Wayward Points: Always answer the phone if it rings

"Don't try to leave, Mr. Burke. That's rule number one."

What a wild show this is turning out to be! Let's review the goings-on in this week's episode of "Wayward Pines." Major spoilers to follow.

We left off last week with Secret Service agent Ethan Burke discovering that he's trapped in this psychotic town called Wayward Pines, Idaho. He's got a history of mental illness and I contemplated last week whether Ethan is, at this moment, mentally sound or not. I'm still not entirely sure, but I think I'm leaning more to the side of trusting him than I was last week. There's, of course, still a chance that he's out of his mind - as I'll reference at some point in this review - but I think he's at least mostly fine and the town is just wacky.

The episode began with two boys telling Ethan Rule #1 of Wayward Pines: "Do not try to leave." We also learned the rest of the rules, thanks to a framed document inside the WP toy store. The page read as follows:

Do not try to leave.
Do not discuss the past.
Do not discuss your life before.
Always answer the phone if it rings.
Work hard, be happy,
And enjoy your life
In Wayward Pines!

So... pretty creepy, right? We also saw a few instances of rule-breakage throughout the episode - mainly with Rule #2. Ethan habitually talks about the past and brings it up with others, chiefly Kate, his former adulterous co-worker, who is living a happy life in WP. Beverly also gets busted for speaking with Ethan about his previous life and also lets slip that she has a six-year-old daughter in Portland. This admission, of course, came at dinner, as she and Ethan were invited to dine with Kate and her so-called husband, just before she makes a break for it. That's right - Bev and Ethan drew up a hair-brained plan to leave WP in the rear-view mirror, which involved them bolting after their dinner date, but Beverly panicked, let something slip about her previous life and took off early, unintentionally tipping Kate off to the fact that they were going to try to run.

Then came my weekly whimpering, as every freakin' phone in Wayward Pines begins to ring, all at once. It came to light that this exact scenario happened with Agent Evans, who was found rotting in an abandoned home last week. Apparently, he tried to run, too, then Sheriff Pope caught him and publicly executed him in front of the entire town. In the episode's climax, Ethan leads a diversion so Beverly can escape and return to her daughter, but, alas, she is caught, chained up in the town square, and gets her throat slit by the dastardly Sheriff Pope as Ethan watched from a nearby home. So creepy.


So those were the major developments this week, but let's also run down a few other things in what I'll from here forward refer to as my Wayward Points:

- Sheriff Pope is still corrupt. Freakin' corrupt. And he still loves his ice cream. And I kind of love that. I hope he has an ice cream cone every single episode. I also loved the part where that nut job shut himself in the prison cell and was just chilling on the bed. Such a weirdo.
- The late, great Agent Bill Evans played an important role this week. Ethan found some notes in his shoe that included, from what we could see, a list of names (that included Beverly) and a map of Wayward Pines with one spot labeled "PACK." (More on that in a second.) Evans was apparently married to a WP resident, whom Ethan interrogated during the episode. She referred to Evans' mysterious death as "suicide." We later learned that he was executed by Pope. Ethan eventually finds Evans' pack, but we don't see what's inside it. I assume it will come back into play in the near future.
- Beverly informed Ethan that he (and everyone else in WP) has been given a microchip that tracks their movement around the city. In one of the more intriguing moments of the episode, we saw that there are surveillance cameras hidden around the city that are tracking Ethan's movement. As Kate said last week, they truly are watching.
- While investigating the morgue, Ethan apparently sees the dead bodies of his wife and son being wheeled into a room by two orderlies. Upon further investigation, he is unable to find them. Dr. Jenkins explains that Ethan's "condition" (which may or may not be real) is worsening constantly and offers to help (whether sincerely or otherwise), but Ethan leaves the room as soon as that creep Nurse Pam enters the room.
- Meanwhile, back at home, we find out that Ethan's family is fine. However, they're concerned that Ethan may have gone to Boise to continue his secret relationship with Kate. They decide to take matters into their own hands and go to Boise to find him. And kill him, possibly. (But I think she used that term very loosely...) Fun fact: Ethan's wife is that chick from A Knight's Tale. Hmm.
- "Marci" at the Seattle Secret Service office got even shadier this episode. I loved the part where Ethan asked her about the fictitious receptionist desk on the seventh floor. Classic.
- Kate continues her brainwashed ways. She's pretty odd, but I, for some reason, totally loved that she answered the phone with her hand upside-down. What a wacko.
- My biggest negative comment thus far: For as much as they demand that Ethan, a supposed murder "suspect," stay in his hotel room, they sure don't mind him wandering around town like everybody else. Either make him stay in his room or don't bring it up in the first place.


Continuance:
- The coffeeshop cashier validated Kate's reckoning of time, telling Ethan that she has been coming into the shop for years. On the other hand, one of Ethan's conversations with Beverly seemed to lend credence to her theory that it was only 2000. She believed that Bill Clinton was still the president, and had never heard of "Obama" or "9/11." If the year is really 2014, she would be 54, but she believes she is only 40 - and that's about how old she looks. Hmm... The timeline continues to confuse.

Questions:
- Speaking of that timeline, we know that Ethan's wife and son are on their way to Wayward Pines. We saw in the teaser for next week that Pope will come in contact with Mrs. Burke and attempt to hijack her car... This may seem like a crazy theory, but... what if Ethan actually did see his wife and son being wheeled through the morgue, but it was like... in the future? Some kind of wrinkle in the time continuum? Is that possible? It might have just been a hallucination (if he's having a mental relapse) or an elaborate hoax (those Wayward Pines-ers are clever, after all), but... what if that was them, just... we haven't seen them die yet?
- What did Kate mean when she said that Evans' "wife" had "a real way with flowers"? Was that supposed to be a hint? Will we even see that lady ever again? Who knows.
- What else was in Evans' notes? And what's in the pack?
- When Ethan recovered the pack, he saw a guy shooting at... birds, maybe? Are there even birds in Wayward Pines?
- Beverly pointed out that there aren't many cars in WP and she can't ever remember seeing an airplane. Add that to the list of weird stuff going on, right underneath "no crickets."


Overall, I'm liking this show. I love that it's only 10 episodes long, which means that we're 20% done with the story at this point. There are a bunch of questions at this point, but a recent article by TVGuide.com promises that every question we have will, at some point, be answered, and I dig that. In both episodes thus far, I've started whimpering like a dog, which I kind of hate, but hey - they're trying to psychologically freak their viewers out and it's working and I can appreciate that, too. Tonight's episode was pretty strong, adding to the intrigue by presenting a few more questions, deepening our understanding of the weird city and its residents, layering things on with the Burkes making their way to Boise and killing off one of the main characters just two episodes in. That takes some guts. Bravo.

RIP Beverly

1960-"2000"

Until next week,

Work hard and be happy.