In “Pass Judgement” the stakes are increasingly getting higher as a frantic Abbie-hunt overtakes the town. Soldiers and civvies alike freak out under the stress causing three beings to get shot. Margaret is on the loose and on her way back to her people. Her intellectual and emotional intelligence continue to reveal themselves, especially in her interactions with Hassler and Rebecca. This is no surprise considering the pivotal events of the previous episode when Margaret released herself from captivity and effortlessly escaped.
We’ve got two episodes remaining after “Pass Judgement” as the heat intensifies, just like it did in the first season. Will Wayward Pines be able to stun viewers as phenomenally as it did this time last summer? If “Pass Judgement” is any indication, there is a fighting chance that the answer to that will be a resounding “Yes.”
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Last Week Was Pivotal
Wayward Pines brakes for no one. Those of us enjoying the warmer weather by vacating our technology last week in favor of the beach (meaning yours truly) returned to the intense psychological carnage awaiting them in the TiVo queue. “Time Will Tell” gave us Margaret not only communicating with Theo, but recognizing him as the human leader. Ironically, this subtle declaration went completely over Jason’s head because, well, he was off on Planet Denial.
Moments later in the lab, Jason threw a cluster-worthy tantrum, shooting the three male Abbies right in front of Margaret at the lab. The coup de grace in “Time Will Tell” was Margaret cleverly delivering a torturous death to Meghan (who, let’s face it, has had it coming since Pilcher was in short pants) by sneaking up on her and slitting her anterior tibial artery. After watching her inferior tormentor bleed out, Margaret escaped using the keypad code she saw Theo use earlier. It looks like Margaret truly is the sharpest crayon in the box.
Fertility: It’s A Do-Or-Die Proposition
“Pass Judgement” opens with Kerry learning that she’ll never have a baby, which basically makes her a felon in Wayward Pines. Rebecca, on the other hand, is completely knocked-up with Xander’s child. Isn’t he husband number deux? Oh, yeah. The pressure is mounting until Theo finds this out.
Then comes the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Theo finds Meghan’s exsanguinated wheelchair-bound corpse sitting in her own pool of blood. But where’s Abbess Margaret? Gone with the wind, my friends. That’s it, decides Theo, screw the secrecy crap. The residents must be told about Margaret and the kajillion pissed off Abbies swarming the perimeter.
‘Survival of the Fittest’ Isn’t Such A Bad Idea
So, the phones start ringing all over town as people scramble to lock themselves away while the meagre military kiss their loved ones goodbye and head off to hunt Abbie pelt. Some of the First Generation aren’t so smart, however, and a snogging co-ed in the forest is slashed to bits by Margaret while the town folk listen behind locked doors. Oh, children, when will you ever learn? Chalk another one up to Darwin’s evolutionary theory in “On The Origin of Species,” folks.
Elsewhere, Xander, who had guns stashed in the alley as we all predicted he would, arms some of the townsfolk. A shooting match erupts between the civilians and the military during which the civilian guy is killed and Mario, the gorgeous chocolate soldier, gets shot and incapacitated. Finally, Theo steps into the middle of the mess and calls them all idiots before everyone gets killed.
Margaret watches all of this happening and recalls in flashbacks how her people were brutally slaughtered by human snipers in helicopters. Once again it’s abundantly clear who the true monsters in this fairy tale are. Margaret comprehends the thoughtlessness of human nature and is deeply troubled.
It Must Be True, You Heard It From Your Hair Stylist
As Xander is handing out guns, Rebecca, the hoodwinked Wayward Pines architect, identifies that the gathering Abbies must be planning an invasion through a remnant tunnel from the disastrous attempt to build the city for “Group A.” The group is stunned that this hair stylist knows so much about the architecture of Wayward Pines. The best line delivery of the episode is by our favorite lobotomy victim, Arlene: “You’re a very well informed hair stylist.” If you can’t remember it, go back and watch it, it’s epic.
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As Rebecca returns from retrieving the town’s blueprints from Jason’s office, she’s confronted by Margaret, who doesn’t attack. The Abbess sees pregnant Rebecca grasping her belly and flashbacks to the day she held her own baby in her arms right before the snipers shot her community to bits. Margaret’s expression suggests the possibility of a connection between these two, but the exchange is cut short by bullets when Xander rounds-off and catches Margaret in the wrist. Finally safe, Xander and Rebecca kiss like teenagers.
Rock-A-Bye, Baby, In a Cement Cryo Cradle
Jason takes Kerry to a room deep inside the mountain complex which he calls “the nursery.” He’d installed two coffins, er, I mean, cryopreservation chambers, in this floor-to-ceiling cement room so that if (when) everything went to hell he could grab his mate and be frozen-forward a couple centuries. The plan, (un)naturally, was for them to repopulate the flash-forwarded world. But, wait a minute – inbreeding results in a lack of chromosomal diversity and usually causes deformities, truncated lifespans, and extreme stupidity down the limbs of the family tree. Just look at the mess this kind of crap made of the royals in the 15th century and you’ll agree. What about that, Jason? This ain’t no Eden, and you aren’t Adam and Eve.
At this point, Kerry tearfully confesses her barrenness. For a moment it looks like things could go any number of ways until Jason finally processes what she’s telling him. She says she loves him, bla, bla, bla. He says he loves her back, bla, bla, bla, but his hesitation and detached physical queues foreshadow trouble in paradise for the First Couple. What else does he tell her? He says he wish he had known how to handle this earlier. Translation: I should have found out about your insufficient uterus much earlier so I could have dumped you and found another walking incubator for my progeny. Real warm, Jason. What a prince you are.
The Intuitive Abbess Margaret Faces Off With Hassler
Cradling her destroyed wrist, Margaret runs off to find the opening to the tunnel that brought her inside the Wayward Pines perimeter. She stops, however, when she hears Hassler behind her. Hassler points his gun at Margaret as they exchange fierce glares which soften eventually. Margaret flashbacks to Hassler emphatic that Theo let her go back to her people. Because of his experiences as a nomad in an Abbie world, Hassler has a respect for the evolved species. Hassler lowers his gun, allowing Margaret to take off down the tunnel. Dropping his gun, he heads down the tunnel after her and finds himself surrounded by yawlping Abbies who want to scratch him to shreds until Margaret commands them to leave him alone. Why do I get the feeling Hassler’s going to end up living with them?
Jason Attempts to Blow Everything Up, Theo Chews Xander, and Margaret Nearly Dies
In the final two minutes of “Pass Judgement” Theo gives Xander a major dressing-down for giving civilians guns because one of them died and Mario is convalescing and psychotic in the most depressing hospital ever built. Rebecca defends her baby daddy, but Theo is having none of it.
Jason and his argonauts find Hassler’s abandoned gun by the mouth of the tunnel he and Margaret went down. They throw dynamite into the tunnel, but it has almost no effect whatsoever. As a matter of fact, the results are as impotent as his whole strategy has been from day one.
Finally, Margaret, once again among her own bouncing, gnashing and naked population seeks solace in the arms of two friends. Once again we see the sniper attack on her people as Margaret lays there looking like death warmed over as the proverbial curtain falls and we are thrust into another seven day holding pattern.
Wayward Pines airs Wednesdays at 9pm on FOX.
(Images Courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
