Warning: Spoiler Alert
The FOX Network mini-series “Wayward Pines,” has set the table for a truly spectacular finale, with a taut and exciting penultimate episode entitled “A Reckoning.” Finally, the entire population of the small town in Iowa, are discovering the truth about their situation, however an ominous final montage leaves one wondering if the truth and the residents of Wayward Pines, will survive the final episode? The town’s sheriff Ethan Burke, averted a crisis early in the episode, but that threat was back in play at the end.
Our first image’s a wide-shot of a neighborhood at night, suddenly phones start ringing all over town and we see the lights getting turned on in the houses. We move to the town square, the spotlights on the platform where they perform reckonings, come on. Then we watch Ethan walking onto the platform holding a knife to Kate Balinger’s neck and asking the crowd if that’s what they want to see. The crowd cheers lustily, but there are 14 residents who are allies of Kate and although undetected, they’re holding weapons.
We then go back several hours, to see the events that lead up to the reckoning, starting minutes after one of Kate’s crew drove through the electric fence with a 30-foot dump-truck. The driver left the cab with the body of a comrade who died on his way to the fence. Seconds later they got devoured by three Abbies, one eating the corpse the other two killing then eating the driver.
As they finish their meal, one of the Abbies realize that the fence’s disabled. He crawls underneath the truck to the other side of the fence, then crawls back to signal his mates. However he’s killed by Ethan slamming into him with his jeep. The other two Abbies attempt to escape by crawling under the truck, but Burke shoots out all the tires and the truck falls on them and crushes them to death.
Back at Burke’s office, Kate’s in one cell while Franklin and two other members of their team are in another. Franklin’s not the guy I’d want to be spending my final moments with, as he’s the voice of doom and gloom. He keeps repeating their dead, that Burke’s going to come back and then have a reckoning for each of them. Kate says that Ethan’s not Pope and they’ll all be fine. She says she knows Ethan and he’s not going to kill them. Franklin counters with she used to know him before they got to him.
Ethan’s secretary Arlene’s sitting at her desk playing solitary, when three teenaged boys walk into the station and demand to see Sheriff Burke. She tells them he’s not at the station, then asks them what gives them the right to demand anything? The loudmouth of the trio, flashes his school ring and says he’s a member of the first graduating class of Wayward Pines Academy.
He then says that Wayward Pines has rules and punishment for breaking those rules and he wants to know when the sheriff will hold reckonings for the guilty. Arlene says that’s none of his business and tells them to leave, one of his buddies tells the loudmouth Jason that they should leave. Jason says tell the sheriff if he doesn’t want to do the reckoning he knows people who will gladly take care of it. Then they leave.
Ethan’s got a construction team repairing the fence when David Pilcher arrives. Burke says he’s got the situation under control and Pilcher responds that the rebels won’t stop. Ethan says the reason that they drove through the fence was Pilcher’s fault for not leveling with the residents. The creator of Wayward Pines blames his sheriff’s leniency as the problem, telling him he must kill Kate Balinger.
The doctor says that the rebels will fall apart without her leadership. He then asks Burke if he could have killed the Easter bomber, before he killed so many, would he have done it? He says to Ethan it’s one life for the safety of the whole town.
Burke drags Harold Balinger into an interrogation room and shows him pictures of the remains of the two guys who crashed through the fence. It’s clear that they’ve been eaten by some monster, but Harold asks Ethan what he did to them? Burke looks him in the eye and says if he killed them, he’d have shot them instead of eating them. He then tells Balinger that he needs the names of the other members of their team, or this will happen to all of them.
Pamela’s sitting in her office and going through some books, when she finds a picture of David and her when they were children. She smiles at the memory at first, but then she gets up from her desk and leaves her office. Pamela believes her brother’s lost his way, a rift formed between them over Reggie Hudson and her days of unquestioning loyalty ended.
Theresa Burke steps out of Ben’s room at the hospital and Pam asks her how Ben’s doing. Theresa says that Ben slept through the night and Pam says that’s great. She then quietly asks her if Ethan told her the truth about Wayward Pines and Theresa uncomfortably nods yes. Pilcher asks if she believes him and Burke responds she doesn’t know what to believe. Pamela says that’s a good attitude, to question everything.
She then tells Theresa to go home and get some rest, that they’ll take good care of Ben. However, she tells Theresa not to take Main Street, instead to take the route that passes Lot 33 and see what you find. Theresa smiles weakly and leaves the hospital she looks at the pass that Pilcher slipped into her hand, granting her total access to the town.
Ethan goes to the surveillance center of the complex and tells Pilcher that he’s got 14 names, they are the rest of Kate and Harold’s team. The surveillance operator says that they’re all together at the Bier Garten, but when they pull up the video feed the bar’s empty. A call by Pilcher to the bartender, reveals that all 14 tracking-chips are in a beer-mug.
Ben’s in his hospital bed when he starts hearing these codes alerting doctors to a crisis in Amy’s room. Ben unhooks himself from the monitors and walks into the hall and sees Amy’s mom and dad leaving her room crying. He tries to go into the room when Pam stops him, she tells him Amy’s developed a swelling of the brain and she needs surgery. Ben breaks down crying and Pam hugs him.
Theresa heads to Lot 33 and knocks out the surveillance camera with a steel pipe. She then heads into the shack on the lot and quickly realizes that the rickety wooden floor boards, hide a metal trap door. She opens it and sees a ladder heading down to the basement. She takes the ladder down and uses a flashlight at first but the lighting system senses her presence and starts lighting the hallway. She comes to a door that reads passes and it says total access granted and the door opens.
Megan Fisher comes to Ben’s room at the hospital and asks about Amy’s condition, he tells her the surgery’s completed and it will be a couple of hours before the doctors know anything. She then asks if he thought any more about their conversation the previous day, when she said that Ben needs to share his thoughts publicly. She then tells him about the crashing of the fence.
She says the town’s coming apart and he needs to be a leader and talk to the people, telling them he doesn’t approve of the leniency the rebels are getting. She says you’re not alone and suddenly there’s a sound outside Ben’s window that sounds like marching. However it’s all the students from his class standing outside his window, slamming their fists into the palms of their other hands, a gesture that looked like they wanted revenge.
The surveillance operator sees the commotion outside the hospital and pulls it up on the giant monitor and calls for Burke and Pilcher to check it out. Just as they walk over, they see Megan and Ben come outside and Ethan asks the operator for audio. Fisher tells the students to let Ben talk and he thanks them for coming and tells them about Amy.
He then says that Amy’s a really good person and whom ever was behind hurting her deserves to be punished. He then apologizes for his father letting the town down. Jason and his two buddies are in the crowd and Jason asks Ben when his father’s going to have a reckoning, Ben replies he’s not having one. Jason and his buddies turn around and storm off, then the rest of the students leave soon after.
Jason and his pals head back to the sheriff’s station, Arlene tries to lock the plate-glass door, but Jason bashes through it. He then tells Arlene to give him the keys and she spits in his face, he picks her up and throws her against a wall. Then he handcuffs her to a filing cabinet and takes the keys, he opens the rifle rack and starts loading three with ammunition.
Kate recognizes him, he was in their toy-store when he was just eight-years-old and he bought a wooden soldier that Harold had carved. She says she remembers it like it was yesterday and says he was a really good kid. She says it doesn’t have to end like this and one of Jason’s buddy’s says she’s right, we’ve made our point. Jason screams at him this isn’t about making a point, then asks if his pal was deaf throughout their school-years.
First he opens the cell with Franklin and the other two men, he tells them to come out and get on their knees. He then opens the cell with Kate and Harold and she tries to grab him to ask for sympathy and he responds with the butt of his rifle to her head. While she’s on the floor he tells Harold to get out and join the other men on their knees.
He then makes all four men repeat, “Work Hard, Be Happy And Enjoy Your Life In Wayward Pines.” He then takes his rifle and puts it to the back of Harold’s head. Harold mouths I Love You to Kate then we hear the rifle fire and we see Harold’s blood and tissue all over Kate’s face. He then shoots the other three dead and heads into the cell and points the rifle at Kate’s head. However Ethan comes in right then and kills Jason with one shot, then tells the other two teens to drop their weapons.
Ethan brings Kate into an interrogation room and says that the only way the other 14 people will be safe, is if she tells him where they are, so he can protect him. She responds like you protected Harold? Then she says the only way he can protect them, is by stop protecting her. He says he won’t do that and she says if he doesn’t kill her, another Jason will.
Arlene runs into the room and says she thinks more vigilantes are there, she just heard something. However when he goes out front, it’s Theresa and she says she needs to show him and Kate something. They head to Lot 33 and Theresa sits down in front of a computer containing video archives and pulls one up and starts playing it. They soon see Adam Hassler who says the date’s September 15, 4020 and they’ve finally reached the city, but have found no survivors.
He then says a band of Abbies are following them and he believes it’s the same group they saw earlier in the trip. He then turns the camera to the Golden Gate Bridge and its either in pieces or partially submerged. The video then cuts out. Theresa says there are hundreds of video journals from cities all over the country, nothing’s left.
Ethan looks over at Kate and asks if she believes him now and she asks why Pilcher hid this from them. Burke says Pilcher’s a control freak but they have to tell everybody. Theresa asks how they’re going to tell people without Pilcher finding out? Ethan says just show this to as many people before midnight as possible, he’ll take care of Pilcher. She asks why midnight and Kate and Ethan say in unison there’s going to be a reckoning.
Burke heads over to Pilcher’s office and the surveillance operator tells David that the sheriff’s in his office waiting to talk to him. When the doctor enters his office, he sees Ethan sitting there drinking liquor, Burke says he decided that reckoning Kate Balinger’s the only solution. However he needs all the residents at the reckoning, Pilcher gives him a remote control which controls all the phones.
Which brings us back full circle to the opening scene as Ethan and Kate walk across the platform, while Burke asks the crowd if they want Kate dead. He then lets her go and puts down the knife and tells the crowd he’s not going to kill her, instead he’s going to tell them the truth. The world they know is long gone, Wayward Pines is it. He then says they’ve been ruled by the man they know as Dr. Jenkins, who in reality’s David Pilcher. He says he’s ruled through fear and violence for too long.
Somebody screams from the crowd that Burke’s lying and then Kate says he’s telling the truth, that she saw it for herself. She says all these years she’s just wanted to know the truth, but she never expected that they were the last surviving people. Then Theresa says she saw it as well, then Arlene says she also saw it, followed by some other residents.
Kate says that Pilcher thinks they can’t handle the truth and will turn on each other, but she says they can show him he’s wrong. Suddenly Megan Fisher steps forward and shouts Kate down, asking how she dare talk about Dr. Pilcher. She calls Kate a terrorist and Theresa steps up and slaps Fisher across the face. Megan’s shocked and then she asks if they’re all going to just stand there and everyone remains silent. Then the lights go out, first in the square then all throughout Wayward Pines. We see its Pilcher turning off the power via a keyboard and then we see the electric-fence power down. Our last image’s the hand of one of the Abbie’s starting to scale the fence.
The Season Finale Airs Next Thursday Night at 9:00 pm on FOX.
