melissa Leo did an excellent job, as did Toby Jones. I realized that Melissa Leo has allowed herself to age naturally, which is hard to find in actresses in Hollywood nowadays. Her natural face portrayed all of these emotions so beautifully, and she really sold her character. I also agree with another poster who said the scene at the end when her brother was dead and she was no longer under his suppressive control, her face was relaxed her hair was loose hair and she was glowing.

I really liked how Toby Jones portrayed the brilliant yet delusional Dr. Pilcher. Especially his expression of shock at Kate's aborted "reckoning" and the ultimate (and justifiable) betrayal by Ethan and his own sister Pam. He also looked appropriately haggard, sad and unshaven as he watches the process of putting Pam back in the deep freeze.

[Casually Observant]

When Ben was waking up I noticed his face wounds were healed so I had the idea maybe they were going with the "you got hit in the head and have been in a coma and this is all a bad dream" trope. When he asked "Where am I?" I expected the nurse to answer "Seattle General, of course."

So those teenagers took over the town, captured all the adults and put them in cryo, killed all the abbies, cleaned up and rebuilt the town and they did it all OFFSCREEN between the last scene with Pam and Kate and the following scene with Ben waking up.

 /quote]

Yes, at that moment, I, too, thought this was all going to be a dream of Ben's. But I waited to see if they had come up with something less clichéd. And they did!

Now regarding how they didn't show us how the Hitler teens takeover happened, well, I think that gives them fodder to show us those details in season two - if there is a season two.

I will watch if there is one.

[Muffyn]

I guess in hindsight we know why we wasted, er spent, so much time with him and the girlfriend. I suppose I was meant to have an emotional ~connection with their struggle. Bzzt! Didn't work!

 

Especially with Ethan dead, and all the adults frozen, the focus will be on Ben.  And his powers of being super boring.

So much this.  Every time Ben was on screen it was like the interest drained from my body.  The scene of him and his girlfriend and his protestations of how he couldn't go on without her - seriously?  After all, they had known each other for so long.  He had dreams of sitting quietly with her for hours and hours and hours, occasionally making a super boring comment, perhaps about the weather.  I hated Ben so much I have transferred the hate to the actor.  I hope to never see his scrunched face again.

 

Thanks OttoDBusDriver for the play-by-play.  It answers every question that can be answered.  That is, it leaves about five million pen issues but at least we can all understand the amazing things that happened to get to the ending.

 

My only annoying question, with all of the adults in stasis, who trained our newest nurse?

[Zanne]

My only annoying question, with all of the adults in stasis, who trained our newest nurse?

 

This is our future "utopia" and they couldn't make her a doctor? Sexist bastards. Her only qualification for nurse is probably that the uniform fit. They supposedly don't have their hive of hidden worker bees to make more and their school didn't seem to teach weaving and pattern making in between the sex pep talks.

[jhlipton]

as Ben screams "Dad" at the wreckage below, something clonks him on the head and knocks him out..

 

That was the best part of the episode.

 

Because that will allow them to have flashbacks to show us how the takeover happened. And, show how the whiny Ben carefully sets in motion a defrosting of the adults and a coup to reclaim WP for decent humanity. In the process, he'll shorten his hair, buff up and become a man, after his own father's mold. The freshly defrosted Theresa will be brought up to speed, lose her timidity and becomes the bad-ass former agent she planned to be. She, Kate, Pam and Ben together will beat the crap out of the Hitler teens.

 

Have fun!  A flashback when we already know what's going to happen would be ghastly.  And Ben couldn't lead a show if he tried.

 

If they had left the show with Pam, Kate and Theresa in charge -- that I might watch. But The Adventures of the Hitler Youth does not sound fun.

 

(BTW, once again, the Abbies show how they deserve the name "apex predator" by being taken out by one woman and a hammer, and another woman and a syringe.  The velocoraptors in the first Jurassic Park  movie were better hunters!)

[Actionmage]

The ride was great.

 

I didn't enjoy my fellow "passengers"' stories enough to take a trip with them again. They went all over the road, swerving all over. I was apparently supposed to not notice or care how the trip was laid out and executed ( as it were), just happy that there was a trip and I was as chosen as the Waywardians. Glad you and others enjoyed it, truly.

 

 

In the process, he'll shorten his hair, buff up and become a man, after his own father's mold.

 

Ben trying to morph into Ethan, while not the worst thing that could happen, isn't what is needed. Fight smarter, not harder.

 

Oh, by the way, kid, anyone who graduates nursing school in three years and four months should be just a bit suspect.

 

Not only a timing problem for me, but besides the  who taught them is : who/ what did they practice on?  Grey's Anatomy and other shows have the n00b docs practice on fruit, like oranges. Are there that many citrus trees available? Or did they use  dead abbies?  Or dead abbies and dead townies?

 

Maybe Amy and Ben just need to head for Sanctuary, remembering to steer clear of Box. *g*  (Maybe the carousel was a hint after all? *g*)

[SoothingDave]

Well, that was a waste of time.  There were some enjoyable moments, but I'm not watching any more.

 

When Beverly said "I've always believed you" in episode 1, I assumed the writers would at some point explain this.  Not just use it as bait to lead people to watch.  Fool me once.

 

This show had so much potential and blew it.  

 

As for the finale, I assume they tacked on the ending just in the hopes of getting a second season.  Which is lame.  Pam and Kate hopefully forging forward into the future is an ending.  The epilogue with Ben waking up was utter crap, except for how well Amy fit into the nurse's uniform.

 

I would have been happier with Ethan awakening on the couch in the therapist's office from the first episode.  This series makes more sense as a man's hallucination than it does as a reality.

 

This is just an example of the unanswered and stupid things this show has shown us:  If there was an "Ark," a secret place in the school with all kinds of supplies, why wouldn't the hypnoteacher have gone there?  Are we to believe the teacher didn't know about the ark?  

 

The series was some fun to watch and speculate about, but in the end it was unsatisfying because it didn't treat the audience with respect or decency in answering the questions it raised.

 

No, thank you.

[Morrigan2575]

I thought this was a good finale up until Ben waking up. As soon as Ben got.knocked out I worried they were going to have him wake-up in the "past", all a dream type scenario and restart the series. Or maybe we'd find out.that Pilcher's twist was clones, so group C was just a clone of Group B. However, when the very next scene was Kate/Pam mending bridges for.the good of Humanity I was really interested. I was already contemplating watching S2 to see Pam/Kate/Teresa deal with forming a new society and dealing with internal/external threats.

The Time Jump to 3 years later and Wayward Pines in the hands of The First Generation, while trying to set up a redo around Ben was utter crap, IMO. Did Not Like!

[shrewd.buddha]

When Pilcher was arguing with Pam about starting with a clean slate "Option C", I think I remember him saying that the Abbies would eventually leave the area during their annual migration and then they could turn the power back on and restart.  The safety bunker that the Nazi kids had waiting for them may have had more supplies than we were shown and maybe some way for them to override control of the mountain bunker (I have seen lots of Star Trek episodes where things like that happen).

Anyways... I am pretty satisfied with the ending --- mainly because it ended. Finally.

It reminded me of a typical ending of a Twilight Zone episode.
And Ben is the perfect replacement for his blundering dad Ethan -- those two were truly cut from the same cloth.

These last few episodes were fast and fun -- despite having to wade through all the dumb-assery to get there -- but it wasn't as if I was missing a book club meeting to stay home to watch on Thursdays nights..

Edited July 24, 2015 by shrewd.buddha

[aep1974]

Agree with everything said so far. Just wanted to reply to those saying they left it open for a Season 2; this show was filmed years ago, so I don't think they had any intention of going beyond 10 episodes. That's all Fox, being greedy at the prospect of making more money off this story. The options on the actors have already run out, so getting any of them back could be a challenge.

I loved this show, up until the point tha Ben woke up three years later. Massively disappointed.

[monakane]

I read the books, so the ending was a huge disappointment for me.  I don't want to spoil it for anyone who wants to read the books, but the book ending would have been a much better set-up for season 2.  If there is a season 2, I won't be watching.

[legaleagle53]

I don't think we can rule out the possibility of a second season just yet.

 

Well, IF there is a second season, I'll watch it -- but only because morbid curiosity makes me wonder where they can possibly go with this clusterfuck now that they've basically written themselves into a corner for all eternity.

[Geillis]

I totally agree that the book ending was so much better.  I am still hoping for a book 4. I would love to see what happens after the book ending.

[Neurochick]

I didn't like any of the "First Generation."  Nothing but a bunch of snotty nosed brats who all deserved a spanking; plus all of those young guys looked the same, very generic.  I don't see a season two there unless they got new actors.  And that guy who got shot?  How is he still alive after all that blood loss?  And if all the adults are asleep, how do they have doctors?  Weren't the "First Generation" only in high school? 

 

I guess the point they were trying to make was that each generation makes the same mistakes as the previous one, but this show seemed to say that each generation is dumber than the previous one.

[izabella]

This is just an example of the unanswered and stupid things this show has shown us:  If there was an "Ark," a secret place in the school with all kinds of supplies, why wouldn't the hypnoteacher have gone there?  Are we to believe the teacher didn't know about the ark?

 

I think she did know about that supply area.  If I'm remembering right, when we first saw her hypno-teaching the first gen teens, she came into that white student room from a secret door in the wall - seems that secret door led to that supply area.

I didn't like any of the "First Generation."  Nothing but a bunch of snotty nosed brats who all deserved a spanking; plus all of those young guys looked the same, very generic.  I don't see a season two there unless they got new actors.  And that guy who got shot?  How is he still alive after all that blood loss?  And if all the adults are asleep, how do they have doctors?  Weren't the "First Generation" only in high school? 

 

I guess the point they were trying to make was that each generation makes the same mistakes as the previous one, but this show seemed to say that each generation is dumber than the previous one.

 

The lesson I learned is that if you teach teenagers that they are special and chosen and important, they will believe it and will eventually kill you because THEY are the special and important ones, not YOU.

[Cheetosandchoc]

        I pretty much agree with all the criticism noted here. It seems like all the abbies are male? How do they reproduce? They are apex predators, with no competition  for food, and there seems to be a lot of them, after four thousand years of extreme  hunting how is there enough prey for them to continue to exist? Deer hunting has pretty strict seasons where I live so we don't deplete their population. Whatever. I only continued to watch because my husband likes it.

[SoothingDave]

OK, if we suppose that hypnoteacher knew about the ark, why wouldn't she go there?

[riverheightsnancy]

This show makes "Dig" look like an Emmy award winner. I thought that (which I was really interested to watch) Dig had been one of the most disappointing and convoluted time jumping shows ever. Nope, WP just beat that. 

[janie jones]

If they had left the show with Pam, Kate and Theresa in charge -- that I might watch. But The Adventures of the Hitler Youth does not sound fun.

I would watch if the second season was about those three taking over.  But I want all of those actresses to have better things to do with their time.

 

This is just an example of the unanswered and stupid things this show has shown us:  If there was an "Ark," a secret place in the school with all kinds of supplies, why wouldn't the hypnoteacher have gone there?  Are we to believe the teacher didn't know about the ark?  

From Pilcher's conversation with Pam, my understanding is that what happened to Group A is what was happening to these guys.  He set the abbies loose on them.  In that case, why didn't hypnoteacher know that Pilcher wasn't going to save them?  Why didn't she get the fuck to the inside of the mountain because she knew what was coming?

 

When I saw those two young people sitting with their baby, I couldn't help but think how awful it would be if you had all these people having babies who had absolutely no experience with babies -- not as older siblings, not as older cousins, not as babysitters -- with absolutely none of the older generation to help them out, not to mention no medical health professionals who started their medical training three years ago and have only learned from books, apparently.

 

This whole entire thing is way too ridiculous. 

Edited July 24, 2015 by janie jones

[monakane]

I totally agree that the book ending was so much better.  I am still hoping for a book 4. I would love to see what happens after the book ending.

 

I know TV adaptations can differ from books by eliminating minor characters and plot points or combining several characters into one, etc.  But to totally change a major plot point is disappointing.   I am also hoping for a book 4.

[KDeFlane]

I liked the ending.  It made enough internal sense to work for me. Was it perfect? No, but I don't need to have everything explained or even plausible for the emotional impact to grab me.

 

I liked the show.  Was it perfect? No, but we had fun for many weeks, and it was not an entire waste of my time.  And I'm speaking as someone who watched every episode three or more times.  Thank you, FOX.  (Just don't add a second season, please.)

[SoothingDave]

Wayward - difficult to control or predict because of unusual or perverse behavior.

 

 

You'd think evil genius Pilcher would have some self-awareness about things, since he did name the town.  Presumably.

 

Speaking of Pilcher, exactly what was the problem with the way WP was running under Pope that made him want to inject Ethan into it?

[izabella]

OK, if we suppose that hypnoteacher knew about the ark, why wouldn't she go there?

 

Because this is a badly written story full of plot holes?  Not kidding - I think they just didn't think it through. 

[Clanstarling]

In the very beginning of the show, when they did a panoramic view of the town - did it look to anyone else like the second wave of Abbies were carrying torches? I could have sworn I saw lights in the forest. Plus, really, just how did they tag all the Abbies?

 

I've seen and read "cycle" type stories before, but even the worst of them had some basic sense that the repeat was both inevitable and logical. That wasn't the case here, in my opinion.

 

These first generation leaders couldn't handle Ethan, much less a mountain full of adults. Now, if Ben had been revived 20 or more years later, maybe I could have accepted that as an ending. There would have been time for that generation to get into places of power.

 

They should have hung on the reveal of Ethan's effigy about three seconds longer, though, before a slow fade to black. That would have proved more satisfying than abruptly rolling the end credit crawl like they did.

I thought it was a new "reckoning" victim, not an effigy. But I guess he did look like Ethan, so you may be right.

Edited July 24, 2015 by clanstarling

[Clanstarling]

That was the best part of the episode.

 

 

If they had left the show with Pam, Kate and Theresa in charge -- that I might watch. But The Adventures of the Hitler Youth does not sound fun.

 

(BTW, once again, the Abbies show how they deserve the name "apex predator" by being taken out by one woman and a hammer, and another woman and a syringe.  The velocoraptors in the first Jurassic Park  movie were better hunters!)

ITA.  The power mad and true believers (those who reject and disrespect others' beliefs) aren't interesting to me unless they get their comeuppance (as I briefly, thought they did in WP) - there are too many of them in the real world.

Edited July 24, 2015 by clanstarling

[beaker73]

 

 

When Beverly said "I've always believed you" in episode 1, I assumed the writers would at some point explain this.  Not just use it as bait to lead people to watch.  Fool me once.

 

 

I came here to post this very thing.  Considering how this show ended, her saying that makes no sense at all.  

 

This show had so much potential and I feel so let down.  I may have to read books now since it appears that the ending is way different.

[izabella]

I didn't realize those were effigies until I read that here, but I did notice that they looked smaller than real people and didn't look decayed, and was all confused.  But effigies makes sense, especially when a poster here pointed out that one was supposed to be Ethan.  It kinda-sorta looked like him, lol.

 

But they are also silly, because Ethan wasn't trying to leave WP.  He knew there was no civilization out there and nowhere to go.  So the effigy signs of "Don't try to leave" are misleading though one of the rules.

Edited July 24, 2015 by izabella

[Neurochick]

How does the ending of the books differ from the series?

[SoothingDave]

I came here to post this very thing.  Considering how this show ended, her saying that makes no sense at all.  

 

This show had so much potential and I feel so let down.  I may have to read books now since it appears that the ending is way different.

 

Peek into the "books vs show" thread (it's only two pages) and you will find the answer.  

 

General consensus is that the books are worse than the show, though there is some discussion about plot points understood from the books that is not clear from the show.

 

I don't know if we are allowed to talk about that here, now that the show is over.

[KDeFlane]

Peek into the "books vs show" thread (it's only two pages) and you will find the answer.  

 

I don't know if we are allowed to talk about that here, now that the show is over.

 

I think people would prefer to keep the book discussion separate, even now.  No need to spoil the books for those who are about to begin reading the series, when there is another thread for book talk.  And forum policy is to keep the discussion threads on topic -- this topic is for content of episode 10 of the show.

[slothgirl]

These first generation leaders couldn't handle Ethan, much less a mountain full of adults. Now, if Ben had been revived 20 or more years later, maybe I could have accepted that as an ending. There would have been time for that generation to get into places of power.

Well, Ethan was gone, so our 1st generation didn't have to handle him.

 

The only way it makes sense that the Hitler Youth could take over the mountain adults was if they did it IMMEDIATELY, while the adults were exhausted, stressed, hungry,disorganized and their numbers were now severly limited because they hadn't begun waking up any more Wayward Pinesicles. Without Ethan, the chances of them mounting an effective resistance were slimmer and some of the trained guards were now ineffective because of the dissent in their ranks. Only one of them seemed to be on the WP'ians side, so somehow our residents managed to disarm or restrain the others. The problem is that the HY didn't KNOW Ethan got 'sploded by his abbie killing elevator bomb or anything else about what was going on up there ... unless there were cameras in the mountain that transmitted to the bunker.. so Pilcher and his zealots could Skype.

 

Of course, nothing else makes any sense if the HY took over immediately. It makes more sense that the Abbies took over than the HY. If the Abbies got in and killed most everyone (sparing Ethan and Amy because we all know that younger food specimens are not as tasty as older individuals.. oh wait...) the HY could have waited for the "migration" (and why have we never heard about that before? Why wouldn't they take advantage of that every season?)

 

Speaking of the Abbies, someone upthread mentioned rabid and that's when I realized what is wrong with the abbies as apex predators. They don't act at all like predators. Predation requires a certian level of stealth at least at some point, especially when prey is scarce, and even when it's abundant. The Abbies just ran amok attacking and killing everything in sight, even when it was far more than they needed for food. Unless all the attacking was done by males and then they take leftovers back to an enormous hidden herd of females and youngsters, the level of carnage was far beyond what made any sense in the natural world.

 

If they were so hungry due to the lack of food supply that they just kill and eat mindlessly (and NO successful predator species is "mindless and crazed" in it's hunting) due to the sheer number of them and the competition for food, then WHY are there so many of them? If they are that hungry, they should have been fewer of them as weaker, starving ones die off and they should have been turning on & eating each other. If there is enough prey to consistently support such a (ridiculously) huge herd of Abbies, their behavior wouldn't be so rabidly desperate as individuals. They are a herd (a mind-bogglingly LARGE herd) but they act like solo hunters competing with each other for the same food rather than a group working in concert.

 

Oh wait, they're human, so maybe that DOES make sense ;)

 

Seriously, nothing about the abbies makes sense from a zoological standpoint. Just because a species "devolves" into something more primitive doesn't mean it isnt still an animal that would follow the general predator/prey rules of the animal kingdom. They should have skipped the whole "devolution" thing and just gone with zombies, then we could handwave everything about them.

 

Perhaps in the "destruction of the environment" (I'm questioning that too at this point.. more on that further down) Rabies mutated into something that certain mammals could survive, but it left them with mush for brains (and skipped the "fearful" stage of rabies)

 

"Mankind's" destruction of the environment as an explantion of what happened... I'm thinking that was all a big lie too (like "Group A all went nuts and committed suicide") and Pilcher actually instigated a nucleur holocaust so he could re-boot humanity as it's supreme leader. He had his minions and hostages all frozen already, and all his stores of supplies laid in. He could make up whatever story he wanted to tell them when they woke up. I think HE destroyed mankind and the environment. Maybe he was shocked when he woke up to learn that some humans survived and mutated.

 

Why am I still thinking about this?

Gah!

Edited July 24, 2015 by slothgirl

[Centaur]

Suffering through 44 minutes of comical plot and terrible acting was almost worth it to see Amy in her hot nurse's outfit. Ben shouldn't write this new reboot off until he at least spends some time getting to know her. As Megan suggested.

[marcee]

I'm fairly certain the showrunners/writers felt they made it obvious how the kids took over the town.

• They made a point of talking about this "ark".
• They made a point of talking repeatedly about how Pilcher PREPARED THEM for this "flood", this "day of reckoning".
• They made a point of showing us this huge underground bunker stocked with food and supplies and a GLUT of weapons.

 

The assumption would be that they have been training for this day since they were thawed. The day came. They spent a few months in that bunker waiting for the abbies to leave and for the 'adults' to repair the wall; they trained and planned. The 'adults', believing everyone else had died and having nothing else to fear now, put their weapons away and began their lives anew - without rules and guards and surveillance.

 

It would be very easy for a group of well-trained, well-armed, brainwashed first-genners to pull off a surprise attack. They'd be the only ones with weapons; they have no problem killing people. And without surveillance, no one would see them coming. Voila! No flashbacks required.

 

Thank you and good night.

[izabella]

"Mankind's" destruction of the environment as an explantion of what happened... I'm thinking that was all a big lie too (like "Group A all went nuts and committed suicide") and Pilcher actually instigated a nucleur holocaust so he could re-boot humanity as it's supreme leader. He had his minions and hostages all frozen already, and all his stores of supplies laid in. He could make up whatever story he wanted to tell them when they woke up. I think HE destroyed mankind and the environment. Maybe he was shocked when he woke up to learn that some humans survived and mutated.

 

This is a better explanation of the destruction of humanity and civilization than they gave us, and why mutated abbies, so I'm going with this.  LaLaLa, I can't hear you not making sense, show!

Edited July 24, 2015 by izabella

[iMonrey]

Out of all the wrong turns this story took, probably the greatest miscalculation on the part of the writers was over-estimating our investment and interest in Ben and Amy. As though we gave a flying damn whether they lived or died. To be sure, I'm willing to wager most fans were hoping to see them killed by series end. 

 

If the show expected us to care about Ben then perhaps they should have cast someone more engaging in the role and written the character to be far less disagreeable. I don't want to come down too hard on the actor but Ben, as a character, could not have been less interesting or rootable. Ending the series with Ben as the lone survivor of all the main characters doesn't exactly leave anyone eager for more of this story. 

 

Moreover, if the end game was to have the "first generation" teens take over the town, the show should have done a better job of developing those characters and that aspect of the show, because all we ever got was Ben and Amy and they were boring as hell at best and annoying as hell at worst. 

 

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The show really fell apart after the big reveal in Episode Five and never really recovered, so an ending like this just further demonstrated the writers didn't really have a grasp of where this story could go.

[mercurius]

I loved, LOVED the ending

 

I did too. I'd expected Ethan to survive, defeat the Abbies, and help rebuild and remold the town along the lines of freedom (as much as there can be if you're the last of humanity in a walled town) and democracy. But the kids, who spent much or most or all of their lives in the town being taught Pilcher as savior and Pilcher's rules didn't want that and replicated his society. But then I'm also an easy viewer. I don't need to see how they did it, or even be told how they did it. I found it interesting, unexpected, and made me think.

[SlackerInc]

Whaaaat?!? 

 

Holy shit, I can't believe they ended it on such a dark note.  But I am shocked in a good way: that was pretty ballsy.  It would have been good though to get some kind of explanation as to how the First Generation got the upper hand over the adults in the mountain complex.

 

I thought that was a pretty strong finish to the series overall, but I did have some nitpicks that I wrote down as I was watching:

 

• Wait, after shooting that one kid, Ethan just put him in a cell? No medical treatment?
• I can't believe when Theresa said she was going to the hospital to get their son, Ethan did not give her a gun. That is a major husband fail right there.  I guess he made up for it by saving them at the last second, but still.  You can't even give the usual excuse that maybe she didn't know how to use a gun: she had formerly been an agent herself.  Which also raises the question of why he later quickly taught his son to use the gun rather than giving it to his wife. That just seems really sexist under the circumstances.
• Why did they leave the elevator just sitting there for some time after his son's girlfriend got off, instead of sending it right back down?

Edited July 24, 2015 by SlackerInc

[Primetimer]

Who knew we couldn't trust M. Night Shyamalan?

Read the story

[SoothingDave]

Who knew we couldn't trust M. Night Shyamalan?

http://previously.tv/wayward-pines/wayward-pines-covers-its-bases-delivers-an-unsatisfactory-season-and-series-finale/"> Read the story

 

How do you figure hypnoteacher is still alive?  

[Muffyn]

This is our future "utopia" and they couldn't make her a doctor? Sexist bastards. Her only qualification for nurse is probably that the uniform fit. They supposedly don't have their hive of hidden worker bees to make more and their school didn't seem to teach weaving and pattern making in between the sex pep talks.

To get that kind of fit, I'm pretty sure they have tailors.  So we know that they have nurses, tailors, sculptors, and people adept at tying knots and hoisting things.  That pretty much fills out the needed positions.  All ready to go.  Hopefully they have a barber that can do something to Ben's young douche hair.  

[izabella]

I did too. I'd expected Ethan to survive, defeat the Abbies, and help rebuild and remold the town along the lines of freedom (as much as there can be if you're the last of humanity in a walled town) and democracy. But the kids, who spent much or most or all of their lives in the town being taught Pilcher as savior and Pilcher's rules didn't want that and replicated his society. But then I'm also an easy viewer. I don't need to see how they did it, or even be told how they did it. I found it interesting, unexpected, and made me think.

 

So, are there now First Gen people who are staffing the mountain control center and no longer come to WP?   Why would they sign up for that?  Why would anyone sign up for that?  No fresh air, no daylight, no granite countertops in the lovely homes they are spying on all day long...

[Neurochick]

The person who played Pilcher, did he play Truman Capote in "Infamous?" Because every time I saw him, I kept seeing Truman Capote.

[Chaos Theory]

I love these kind of Twilight Zone/Outer Limits paranoid thrillers. I thought the ending was great. I would be so in for a season 2 and yet I would be just as happy with the ending as is.

[SoothingDave]

The person who played Pilcher, did he play Truman Capote in "Infamous?" Because every time I saw him, I kept seeing Truman Capote.

 

Yes.

[tricknasty]

Between this show and The Whispers, I can't decide which is worse. At least the other show has a few more episodes to redeem itself.

[Free]

The problem is that the survivors ended up being the least interesting/likable characters throughout the show and that's what the show ended up with, at least before we had good actors to make it bearable, but now...we get stuck with the Twilight Zone wannabe ending with these characters.

[marcee]

Regarding the recap - I didn't get that Meagan survived at all...

The banging on the door turned into growling and next thing we know, the hallway is overrun with abbies. I figured they ate her on their way down the corridor. Was I supposed to think otherwise? She wasn't with the group of first-genners back at the school. Gunshot-wound-guy opened the secret bunker and lead his acolytes into the promised land. He's the one who spoke of the Ark and Pilcher's plan throughout the last couple of episodes. Meagan assumed Pilcher would save her; Jason, on the other hand, knew this was the "the flood" and what to do and where to go. I think Meagan's gone. RIP psycho-schoolmarm.

Edited July 24, 2015 by marcee

[AConspiracy]

The effigies / police state the HY put together don't make sense at all.

"Nobody can leave" or some saying on the hanged, why say that?

This group all knows what is outside the fence, if they want to leave, fine, they know they will get eaten.

To me, HY should actively be encouraging people to leave and expand the "normals" domain.

Or is the plan "forever" to just sit in town, have picnics and run toy stores? Seems like the last of humanity ought to try to start rebuilding the world and controlling/eliminating the abbies.

I'm of the camp now that the abbies should have won. They kill everyone, take over the town, and that is the end of the story. Normal people had their chance, blew it, nature took over and a new species is on top now.

Otherwise it is like a group of cavemen staying in a small town, against all the homo sapiens in the rest of the world. And just sitting in there (well except for them doing those Geico commercials).

[SoothingDave]

Amy said all the adults were frozen. I take that to mean all the people in WP at the end are new. Group C. They don't know anything about what is outside.

Group B people are either dead (from the HY revolution) or refrozen.

[Passenger58]

I'm fairly certain the showrunners/writers felt they made it obvious how the kids took over the town.

• They made a point of talking about this "ark".
• They made a point of talking repeatedly about how Pilcher PREPARED THEM for this "flood", this "day of reckoning".
• They made a point of showing us this huge underground bunker stocked with food and supplies and a GLUT of weapons.

The assumption would be that they have been training for this day since they were thawed. The day came. They spent a few months in that bunker waiting for the abbies to leave and for the 'adults' to repair the wall; they trained and planned. The 'adults', believing everyone else had died and having nothing else to fear now, put their weapons away and began their lives anew - without rules and guards and surveillance.

It would be very easy for a group of well-trained, well-armed, brainwashed first-genners to pull off a surprise attack. They'd be the only ones with weapons; they have no problem killing people. And without surveillance, no one would see them coming. Voila! No flashbacks required.

Thank you and good night.

If your right then that a stupid way to think. If everyone was getting on with there life's normally, why the hell would you want to scare,threaten and kill people and waste your time spying on people that are already clued up to what's happening. Instead they could be trying to make some sort of effort to make another town somewhere else or possibly expand.

There are so many answered questions, for a director to make this a one season show and rush the whole thing, he quiet possible made a mess of it, unanswered questions, silly decision making and small things like that kid who was shot in the stomach and was probably bleeding for hours still managed to walk half way down the town to the school without being killed. Yet the whole town was getting slaughtered every turn they made.

We didn't know if these Abbie's where actually zombies or predators.

We didn't know how they collected food?

Where the energy came from?

Why did the Abbie's all of sudden know the electricity was down to attack?

I understand that Plitcher was a controlled freak and that's what the producers and directors wanted to portray however I feel it could have been done better.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Passenger58