Warning: Spoiler Alert
Who truly are the monsters on the FOX Network Summer series “Wayward Pines,” the Abbies or the remaining humans who reside behind an electric fence in an Idaho community? Four episodes into the second year of this series, the answer to that question’s at best debatable. While the residents of Wayward Pines, fixate on doing everything they can to survive, many of them have lost their humanity in the process. They readily eliminate threats from throughout their ranks, while forcing others to enter situations they’re not yet prepared for.
Contrast that behavior with what we saw earlier this season, as the Abbies readily sacrificed themselves in order for some of them to get past the electric fence and enter the town. Would the remaining humans in the year 4032, put themselves in danger for the greater good? Although there are some characters we’ve encountered that seem selfless enough to give up their lives to save another, they appear to be very few that would comfortably fit in that category.
Dr. Theo Yedlin, Ben Burke and Xander Beck, got exiled from the town at the conclusion of the season premiere and while Yedlin got saved early in episode two, Ben and Xander’s fate remained unknown until this chapter. Beck’s alive although he finds himself at the bottom of a pretty deep pit, possibly an abandoned well. He climbs the rocks that line the sides and nearly reaches the top when an Abbie pushes him back down to the bottom. The Abbie then jumps down and starts attacking Beck, but Xander gets the creature in a headlock and chokes the life out of it. Then to confirm his opponent won’t rise again, Beck smashes a boulder against his skull.
As despicable as Jason Higgins, the current leader of Wayward Pines has proven himself to be, there’s a special place in Hell for Megan Fisher. She somehow survived her brush with death on Invasion Day, however her second chance didn’t alter her perspective or her personality. She’s a controlling, manipulative, woman that despises to be challenged and that happened a couple of times during this installment.
Jason, Kerry Campbell, CJ Mitchum and Fisher were in the midst of a meeting when we joined them, as Megan gets the First Couple up to date on their big fertility push. A number of the young teens are far along in their pregnancies and more girls have started ovulating. Mitchum, seemingly disgusted with the conversation gets up to leave but Jason asks him to stay. CJ says he thought the meeting concerned sending out a squadron miles away from town to check out soil samples and the water situation, so they could plant more crops to feed the town. Mitchum wants to take full advantage of the Abbies vacating the area.
Fisher tries torpedoing the idea asking Jason what would Pilcher say? Higgins responds that Pilcher would back the plan and he tells CJ and Mario to start planning for the upcoming mission. Megan involuntarily stiffens in her wheelchair, when Higgins’ disregards her advice. However we can see that Mitchum’s pleased as more crops gives the town a better chance for survival.
Beck’s getting a drink from a brook when a stranger with a long beard and long stringy-hair comes up from behind him and covers Xander’s mouth and holds a blade to his neck. Turns out the stranger’s Adam Hassler, Ethan Burke and Kate Hewson’s boss in the Secret Service and one of the dozen nomads that David Pilcher sent out when he revived the people from Group A. Hassler’s the only one of the nomads to return to the town and he’s got the physical and mental scars to show how harrowing his experience was.
Adam tells Beck that the Abbies have a system and if you can survive long enough you can figure it out. He says they usually send a scout to a new territory first and if you can hightail it before the scout reaches the rest of his group, you’ll survive. He then tells Xander he’s got to go back to town as there’s somebody he needs to talk to and suggests Beck join him, saying the worst they can do is not let him in. However both men are allowed through the gates without a problem and a buzz of recognition fills the air as some of the soldiers realize that the man with Beck’s Adam Hassler.
Hassler’s brought into an examination room where he meets Yedlin and they introduce themselves. Adam says his mission was to leave town and look for other survivors and we’re aware that he made it to San Francisco, from a videotape Theresa Burke found last year. The only human that Hassler met outside the gate was Xander and Theo muses that perhaps they’ll never know for certain if any other humans remain. Adam grabs Theo and whispers “Oh we know. They’re not are enemies, they’re our replacements.”
Hassler then grimaces in pain and Theo tells him to lie back and show Yedlin where the pain’s emanating from. It’s his abdomen and when Theo lifts up his shirt we see how badly Adam’s torso’s been repeatedly sliced. From his chest to his waist, his body’s covered in scar tissue.
Later that morning, Theo’s doing paperwork when Jason comes into Yedlin’s office and starts asking the doctor questions about Hassler, as Adam won’t talk to him. Theo says he won’t violate doctor/patient confidentiality and he tells Higgins that if he wants answers from Hassler, then go question Adam.
Crisis time for Lucy Armstrong the young girl that helps Rebecca Yedlin in her beauty-shop. Lucy’s had her first-period and she’s terrified Megan will find out and immediately try to pair her up with a boy and get her to start spitting out kids. Lucy’s crying and tells Rebecca that she’s not ready to have children, but Rebecca tells Lucy she needs to go back to school or they’ll realize something’s wrong.
Hassler’s fallen asleep in the hospital bed and he dreams about a battle he had with an Abbie in which he killed his opponent with a sword. He wakes up startled, then realizes he’s in the hospital and puts on his coat and starts to leave, however that’s when we realize that Adam’s hallucinating and keeps seeing nonexistent Abbies. He heads downtown and his appearance raises a ruckus, as he’s scaring little kids and he keeps getting visions.
He ducks down an alley however Theresa Burke sees him and follows him, when she’s certain it’s him she asks how he could have worked with Pilcher and why did he involve her family? He asks where’s Ethan and she tells him he’s dead and there’s good probability that Ben’s dead as well, as they threw him outside the fence. She screams that she lost her family because of him and that they had trusted him. She then turns around and stomps away.
The grade school students put on a play commemorating Pilcher’s decision to put the Wayward Pines project into action and the cast featured a seven year-old portraying Pilcher as well as singing pine trees. Lucy’s emotions overcome her and she leaves the auditorium and breaks down crying. Later that day Fisher approaches her and says she’s noticed the girl used the bathroom a lot that day and Armstrong says she ate something that didn’t agree with her. Megan accepts her response but Lucy realizes Fisher didn’t believe her. She tells her older brother Frank that Fisher knows, but he tells her not to worry and promises he won’t tell Megan.
That vow doesn’t last too long, as Megan invites Frank for a chocolate ice cream soda and reminds Armstrong that the “First Generation Of Wayward Pines,” aren’t allowed to keep secrets from her. Frank says it’s his job to protect Lucy and Fisher tells him she understands that but says that the needs of Wayward Pines outweigh those of any individual. Frank admits his sister’s ovulating.
Theo goes to talk to Mitchum about possibly rethinking the mission he and his crew are about to embark on, telling CJ that he believes Pilcher’s protégé underestimates the Abbies. Mitchum assures Yedlin that’s not the case, then he tells Theo that they’re carrying out this mission to give the people hope.
Rebecca returns to her shop to find Megan inside talking to Lucy and Yedlin asks what’s going on? Fisher says she and Lucy are talking and then she tells Lucy to head back to the Academy with her. Lucy refuses and Rebecca tells the girl to wait outside. She then tells Megan to leave the girl alone and Fisher says she’s meeting with Jason in 15 minutes and she’s going to report this incident to Higgins. Yedlin breaks into a huge grin and she says that Fisher should try that and then says that’s a fight Megan’s bound to lose then pushes Fisher’s wheelchair out of her shop and onto the sidewalk. Yedlin tells Lucy she’ll stay with her and Theo for the next few nights.
The convoy starts to leave town and Theresa stops the vehicle with Mitchum in it. She tells CJ she’s going with them as she has to find out Ben’s fate. Mitchum asks her what’s the story with him as Adam climbs into another vehicle and she tells CJ that’s Mitchum’s concern not hers.
The convoy reaches it’s destination and we see snow-capped mountains in the distance. Theresa approaches Adam and asks him if he’s there to help her and he responds she’s correct. She tells Hassler the general area that the harvest crew last saw Ben, he forages through the underbrush with a flashlight. Unfortunately Ben wasn’t as fortunate as Xander and Theresa has to lift the tarpaulin off his corpse to identify her son.
The following day Frank sees his sister and asks what’s going on and she tells him that she realizes that despite his promise he told Fisher about her period. Frank says he had to and Lucy says she could tell Megan things about him, he seems concerned and asks what kind of things? Lucy ignores the question and tells her brother she hates him. Whether he felt bad because of what his sister said, or concerned with what Lucy would tell Fisher, Frank’s moody and morose the entire evening. He finally puts on his hoodie and heads downtown where he’s about to eat a sandwich when the merry-go-round suddenly comes to life briefly. However just as abruptly it powers down and Frank’s terrified when he sees an Abbie’s standing on the ride and staring back at him.
