Wayward Pines - 'Choices'

"Abby... Somebody. Abby Normal!"*

After last week's flurry of exposition, we have... more exposition. Where Ethan was essentially illustrating the truths revealed to Ben in 'The Truth', however, this week it's him getting the info dump.

Pilcher and his sister, Nurse Pam, explain how he discovered that humanity was on the brink of a catastrophic environmental and evolutionary collapse. Unable to convince the world, he devoted his genius and fortune to a project to create an Ark of sorts, developing revolutionary cryonic technology and creating the vast underground facility which stored his chosen survivors for 2,000 years and now serves as its support facility, nurturing it towards self-sufficiency.

All is not well, however. While Pilcher and his volunteers - including Mrs Fisher and Arnold Pope - were prepared for the new world, the first group to be awakened into the town freaked out, either fleeing into the abbie infested woods or simply destroying themselves and their families. Thus the adults are now kept in ignorance, merely paving the way for the First Generation, but some will never accept, and there is a resistance group planning to blow up the fence. Back in town, Theresa follows a paper trail to the mysterious Lot 33, while Ben struggles to deal with the truth and Kate and her husband build a bomb.

'Choices' once more does much to clarify the world of Wayward Pines, and brings us to the end of the material I know from the book. It works hard to ensure that Ethan's choice to throw in with the authorities seems reasonable, by giving a grim alternative - the fence is blown, the abbies storm the town - and by having him set his own conditions - no more Reckonings; no executions and a phasing out of the universal surveillance. While he accepts that people can't be told outright, he has no will to enforce a reign of terror. It also shows that what the town has been missing is a new voice in this secret cabal; someone who hasn't drunk all the kool aid and can still see beyond the party line.

There is a line of social commentary, even satire, in Pilcher's initial frustration with a society frittering its existence away with trivial entertainments, always putting off what needs to be done in favour of watching the latest TV craze or writing about it on the internet. It's always a little odd watching this sort of satire get stuck in to the hand that feeds, but it also explains why Pilcher didn't arrange for someone to lay in the next fifty years worth of DVDs after the hibernation began in order to provide some bread and circuses to distract the people.

I think the most important facet of the last couple of episodes is that they are bringing together the plot threads and tying off the material from book one, which means that we don't have the question of what the hell Pilcher thinks he's doing anymore. Now that Ethan is in on the secret, it is no longer madness to give him the badge and the guns, and he doesn't have to try to escape over and over and then have everyone act as if it's all hunky-dory. All-in-all it makes for a more convincing, and thus more compelling, story. Now, if only they can fit Theresa back in decently.

* It was this or 'Is it because I is slate grey?'