Several bombs are dropped in Wayward Pines‘ fifth episode, “Sound the Alarms.” A watershed of revelations is dumped on us poor (lucky) viewers in regard to Rebecca’s participation in Pilcher’s project and her history with Xander. Finally, we get some answers. And guess what? We were right about some things; wrong about others, but things are starting to come together interestingly for Shyamalan’s psychological thriller.
Elsewhere, young Frank stares down the shiny double barrels of his reality versus Wayward Pines’ expectations and the future don’t look too good. Meanwhile, Theo pulls the “World Class Surgeon” card on Megan and usurps her position as lead researcher when the first female Abbie is captured. Oh, and did I mention that a main character has a death wish after Adam professes his love? Things are exactly as cray-cray as I like them on Wayward Pines.
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Rebecca Built Wayward Pines
Well, she didn’t actually build Wayward Pines, but she is its architect. Through flashbacks we see how Rebecca was lured into the utopian (dystopian) project and then kidnapped and frozen against her will. What she did after that isn’t so much shocking as it is both understandable and unfortunate for everyone.
Pilcher seduced Rebeca with the promise of building a legacy by designing the futuristic Mayberry. This is what we’ve been expecting all along – that she was hiding some big secret about her involvement.
Theo and Rebecca are at home 2000 years ago looking over Rebecca’s plan for the city Pilcher had asked her to build. Theo smells something fishy and suspects that someone is pulling a fast one over on his wife. Of course, at this point Rebecca doesn’t know Pilcher’s whole plan yet.
Rebecca has been intelligent, gorgeous, and highly likable throughout the first five episodes. Will she morph into some one completely different like the other characters did in the first season?
Rebecca Faces the Lunacy of the Rest of Pilcher’s Plan
Flashing back to Pilcher’s celebratory dinner where Pilcher pulls the curtain off the fullness of his plan to Rebecca, he asks her to be his partner and collaborator in creating a new world. A creepily zealous Megan explains the predicted cataclysmic event followed by the cryopreservation plan. Rebecca’s face belies her stunned disappointment as she realizes these people are butt-ass looney. Though Rebecca is obviously ready to puke, she holds it together long enough to give Pilcher an evasive answer.
The next day Rebecca confesses to Theo that the whole plan is a cluster which she wants no part of, sparing herself the embarrassment of telling him all the fantastical details. There you have it – she is innocent and not as stupid as I was afraid we were going to learn. Theo advises her to back out of the whole deal, promising to keep her safe if they come after her. She doesn’t look so sure backing out will be possible. In truth, Pilcher and Megan are asking her to be frozen, which means, based on the known research about human cryopreservation at the time, they are asking her to end her life. That’s a harsh ask, folks.
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(By the way, we’re half way to another (hopefully) whiz-bang cliffy finale. Every week as the credits roll after the final Wayward Pines scene I’m anxious to get straight to the next week’s episode. This is a sign of a truly good suspense. I’m dealing with equal parts loving it and praying they don’t royally screw it up by cranking out something stupid.)
Wayward Pines Adopts Its First Female Abbie
Remember the last 20 seconds of “Exit Strategy?” Frank faced an Abbie at the Wayward Pines carousel, but it doesn’t attack. It turns out this Abbie is a girl. She’s a lot paler than the dude Abbies. Off screen, the Abbie is sedated, captured, and locked up so Megan can find out what makes her tick. “Margaret,” as one of the researches has named their first female aberration, is docile the entire time and seems to calm the captive males. Or maybe they are drunk on the pheromones she’s exuding.
We don’t get any answers about Margaret in “Sound the Alarms,” so I’m thinking either it’s mating season and she’s in heat, or one of the captured males is her mate. Or maybe she’s come to Wayward Pines for help or to make peace? Okay, that might be crazy talk on my part, but hold your judgement till we find out the truth.
Interestingly, Megan delivers a lengthy (crazy) soliloquy to the subdued Addie (Abbess?) who always seems to be listening to — and understanding — what the humans are saying. Megan is a psychopath in my book. She lives way off the reservation, if you know what I mean.
Without Megan’s knowledge, Theo is put in charge of the research on the Abbies. Megan, of course, begins plotting Theo’s death … at least, that’s what the look in her eyes reveals when she is reminded that Theo is an award winning world class surgeon while she is just a hypnotherapist. I’m thinking Megan is the Pam Pilcher of season 2, before Pam turned cool, that is. Megan is too far round the bend to get cool at this point.
Frank Doesn’t Feel Like Procreating
And the creepy just keeps getting creepier. Frank tries to weasel out of his first visit to a procreation room, which is ironically, located inside a rather sterile clinic environment. So I guess this is how they get-er-done, Wayward Pines style. They match the kids up then throw them in a mating room to introduce the sperm to the egg the (somewhat) old fashioned way.
The room itself is decked out with an enormous luxurious bed, a young brunette, and some Chutes and Ladders-style “how-to-do-the-deed” diagrams. It’s about as sexy as getting a colonoscopy in front of your high school classmates.
Anyway, Frank and the girl get in the bed, but his awkwardness makes a mess of the whole thing and the brunette leaves in a huff. Frank later confides in Theo, who explains homosexuality to the hapless youth. Frank freaks out. The unfortunate part isn’t that he’s gay, but that he is going to have a really hard time (pardon the pun) fulfilling his procreative duties if being with a naked girl doesn’t, uh, give him a “hard time.”Theo promises to protect the kid from the sex mongers, but Frank says they will kill him if they find out he can’t do his job as a first generation. Wow.
It’s a Terrible Thing to Outlive Everything
Outside the perimeter, Adam continues his doomsday warnings to the rest of the group on the agricultural expedition. Theresa insists she will stay at Ben’s grave when everyone else returns to Wayward Pines. Adam confesses that he chose Ethan for the project because he wanted him gone, and that Teresa wasn’t supposed to follow. It appears Adam wanted Theresa for himself. Adam came into the program to follow after Theresa. Eh, I’ll give that a 10 on the heebie-jeebie scale, people. #Stalker
The Truth About Xander Comes Out
Theo goes home from the research lab to find Rebecca and Xander together. Then, boom, the other shoe drops. Xander and Rebecca have been married for a year! What the — ? Okay, we guessed they had been lovers, but this took me by surprise. She explains that she was lonely and lost and thought Theo was dead. She was kidnapped, she says. Once she walked away from the deal, Pilcher couldn’t let her remain outside the program.
A stunned Theo drops his wedding ring on the floor and hauls off and gives Xander a meaty knuckle sandwich right to the kisser. This does make us more sympathetic to Xander, and, most especially, Rebecca.
It turns out in a flashback that Xander was the one to greet Rebecca when she awoke from cryopreservation. As he drove her through town she recognized it as the place she designed, though she didn’t yet know that it was 2000 years later. So, what now for the threesome?
The Abbies Burn Down the Crops
In the final scene, the Abbies are back outside the perimeter – at least it looks like they are because we see the corn field. They have learned the magic of man’s red flower (That was a Jungle Book reference, for those of you who don’t have small children yet) and come bearing torches with which they set the crops afire. Boom! This poses several questions. Why did the Abbies return? Are they after the captured female? How can the residents of Wayward Pines survive without their crops? Will the expedition return without getting eaten by the pissed-off Abbies? Tune in for “City Upon A Hill” to get strung along by more questions.
Wayward Pines airs Wednesdays at 9pm on FOX.
(Images Courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
