Hmm... the series begins with a close-up shot of a man's eye opening. He's somehow waking up in the middle of some type of jungle or forest. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah. "LOST." They learn from the best. (Wink!) But yeah... ABC should sue.
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With most of my TV shows now on hiatus, I have been dabbling around on Netflix, trying to find something new to watch. I tried AMC's Revolutionary War drama "Turn," but couldn't stay awake through the first episode. I tried the long-since-cancelled "Lie to Me," but, after seven episodes, I didn't feel like the story was going anywhere, so I think I've given up on that one, too. FOX's new 10-episode event "Wayward Pines" caught my eye a couple weeks ago, so I figured I'd give tonight's series premiere a shot. Of course, substantial spoilers will follow, so if you're interested in checking this show out, beware. Turn back now or face the facts. ... All right.
The story begins with Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) coming to his senses in the middle of the woods. He is bloody and delirious as he staggers into the nearest town - Wayward Pines, Idaho.
Feeling the effects of a head-on collision with a semi-truck (as we find out via flashback), Ethan stumbles into a bar, asks a few incoherent questions and passes out on the floor. He wakes up in the Wayward Pines Hospital, where a creepily cheery nurse attends to him. She explains that his personal effects, including his wallet and cell phone, are being held at the sheriff's office. Ethan demands to make a phone call to his wife, but the nurse won't allow it. She and a psychiatrist named Dr. Jenkins that we meet later on in the episode strongly believe that Ethan has suffered a serious head injury and is bleeding on the brain. It requires surgery, they say. (By the way, Dr. Jenkins is totally Toby Jones, that Hydra dude from Captain America.)
Throughout the episode, we see many flashbacks of Ethan's previous life. We learn that he is a secret service agent and was traveling to Idaho on business, looking for two missing co-workers. One of the missing persons, a female named Kate, was previously Ethan's partner. It is briefly shown that they were at least somewhat romantically involved - a fact that Ethan's wife appears to have been aware of. At the time of the car crash, Ethan was traveling with another agent, surnamed Stallings. Agent Stallings died in the crash, as far as we know. Representatives at the Secret Service headquarters in Seattle, Washington, report that Stallings' remains were so burned that it took authorities two days to identify him. Oddly, there appears to have been no evidence that Ethan was even in the car at the time of impact, contrary to the flashback that shows Stallings and Ethan get hit by the semi. Weird.
A little more information about Ethan: he had been attending counseling to deal with some post-traumatic stress that had to do with an incident where 621 people lost their lives. We don't know much about that situation at this point, but Ethan feels incredibly guilty and believes that their blood is very much on his hands, so to speak. He seems to have had occasional or frequent hallucinations and has apparently had at least a relapse or two.
Back at the hospital, Ethan has regained enough strength to get up and walk out. As he heads for the door, the creepy nurse catches up to him and tries to prevent him from leaving, going so far as to stick her foot in the elevator door. She ultimately lets him leave, but mentions that she is very worried about him.
When Ethan heads to the address left for him by Beverly, he finds a rickety, seemingly abandoned house. One would think it quite unwise to approach - and enter - such a residence, but, of course, he does it anyway. Surely, this ain't Beverly's house. No, no. It's abandoned, all right. And he finds the body of one of the missing Secret Service agents in the bedroom. He's dead. He's decaying. And he was handcuffed to the headboard, tortured, by the looks of it.
Ethan saunters on over to the sheriff's office, where he's greeted by a creepy ol' receptionist. So many creeps in this town! He eventually gets to meet the sheriff, himself - Arnold Pope (Terrence Howard), who devotes the majority of his attention to his rum raising ice cream cone. He doesn't give any credence to the theory that Ethan's wallet and phone are being kept in his office, nor does he frankly give a crap about the news that Ethan found the decomposing body of a missing federal agent a couple blocks down the road. Weird.It turns out that Beverly no longer works at the bar. Nope. When Ethan heads back over there to speak with her again, there's some other guy there who claims that there are no female bartenders in Wayward Pines. Ethan starts breaking down a little bit and nearly comes to blows with the guy, but the younger, quicker and likely more prepared bartender swiftly knocks out Ethan, sending him back to the hospital - but not before whipping out a walkie-talkie and letting somebody know that they've got a big problem with the town's newest visitor.
Back at the hospital (again), the creepy nurse and Dr. Jenkins tell Ethan they're going to operate on his brain. The surgeon in Boise said they should, but they won't let Ethan speak with anyone in Boise. They've got to operate now. The nurse jabs Ethan in the leg with a sedative and wheels him up to the operating room... But he's saved by Beverly the Bartender, who gets Ethan out of there without anybody noticing. Before the sedative kicks in, Ethan is able to outfox the nurse, who is in hot pursuit and he knocks her basically unconscious from behind. Beverly helps Ethan make it to a safehouse, where they have a brief conversation before he falls asleep yet again. In that conversation, we learn that Beverly was also in a mysterious accident before being brought to Wayward Pines. She was hit by a motorcycle in 1999 and has been in the community ever since. Next week will be her anniversary, marking what she says will be her one-year mark. So... apparently this show takes place in the year 2000. Oh wait. Ethan, confused, tells Beverly that it's 2014. Weird.
Ethan comes to and makes his way outside, out in the public, where anybody could see him. It's a wonder the Wayward Pines P.D. isn't going all "America's Most Wanted" on our dear protagonist at this point. He stumbles over to a neighborhood barbecue, where he is pretty sure he spots his former partner, Kate. She looks a bit older and with longer hair, but she looks happy, friendly and quite popular with the locals. He tails her and her husband, apparently?, to their home, which says "Ballinger" on the mailbox. He knocks on the door and asks for Kate by name. The husband seems perturbed, but calls Kate to the door. Ethan reminds her that they know each other, but she seems pretty oblivious to it all, but asks her husband for a moment. She steps outside and hushedly tells Ethan, "They're watching us. And listening." She tells him that she has been living happily in Wayward Pines for 12 years. But... that's impossible, says Ethan. They were together five weeks ago. Weird. Before she goes back inside, she turns and says, "You could be happy here, Ethan. You could have an amazing life here." As a last-ditch effort to get information out of her, he asks Kate if he is having another mental relapse. She silently shakes her head, no.
Meanwhile, back in Seattle, the Secret Service agent who had been in contact with Ethan's wife (letting her know that there was an accident, etc.) is greeting by none other than that weirdo, Dr. Jenkins, the psychiatrist from the Wayward Pines Hospital! The agent, Adam, tells Dr. Jenkins that, if there's still time, he wants "to call it off." Jenkins responds, saying that it is already done and he has nothing to worry about. Weird.
Burke steals a car and takes off, attempting to leave Wayward Pines, but, just as soon as he passes the sign thanking him for visiting, he soon thereafter passes a different sign, welcoming him back! He flips back around and leaves the city again. This time, he stops the car, gets out and makes his way to the forest, then makes his way up a rocky ridge. At the top of the ridge is a giants electric fence with a sign that says "Risk of death: Return to Wayward Pines. Beyond this point you will die." As the camera zooms out, that fence might as well be the dang Great Wall of Wayward Pines. Burke is stuck - and it looks like Wayward Pines is the in stinkin' middle of nowhere, enclosed by a gigantic crater in the mountainside. He heads back to the car and quickly finds that the sheriff is camped out right behind him. "You didn't make it too far, didya?" "How do I get out of here?" "You don't."
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Oh man. Well, there you go. That's the recap of "Wayward Pines," Episode 1. I'm not gonna lie, there were a couple times when I whimpered like a scared dog. I don't really like freaky stuff like this, but I think I'll probably be back again next Thursday to see what the heck is going on in Wayward Pines. Obviously, there were a lot more questions raised in the pilot episode than there were answers given. Like... what's up with the phones? I'm pretty sure they don't work outside of the community. If you watched the show, you know who Marcie, the brand new receptionist for the Secret Service is. Allegedly. There's no way Marcie actually works there. She was probably a couple doors down in some secret room. How was Ethan's wife not getting any of his calls? Why are there no crickets? Why does Beverly think it's 2000? How has Kate been there for 12 years? Is the Secret Service in on this? Obviously Adam has some connection, but what is it? And, most importantly of all, is Ethan nuts or is this just the weirdest community in America? Oh man. It's crazy and it's cooky, mysterious and spooky. They're all together ooky - the "Wayward Pines" premiere.
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What did you think? Did you watch? Are you interested in watching now? If you haven't already watched, why did you read this spoiler-laden blog? Who knows? Maybe it got you interested and you're going to check it out now. Hmm... Anyway, if you watched the show, I'd love to get your comments, questions and feedback in the comments section below. If you'd rather not comment, well... then... whatever. Peace.
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