Wayward Pines - S1E3 - Our Town, Our Law
Previously on Wayward Pines, ‘Don’t Discuss Your Life Before’
Note: In my previous recap I sometimes called Bill Evans “Bob.” My bad.
Enjoy Your Life in Wayward Pines
While Sheriff Pope delivers an impassioned speech about how honored he is to lead a community that watches as he murders a woman, Ethan runs through the woods. He’s being hunted by men with guns, but he can hear the chants of the crowd as they recite the town rules.
When Kate returns home with her husband, she offers to make him some tea and finds Ethan in the kitchen. He demands an explanation for what happened to Beverly. She admits that they didn’t turn him in, but Pope told everyone they did to serve as a warning to her and her husband. She describes what happened to Beverly as a reckoning. After giving Ethan his tracking chip, she tells him he got a second chance and that doesn’t happen in Wayward Pines - it’s best if he just goes along.
The phone rings, but she doesn’t answer. “They’re not calling for me.”
Ethan gives Kate one last chance to go with him, but she warns him that he’ll never make it out the town alive. Ethan then finds Beverly’s body hanging in the burned house where he found Bill Evans. He apologizes and promises to find her daughter. He returns to Beverly’s now empty house. He’s drinking water from the fridge when a man enters with two housekeepers. Before they can spot Ethan, the man instructs the cleaners to start upstairs - they’re preparing the house for new tenants. He then tells Ethan to remain quiet and leave.
Outside, Ethan spots a food delivery truck and follows it. When the driver stops to make a delivery, Ethan sneaks into the back of the truck.
Looking For Ethan
Theresa and Ben stop for gas and he wonders if they’re doing the right thing looking for his father. He suspects he’s with Kate, and Theresa says she never wants him to say her name again.
At the Boise field office, Theresa appeals to a sympathetic employee and explains she suspects her husband is in town to be with Kate. When the woman leaves her desk to get information, Theresa uses Ethan’s ID to log into the system and finds where he last stopped for gas. Meanwhile, Adam calls Dr. Jenkins to report what Theresa is up to.
At the gas station, Theresa and Ben learn there was a car accident near Wayward Pines - a nothing town - so that’s where they head next. On the way, though, they’re pulled over by Sheriff Pope whose hair is much shorter and neater and he looks to be just a regular highway patrolman. He tricks Theresa into thinking she has an oil leak, and when he offers to fix it, he really sabotages the car. She pulls off completely unaware. They’re 9 miles outside of Wayward Pines.
“I don’t know what they see in you.”
Ethan hitches a ride into this giant facility. He sneaks into an area with parked cars covered in dust. He finds Theresa’s car and hides in the backseat. There’s a bag with her personal effects, but before he can open it, Pope breaks the back window and injects him with a needle. They fight, but Ethan soon loses consciousness. As Ethan passes out Pope says, “I don’t know what they see in you.”
Ethan is awakened by a ringing phone. He answers it and is told his family was discharged from the hospital. He stumbles into the hallway and finds he’s in the hospital. He asks Nurse Pam where he can find his family. They’re at Beverly’s. He finds them there, looking in the fully stocked fridge. The house has been completely furnished again. Ben has a cast on his arm and he and Theresa don’t remember anything. They woke up in the hospital and were told they’d been in a car accident and then told where to go to find Ethan.
The man from earlier arrives and explains to Ethan that this is their home now and that it comes with an alarm system - then he side-eyes the smoke alarm which is really a camera. Ethan speaks to Theresa alone and explains it’s not safe there. When he learns she encountered Pope, he tells her to stay in the house with Ben and he’ll be back.
“We want you to have a happy life here.”
Ethan confronts Pope and Nurse Pam at the police station. He questions them about the cameras, the fence, and all the other weird shit. Pope advises him and his family to just follow the rules or else. Ethan advises Pope to the stay the hell away from his family or he’ll kill him. The phone rings and interrupts the dick-measuring contest. Pam answers it and then tells Pope to stand down. Someone really likes Ethan’s ass.
Ethan realizes neither of them are in charge and points that out. Ethan runs into Dr. Jenkins in the street, and he begs Ethan to stay. He has his family with him now and that’s not something everyone can say. The town needs a good person like Ethan. But Ethan refuses because he doesn’t live there - even though they’ve put his name on the mailbox.
Back at the house, Ben is bored and Theresa asks him to trust his father. But when Ben spots Ethan following a hooded figure into the woods, he tails them.
“This is my town.”
Ethan meets with Kate in the woods. When she learns his family is in town, she tells him he shouldn’t wait too long to tell Theresa she’s there. She explains she was in town for ten years before she saw Bill in town and he hadn’t aged a day. Ethan insists he last saw her 5 weeks ago, not 12 years. She’s done trying to figure it out and running. She says the only way to survive is to play along. He tells her when she’s done playing games, come find him.
Back at the house, Theresa is looking for Ben, but finds Pope in her kitchen, making himself at home and eating ice cream. He claims to have saved her from the accident she doesn’t remember. He’s annoyed because she hasn’t thanked him for doing so. Ethan didn’t thank him either, and he’s sick of all the special treatment the Burkes are getting. She asks him to leave, and he agrees to go, but not before pointing out Wayward Pines is his town.
Ben comes rushing into the house and tells his mother he saw Ethan with Kate. Awww, shit.
Ben and Theresa have decided to hoof it out of town, but they’re chased off the road by Pope in his police car. They hit the big scary wall and are forced to stop. Pope starts ranting about his town and hits Ben. He pulls his gun and makes Ben get in the police car so he can talk to Theresa. They don’t get to talk much before Ethan slams into Pope and starts kicking his ass. Pope gets the upperhand and his gun back, but then Ben hits him with the car.
“You think you want to know the truth, but you don’t. It’s worse than anything you could have ever imagined,” Pope says, lying on the ground and bleeding.
Ethan shoots Pope, takes his keys and presses a button on a fob which opens a portion of the wall. The Burkes get into the car, but then something drags Pope’s body beyond the wall. Only Ben gets a glimpse of it. There’s screeching from the other side and Ethan closes the gate.
Overall Thoughts:
- This shit escalated QUICKLY. I’m convinced the ten episodes must cover all three books and I’m cool with that.
- Anyone notice the difference in Pope’s hair from the time he pulled Theresa over to being in the kitchen eating ice cream? Hmmm.
- What’s up with babies? Bill’s wife had a crying baby in the background, but we never saw it. We also didn’t really see the baby Nurse Pam was holding in the hospital.
- Also, what’s up with the creepy real estate agent?
- I have a small beef with how easily Theresa was willing to get comfortable in a strange house with her name on the mailbox. It IS a nice house, but still.
- Finally, what the fuck is beyond the wall?
