Wayward Points: We don't need no education

"Everybody's a prisoner here."

After a quick recap of last week's episode, we pick up right where we left off... (Lots of spoilers to come, of course.)

The Burkes drive incredibly inconspicuously back to their home in the late, great Sheriff Pope's truck. Ben is pretty shaken up after having basically witnessed a dude getting his brains blown out, which is understandable. Ben asks what in the world took the sheriff's body, to which Ethan responds that it was a wolf. Wayward Pines is wolf country, as we've heard from time to time. Our beloved hero returns to the vehicle to comfort his wife, at which point Ben disappears. While out of sight, some creepy bike delivery guy drops off a new school uniform for young Master Burke.

In other news, Ethan has become the new sheriff of Wayward Pines. I guess you kill a guy, you get his job. What is this? The Santa Clause?? The folks chalk it up to a sudden, unexpected retirement, prompting the second best quote of the night, as the weird receptionist Arlene complains, "What an ice cream cone-eating b******! He leaves without even saying goodbye?"

Exploring his new office, Sheriff Burke astutely discovers a secret compartment in the floor, which contains information about the previous lives of all of Wayward Pines' residents. (More on that later.) Soon thereafter, Nurse Pam performs a citizen's arrest on a fellow named Peter - and as Ethan's first official act of business at the new sheriff in town, Pam is hankering for another Reckoning real bad. You see, there's apparently a "three strike" rule and our new pal Peter just earned himself his final demerit by defacing public property. (He spray-painted a message across a shop on Main Street that said, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Pam was not pleased. She matter-of-factly instructed Ethan to hold the town's next execution the next night at 10 p.m., but Sheriff Burke don' wanna.

Peter gets locked up and Ethan takes some time to get to know the guy before putting him to death. He shows Peter his secret file, which includes pictures of his family and some other info about his previous profession, his age, hometown and a few other things. In present day, Peter walks with a cane, but Ethan notices that he shows no signs of disability in pictures from his previous life. Peter explains that he had a "rock climbing accident" - he tried to climb the Fence - and he tells Ethan that there is only one way out of the town. He puts a finger-gun to his head and pulls the imaginary trigger. And then the phone rings. A woman's voice instructs Ethan to execute Peter the next evening. "Telemarketer," Ethan says dully as he hangs up the phone.

After looking through his file, Peter comments that he had forgotten how much he forgot. But he was able to recall one instance in 2001 when he had a bit of a wild night with a brunette named Denise. The ensuing events culminated in a hotel room drug overdose that left Peter blacked out. He remembered waking up in a different hotel room, but Denise had aged considerably - and her name wasn't "Denise" anymore. It was PAM. Thus, Peter became a resident of Wayward Pines.

The next day, Ethan and Theresa attend a party thrown by the mayor. Nurse Pam raises a glass to the new sheriff, encouraging a strict enforcement of the law, including liberal use of the death penalty when necessary. Ethan cuts her off and vows to do everything in his power to bring the evils of this town to light and bring the true criminals to justice.

Later that evening, around the time of the anticipated Reckoning of Peter McCall, Sheriff Burke retrieves the prisoner from his cell with no intention of a public execution. Peter asks Ethan to take him to the Fence. Upon arrival, they have a brief conversation in which Peter rhetorically asks whether they are being kept in or whether something is being kept out... and he also tells Ethan that the town needs a man like him. He reminds Ethan that "they" are watching and urges the sheriff to help him end his life in order to earn the trust of the town's unseen enforcers. Ultimately, Peter makes it look like Ethan pushes him into the wall, where he is electrocuted to death. RIP, Peter. We hardly knew ye.

At the end of the episode, Ethan returns home to let his wife know that Peter is dead. He asks her to stay at home and keep playing along so nobody gets suspicious. Then he tells her that he's going to get some help. He returns to the sheriff's office, where he is greeted by Nurse Pam. Ethan relinquishes his office, stating that Pam is much more suited to be sheriff than he was. Gladly, Pam accepts and takes a seat behind the desk. Ethan grabs a shotgun and it looks like our hero is going ROCK CLIMBING! He heads to the Fence and starts scaling. But OH FREAK. Little does he know that there is a dude up there! Is it Gollum? Is it a human? Is it something different altogether? Oh heck. Time will tell.

Wayward Points:

- Ethan has a few conversations with Mayor Fisher. He thinks he may be able to get more information out of him over the course of time. The mayor kept pretty tight-lipped throughout most of the episode, however, so Ethan's efforts thus far are fruitless.
- We were shown only a couple of the files from the sheriff's secret box. We saw some information about Mayor Fisher, found out that his wife was a hypnotherapist, and also discovered that Arlene the Receptionist is a lesbian. No joke, I laughed out loud.
- Ben got a lot of screen time this week, from his introduction to Wayward Academy to his new friend, Amy, and everything in between. The Academy's headmistress, Mrs. Fisher (wife of the mayor) took Ben under her wing rather quickly, greeting him with a totally odd high-five sequence ("too slow!") and hosting several therapy sessions in the boy's first couple days at school. It turns out that Mrs. Fisher was a hypnotherapist before she lived in Wayward Pines - and I'm rather confident that the weird high-five tendency is some sort of catalyst for the hypnotism of her students. [It is of note that she did not high-five all of her students. There were at least six of the kids who received a handshake, instead. Hmm. Not sure what that means.] Mrs. Fisher is working hard on bringing Ben's trust in his father into question and helping him forget where "home" is. If the preview for next week is any indication, we will get a gigantic helping of Mrs. Fisher in next week's episode.
- At dinner with the Burkes, Mrs. Fisher gave Ethan some interesting career advice: 1) Set boundaries and 2) Let people know that there are consequences for bad behavior.
- Ben makes friends with a girl named Amy, a fellow classmate at Wayward Academy. Ben, now obsessed with finding out what took Sheriff Pope's body, continuously asks Amy if she has been to the Fence and if she knows what is behind it. Amy says she has never been there and almost seems as if it has never crossed her mind whatsoever. Toward the end of the episode, she convinces Ben to sneak out of the house and join her at her favorite spot in the woods. While nothing monumental comes from this conversation, she does mention something which I'll bring up in a moment.
- Theresa and Kate meet for the first time in Wayward Pines at the toy store. Blocking the surveillance microphones with a music box, Kate tells Theresa that a lot has changed since she had an affair with Ethan. "Maybe for you," responds Theresa, who is clearly still upset. "For you, too," Kate says. "You just don't know it yet."
- Quote of the Night: "I just love it here. I think it's great. The mountains, the pine trees... the look of fear in everyone's eyes." - Ethan to Mayor Fisher
- Dr. Jenkins made a brief appearance tonight, examining the process of a cross-breed of two different pines. "She's thriving, but I worry." This felt an awful lot like a comparison to Wayward Pines, itself. Supposedly thriving, but in danger of a troublesome revolution.
- After Jenkins' brief chat with the Burkes, he gets distracted by music playing from speakers high up in the trees. Amy and Ben also hear this music. Apparently it's a local pianist named Hector Gaylor. The radio, Amy says, always broadcasts static, except for Hector's piano music.
- Theresa is given a new responsibility, presumably to take over for Peter McCall, who had "chosen to retire," according to a note left in the Burkes' mailbox. She'll start a new job as a realtor tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

The Rules:
- Ethan obediently answers the phone in this episode. He was rather adamant about not answering it last week.
- Mrs. Fisher tells Ethan and Theresa that they don't make the laws, they just follow them.

Timeline:
- After seeing a picture of his family, an emotional Peter says he stopped thinking about his family four or five winters back, but he can't remember how long it has been since he saw them because there are no calendars in Wayward Pines.
- Peter apparently believes that he was brought to Wayward Pines in 2001. The year is currently 2014. He believes that he has been in the town for more than 5 years.
- It's hard to say whether "Denise" was actually a younger version of Nurse Pam or not. If it was, she experienced the same unnatural aging as Kate apparently did, as Ethan said his former partner looked visibly older than the last time he saw her.

Questions:
- While reviewing Peter McCall's file, Ethan discovers a sequence of four numbers, which Peter says he does not recognize. The numbers are: 1002 - 4001 and 8104 - 7110. What do these numbers mean?
- Who is Hector Gaylor? From what we know so far, he's "like 40" and is not a native of Wayward Pines. Why does his piano music play over the radios? It's got to be a signal or a distraction of some sort, but we're not sure what, exactly, at this point.
- What was with all the weird, distorted camera effects this week? Did anybody else notice that? Like we were watching the show through ripples in the water or something...
- What the heck is that creature in the woods?? I'm pretty sure it ain't a wolf.

There you have it: a bit of a longer recap this week, but there were some intriguing storylines brought to our attention in tonight's episode. I'm actually kind of ticked that there wasn't any ice cream, though. I miss the Ice Cream Man. (RIP Pope.) Anyhoo, if all the stuff I've read about "Wayward Pines" is true (and the preview for next week seems to be a testament to it), things are going to get CRAZY next week. The secret of Wayward Pines will finally be revealed! What is up with those freaky kids at Wayward Academy? What is in the woods? And what in the bloody heck is Wayward Pines?? Stay tuned for next week's game changer of an installment. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Oh, and....

RIP Peter McCall

Episode 4 - Episode 4

Until next week,

Work hard and be happy.