Wayward Pines “Do Not Discuss Your Life Before” 

Beverly: “The more you see the less anything makes sense in this town.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Even though we see Ethan calling home, we know Theresa and Ben have no idea where he is or if he even survived the car crash. They’ve assumed the worst – that if he’s alive, Ethan has left them for Kate. Ethan knows he hasn’t really been talking to someone who works in the Seattle office of the secret service; he tricked Marcy into revealing that bit of info. And what’s with the counterfeit money? But, perhaps, the most shocking development was watching Sheriff Pope cut Beverly’s throat. Some people in the crowd were horrified, but most seemed to be cheering or at least tacitly going along with it. What the hell is going on in Wayward Pines?

Let’s step back a moment and talk about “the rules” first:

• Do not try to leave.

Ethan already tried that in “Where Paradise is Home.” There’s some sort of electrified fence around the town – at least where Ethan tried to escape in the woods – and there’s no way to get out by car. And that’s why Bill died. His wife Patricia tells Ethan Bill “killed himself.” We don’t realize until later that Bill died by Pope’s hand for trying to escape.

• Do not discuss the past.

• Do not discuss your life before.

Kate’s warned Ethan about this more than once and Beverly gets reminded this week by Pam and Arlene. Despite that, Beverly accidentally talks about her daughter in front of Kate and Harold. She realizes her mistake almost immediately and, along with Ethan, makes a run for it. Ethan tries to distract the mob, but they still catch her.

• Always answer the phone if it rings.

That’s how it all started with Bill. As soon as all the phones started ringing, Beverly knew she was in trouble.

What happens next? Now that Ethan has lost his only ally, who can he trust? He’s seen the repercussions of not following the rules, so I wonder if he’ll fall in line. Fear is a powerful thing.

Another Development

Dr. Jenkins is pleased to see Ethan back at the hospital, but he’s only there because he was looking for Bill’s stashed notes. When Ethan gets what he came for, and after having a strange encounter with Nurse Pam, Ethan thinks he sees his family in the hospital. Even more alarming is that Theresa and Ben are on gurneys. He doesn’t find them, but he does find the doctor. Jenkins wants Ethan to re-admit himself because of his condition. The longer Ethan waits to get treatment, the more hallucinations he’ll have and the more intense they’ll become.

Questions

Why aren’t there that many cars in town and why didn’t Beverly see an airplane fly overhead the entire time she was in Wayward Pines?

Why didn’t Beverly or Bill trust Kate? What happened that would make Bill and Kate turn against each other?

How the heck are we supposed to know what’s actually happening and what’s just Ethan’s overactive imagination? I’m not complaining because this is an intriguing puzzle right now. But we all know he’s not going to go under the knife – and I don’t blame him – but as the series progresses I’ll have to keep reminding myself that Ethan is an unreliable narrator. We know he’s not making everything up in his head, but he’s definitely seeing some things that aren’t there.

Pope says that they “cannot tolerate people who don’t play by the rules.” I think this choice of vocabulary is interesting. He says “play.” They don’t “play” by the rules. So is all of this some kind of game? Some strange, elaborate, deadly game? I might be reaching, but I was struck by that.

I wonder what Theresa and Ben are going to find in Boise. Ethan’s clearly not there, so I wonder how long they’ll look for him and if they’ll find anything useful there.

When are we going to find out more about Hassler? In “Where Paradise is Home” he asked Dr. Jenkins if they could put a stop to whatever they had planned for Ethan. Jenkins’ couldn’t. But why is whatever’s happening to Ethan something Hassler felt he needed to put into motion? How good a friend is Ethan if he’s doing this to him? What does Hassler gain from this?

When are we going to find out more about how Kate aged 12 years in 5 weeks? Or how Beverly thinks she was in Wayward Pines for a year, when she was really there for 14? I’m still fascinated by this weird time dynamic.

Wayward Pines airs Thursdays at 9/8c on FOX.