Last time we checked in to Wayward Pines, we learned much of the history of TV's strangest city and got a glimpse of a covert plan to blow up The Fence. That's right - Kate, Harold and Ted are leading a revolutionary faction that has a bomb and a plan to get the heck out of town... But if Ethan is forced to pick sides, will he side with the rebels, with the iron-fisted rule of Dr. Pilcher or will he choose to take the law into his own hands? Time will tell...
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First of all, I love that the show opens with Pilcher telling Ethan not to divulge the truth of what he learned in the previous episode to anyone and then, right off the bat, he tells Theresa everything. So now Theresa basically thinks Ethan is crazy. Good times at the Burke household. That's about how this entire episode would end up going. Lots of people ratting other people out and talking about stuff they aren't supposed to be talking about. Anyhoo, Ethan is paranoid about the lingering bomb threat that we ended last episode with - and you know what? With good reason! Because it looks like somebody planted an explosive under the hood of the dear sheriff's truck. Luckily, Ethan is a sharp dude and he figures it out before he blows himself to kingdom come. Hashtag Wayward Pines.
Much of this episode revolves around a new character named Franklin Dobbs, who The Files tell us was an explosives engineer in his previous life. Ethan immediately takes an interest in our new pal, Franklin, supposing him to be a lead suspect in the botched truck bomb incident. Ethan meets with Franklin to ask about help with some imaginary gophers, you know, since Franklin is good with explosives, and all... but Franklin nervously ends the conversation and high-tails it outta there. Ethan follows him and finds that he is meeting with Harold from the toy store. Yes, that Harold. The one who put together a bomb last episode with hopes of blowing a hole in The Fence. Suspicion increases and Ethan plans to take Harold into custody to ask him a few questions about the truck bomb, but Harold, too, makes a break for it, earning himself a nice face full of asphalt.
While in custody, Ethan accuses Harold of planting the truck bomb, which he denies any knowledge of, but he does somewhat admit to planning the revolution. He covers for Ted and Kate, claiming that he was acting alone. Ethan passes him a note, requesting that Harold's "wife," Kate, meet with the sheriff ASAP, which she graciously does, meeting at the Burkes' newly-de-surveillanced home. (That's not a word. I made it up.) Ethan again splurges and tells The Truth to Kate, who apparently had no idea what year it truly was. SURPRISE!! Kate goes on to tell Ethan about how the Bomb Squad was formed - and we see, in flashback, Kate, Harold, Ted and Franklin meeting in secret with an additional member that we don't yet know from the seven episodes we've seen on TV. (She may not actually be important. It was an African-American woman, for the record.) This revolution has been in the works for 12 years, by the sounds of it. Ethan asks Kate to anonymously hand over the Fence bomb and all of her supplies and end the rebellion, but, on the other hand, we see Kate hurrying back to the toy store and urging Harold to speed up the time table and to enact their back-up plan, as well. Kate wants this thing to happen - tonight!Later that evening, Ethan tracks the Bomb Squad to The Fence and busts their big plan. After Ethan holds Kate at gunpoint, Franklin diffuses the explosive and four people, including Franklin and Kate, were thrown in the slammer. Ethan interrogates Kate in a separate cell and realizes that Harold was not with them at The Fence. With the help of Nurse Pam, he uses surveillance video to see Harold's last-known whereabouts - at a bar, meeting with Ted, who we discover was the jerk who planted the truck bomb. The surveillance also shows Ethan and Pam something that we already knew - that Harold handed Ted the bag with the bomb for the Fence. That's a bit of an issue, because Ted is currently running his furniture delivery route and headed to The Fence, as per usual.
Sheriff Burke springs into action and goes on the hunt for the Fence bomb, which is nestled safely in the back of Ted's delivery truck. But it just so happens that Ethan's son, Ben, and his Wayward Academy crush, Amy, are simultaneously using the back of that truck as a convenient place to, um, hook up. (To her own admission, Amy has done it a bunch of times before. Hmm.) Amy finds the bag with the bomb - disguised as a music box from the toy store - and unknowingly activates the bomb by leaving the music box open as she uncomfortably kisses Ben. Ethan is in hot pursuit as the truck slows to a stop for a pedestrian, then, just as Ethan is about to reach the vehicle, KABOOM!!!
The bomb explodes in the back of the truck. Ethan goes flying to the pavement. He gets up and finds Amy, bleeding profusely from the head and leg, then he sees, to his shock and dismay, his son, Ben, lying lifeless on the ground.
Whoa.
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So that was crazy. Let's touch on a couple other things that happened this episode:
Wayward Points:
- Mrs. Fisher is on a sex-ed kick at Wayward Academy. No wonder they don't want the parents to know what their kids are learning at that infernal institution. She awkwardly and openly talks to the kids about procreation, encouraging them to start taking the baby-making business seriously. It is, after all, their first and primary job as the youth of Wayward Pines. They want the next generation of children to be "100 percent originals." So creepy. She singles out Ben and Amy, which is, ultimately, what let them to their ill-fated rendezvous in the delivery truck, so that was... unfortunate... but hey, on the bright side, the resident hypnotherapist did have a couple of classic "Wayward Pines" quotes that I'll share with you now.
- "School is for children, Theresa, not their parents."
- "Open your books to page 17. Go ahead and... look at all the pictures... Giggle, if you want."
- On finding a mating partner in Wayward Pines: "Take a look around the room. This is a small town!"
- Also of note was Ben's best line of the night, which he uttered after being used as an example in class: "That was weird."
- There are two new pregnancies in town. Nurse Pam is pleased. But she is not quite as happy with Harold and Kate, the perfect Wayward Pines couple, who, despite optimal circumstances for pregnancy, have yet to conceive a child.
- Dr. Pilcher, under his alias, "Dr. Jenkins," made a brief appearance in this episode, expressing to his sister, Nurse Pam, his concern that another revolution is taking place. He wonders why it is happening all over again.
- Theresa wandered on over to Plot 33 again, this time breezing right on past the gated fence and snooping around in the shack. As she walked across the dead grass, the ground was visibly loose, which prompted her to investigate a little further. Using a piece of rebar, she prodded into the ground and discovered something that sounded metallic, like a large container. She asked Big Bill about it and, conscious of his office's surveillance, he was, as always, very reluctant to offer any details. Basically, like usual, he told her to stop thinking about it and mind her own business.
- Finally, Theresa approached Kate with her concerns about Ethan's mental stability. Both women fear that Sheriff Burke has been brainwashed by the head honchos and are worried about what to do with him. Theresa tells Kate that, upon first arriving in Wayward Pines, she made an outbound phone call on a secure line and got in touch with that Seattle secret service agent that we haven't seen much since the beginning of the series. He told Kate, allegedly, that she was entering into a government experiment and that the best thing to do would be to lay low, fit in and be careful because she would be severely tested - possibly by another agent. Kate is unsure whether he was referring to Ethan Burke, but she remains wary to this day.
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The Rules:
- Theresa small-talks Ben on the way to school, asking if he misses things like camping and his old friends. Ben tells her, "We're not supposed to think about the past."
- When Franklin Dobbs brings up Sheriff Pope, Ethan says, "Franklin, we don't talk about the past here. You know that." He then mentions that he was joking about enforcement of The Rules.
- Ethan disables all the surveillance in his house.
- In the flashback, the Bomb Squad discusses their past lives.
- Kate answers a ringing phone. Disappointingly, she picks it up like a normal person, not like a Wayward weirdo.
- Ben is hesitant to go out in the woods with Amy because he feels like it's against the rules. Amy says there are "rules" and then there are Rules.
Questions:
- Is Ben really dead? Highly unlikely, in my opinion, since the preview for Episode 8 shows Ethan rushing him to the hospital. If he were really dead, we would have known it by now.
- Did that phone call between Kate and the Seattle agent really happen? If so, is Ethan the double-agent, or is it somebody else?
- I've mentioned this before, but is Ethan actually crazy? Or is what we're seeing, from Ethan's perspective, actually happening?
- What's under Plot 33? My immediate thought: "Holy crap, it's the mass grave of Group A." But who knows?
Answers:
- Kate really has been stuck in Wayward Pines for 12 years. Now that we know The Truth, that makes sense. But since she's an adult, not a child, apparently they didn't feel the need to let her in on the little secret that, uh, 2,000 years had passed.
***
Three episodes left.
RIP Ben Burke?
(Probably not.)
Until next week,
Work hard and be happy.
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