Wayward Points: Clear and severe

"Freedom or safety - not both."

Last week, Ben went boom. Spoiler. We picked up this week with Ethan carrying his lifeless boy through the hospital and screaming for help. Pops plops his kid down on a stretcher, Nurse Pam promises to protect Ben (as part of Wayward Pines' most precious resource) and we're already hitting the opening credits. Hashtag Wayward Pines.

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Let's get the quick rundown and get to some juicy theories as to what's next for "Wayward Pines."

Pilcher tries to pass the truck bomb off as a "gas leak," but people aren't buying it. Rumors are running rampant and the residents of Wayward Pines are growing skeptical of their safety. What seemed like a good idea on paper got shot to crap when Pam's proposed "Fellowship Gathering" gets shut down by Sheriff Burke shuts the thing down after about two seconds. He wants that place on lockdown until the bomb investigation is over.

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Amy and Ben are recovering, and that's all well and good, but Mrs. Fisher, the resident hypnotherapist, visits young Master Burke and tries to talk him into turning on his father. Her main claim is that Ethan is too lenient on people, as was evidenced by his releasing Harold from custody last episode. Her "clear and severe" ideology does a number on Ben, who accuses his pops of allowing the terrorist act to transpire. If he would have kept Harold locked up, that bomb never would have gone off.

In a flashback, we learn that Ethan made a similar mistake back in his life as a member of an anti-terrorism task force. His squad had apprehended the mastermind behind two horrific, simultaneous bombings, but Ethan got a call from an agent he assumed was dirty, ordering the squad to release the villain. Ethan obeyed and set the guy free. Several weeks later, that same terrorist killed 620 people in another attack. In present-day Wayward Pines, the sheriff swears to his wife to never make that mistake again, and he takes off to track down Harold.

And he does, as Harold is on his way back into town after helping another member of the Bomb Squad steal a dump truck they intended to use to break through The Fence and bury a fellow conspirator who was injured last episode. Showing no mercy, Ethan chases Harold down and pistol whips him right in the face before handcuffing him to a tree. Ethan demands answers and Harold ultimately tells Mr. Burke that he's too late.

That's right. Ethan is too late. The rogue member of the Bomb Squad drives the 30-foot dump truck smack-dab through the middle of a gate in The Fence and, at long last, has accomplished his goal of being able to bury his friend on "free soil." His joy seems ominous and would shortly prove fruitless, as his brief celebration came to a quick and untimely end - three Abbies were there to greet him and welcome him and his deceased companion back to the "free" world with their carnivorous teeth.

The Abbies are coming.

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Wayward Points:

• Did anyone else find the opening scene with Amy, still covered in blood from the bomb, stumbling like a zombie through the halls of the hospital a little funny? Maybe I'm just a terrible person, but I almost laughed when I first saw her walking around.
• Speaking of which, Amy sucks. She lays on and next to Ben while he's lying in his hospital bed, which I'm pretty sure would not be allowed in a real hospital.
• Theresa confronts Mrs. Fisher about her visit to Ben, reminding the hypnotherapist that Ben is the Burkes' son, not hers. She threatens Fisher, telling her to stay very far away from the Burkes if she knows what's best for her.
• Kate has several flashbacks in the episode, the first of which shows her in a straight-jacket in a
  padded cell. She is straight-up mental, demanding to be set free from her captivity. Pilcher
  takes a few notes to track her "progress" and Pam injects her in the neck with some sort of medicine. Later, in another flashback, Kate has embraced her well-known weirdo persona.
  Chalk it up to "acceptance" of her circumstances. She asks Pilcher for a refill prescription for
  her medication, which she immediately crumples upon leaving his office. In the present day,
  Pilcher visits Kate in jail, having come to the realization that his "model citizen" was never truly reformed like he thought she was.
• We learned this episode that the Bomb Squad has at least a dozen members or so - one of which is Ruby, who works at the diner. Dr. Pilcher notices that she arrived late to work and had pine needles in her hair. Further investigation proves that Ruby has removed her tracking chip.
• Ted, the delivery guy, is dead. Over 90 percent of his body was burned by the truck bomb.
• Television screens at The Complex monitor all surveillance in Wayward Pines. Twenty-four people man the surveillance systems around the clock. Pilcher and Pam held interviews with members of the surveillance team to see if anyone had been aiding the insurgents. One of these Complex workers is a nervous guy named Reggie Hudson. Reggie admits to occasionally
  blurring footage or wiping tape if he felt uncomfortable by anything he saw or heard. "It's human nature to ask questions," Reggie tells Pam. When Pilcher learns of Reggie's dishonesty, he sticks him in a tube and has him killed in front of his co-workers.
• Surprisingly, Pam tries to cover for Reggie. We later learn that Pam believes that if
  Pilcher starts executing his own volunteers at The Complex, he'll lose control of the Wayward Pines experiment altogether. Pam, at one point, even offers her own life on Reggie's behalf, almost begging Pilcher to punish her instead, which was a little surprising.
  
• This place is corrupt, from top to bottom. The surveillance team had a crack, Pam lied to Pilcher and the sheriff is done taking orders. Chaos is coming to Wayward Pines.
• "Stay alert. Stay vigilant. Report anything suspicious." Wayward Pines security is going to get beefed up and it sounds like Pilcher is through messing around.
• The Abbies are real. They've got to be. And now there's a dang hole right in the middle of The Fence.

The Rules:

- A phone rings in the diner as residents gossip about what really caused the explosion. Everyone in the diner turns their attention to it.

- Reggie admittedly has broken surveillance rules and protocol.

- Pilcher says Wayward Pines is entering a time of war, where new Rules must be applied, security must be tightened and protocols must be reinforced.

Answers:

- So... Kate was never actually a weirdo, apparently... But she still answered the phone upside-down that one time, which was one of the strangest things I've ever seen.

- Ethan cheated on Theresa because he felt like he could not confide in her his secret that he let the Easter Bombings terrorist free. Full of guilt and remorse, he turned to Kate because they were partners and he felt like he could trust her.

Wayward Lines:

- Amy: "I can hear your heart."

  Ben: "I would hope so."

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Two episodes left.

RIP Ted Laufer

Episodes 6-7

RIP Reggie Hudson

Episode 8

RIP Bomb Squad dudes

Episodes 7-8

Until next week,

Work hard and be happy.