Warning: Spoiler Alert
The eighth episode of the FOX Network series “Wayward Pines,” begins with the calm before the storm, as we hear Jason Higgins’ voice addressing the town’s citizens on the dawn of a new day. Higgins tells the residents that they’ll defeat their enemies and one of the ways they’ll show their determination’s to live their lives normally. He finishes his speech with the words “Go to school, work hard, be happy and enjoy your lives in Wayward Pines.”
What Higgins and the rest of the town’s unaware of, is that they’re in the midst of a life and death situation. Theo Yedlin and Kerry Campbell enter the superstructure in the mountain at the same time and they ride the elevator together. Yedlin’s got some disconcerting news for Campbell, after going through te results of the tests he performed on her, Theo tells Kerry due to medical issues she’d be unable to carry a child to term. Campbell’s normally cool and calm demeanor gives way to the devastation she feels hearing the news, crying that she can’t fulfill her obligation as a member of the First Generation. The elevator stops at her floor and she tells Yedlin to let her know if Megan Fisher gets in his way. It’s at that moment we realize they’re clueless to the danger in their midst, but that will change quickly.
Yedlin realizes something’s wrong when he reaches the lab and the lights are off, he turns them on to find Fisher’s lifeless body sitting in her wheelchair, the floor soaked in her blood. Theo then discovers Margaret’s escaped and he pushes the button sounding the alarm. The soldiers arrive along with Kerry and Jason and they start searching the superstructure for Margaret, but they soon realize she’s escaped the facility.
Higgins starts barking out instructions to Mario, but Yedlin interrupts him and tells Jason he’s got to inform the residents of the situation. Jason automatically tries to dismiss Theo’s advice but suddenly turns to Kerry and says Yedlin’s correct, they’ll tell all the residents to immediately get indoors, unless they want to help in the search.
Before the announcement’s made, we join Rebecca and Xander for an awkward but illuminating conversation. The couple may have started living separately six months before, but apparently they’d been intimate far more recently as we find out Rebecca’s carrying Xander’s child. He asks her why she hadn’t told Yedlin and she tells him that she still has feelings for Theo.
Margaret’s trying to get to the spot she used to get inside the electric fence to escape, when she slips and starts to fall from a cliff. She hangs on with one hand and attempts to pull herself up, however when she realizes that won’t work she jumps to the ground below unharmed.
The announcement goes out to all the residents to seek shelter and lock the doors. Over at Wayward Pines Academy, Frank Armstrong tries to convince one of his pals to hunker down in the school’s basement. However his buddy gives him a wink and a smile and says if it’s truly the end of the world, he’s not about to waste it in the basement as he and his girlfriend walk off holding hands.
Frank’s younger sister Lucy pleads with her brother to take her to Rebecca’s hair salon and after she tells her brother she’ll feel safer there, he agrees to her request. What they don’t realize is the trip to the town square will put them dangerously close to Margaret.
Adam Hassler and Yedlin team up to try to capture Margaret, each carrying a gun and Hassler asks Theo if he knows how to shoot? The doctor says his father taught him when he was a kid, but he stopped shooting when he became a doctor and realized how much damage a bullet could cause. Adam tries to console Yedlin, saying Wayward Pines has caused many residents to break promises they made to themselves. He then suggests that once they bag their trophy they should celebrate in the town square. Theo says that Margaret’s not a trophy and Hassler responds that Yedlin best hope she becomes one.
Margaret’s spotted on the roofs of the shops in the town square, Mario and his soldiers spray the roofs with gunfire but don’t come close to hitting her. When one of the soldiers makes it to the roofs they realize she’s escaped once again. The soldiers start getting various reports that the female Abbie’s been seen all over town, so they split up and start searching.
Frank and Lucy walk to Rebecca’s salon and Armstrong attempts to keep his younger sister calm by talking about her upcoming spelling-bee. However the Armstrong’s are unaware that Margaret’s about 30-yards away and recognizes Frank from their encounter at the merry-go-round, but she lets them pass. She then discovers Frank’s buddy making out with his girlfriend in the woods, but she lets them be as well. The third couple she comes upon aren’t so lucky, as one of the soldiers kisses his wife goodbye before heading to join the other soldiers. Margaret recognizes the uniform as the same as what the soldiers that captured her wore and as soon as the wife goes inside her house she attacks the soldier and quickly kills him. She then picks up his corpse and carries his body on her shoulders.
The Armstrong’s reach Rebecca’s salon and she hurries them into her shop, where they join Arlene and a young married couple. Suddenly Xander comes into the shop carrying a canvas bag filled with weapons he’d been hiding. The couple says they want to help in the search, so Beck gives them each a rifle and tells them not to point them at anything they don’t intend to kill.
Rebecca says that they could determine where Margaret’s heading far easier if she had a copy of what the Abbies settlement looked like before Pilcher destroyed it and built Wayward Pines on top of the ruins. She suddenly remembers that there’s a copy of what she needs in Jason’s office inside the mountain and says she’ll retrieve it. Xander begs her to be careful.
Hassler and Yedlin see blood on some foliage and believe it’s Margaret’s so they start following her trail East but then they discover the corpse and realize that Margaret purposely mislead them. Hassler believes they should start heading South, while Theo’s convinced they should remain going East. They then hear gunfire coming from the East and the men split up with Yedlin heading towards the gunfire, while Adam continues South.
When Theo reaches a housing development, he finds the source of the gunshots he heard. Turns out that the married couple from the salon suddenly se Margaret at the same time that Mario and three soldiers do. The husband attempts to shoot Margaret but his shot goes awry and he instead hits Mario in his abdomen. One of the soldiers reflexively fires back and hits the husband in the throat, killing him instantly. When Yedlin arrives he sees the wife and the soldiers with weapons pointed at each other. Theo takes charge and orders them all to drop their weapons so they can get Mario to the hospital. Yedlin’s authoritative demeanor gets their respect and they all drop their weapons and then one of the soldiers asks Theo what next sir? They carry Mario to the hospital.
Rebecca shows up at Jason’s office door and tells the soldier guarding it she needs to go in there, but the soldier refuses saying she’s not authorized. She smiles and said that Jason sent her there and that he should call Higgins to verify her story, though he may get a tad upset as he’s in the midst of trying to capture Margaret.
The ruse works as the soldier lets her into the office and she quickly finds the document she seeks, but she’s soon joined by Kerry asking what Rebecca’s doing in there? Rebecca says she found what she needed, the schematics of the Abbies settlement, so they can determine where Margaret’s headed. After sniping at each other for a bit, Rebecca heads back to the town square. However as she’s walking back she suddenly looks right into Margaret’s eyes as they’re about 20-feet from each other.
Margaret raises her hand to attack and Rebecca reflexively puts her hand on her belly as she’s concerned about her child. Margaret immediately realizes that Rebecca’s carrying a baby, as we see Margaret flashback to the Abbies settlement before Pilcher destroyed it and we see an Abbie holding her newborn. Whether she was about to show Rebecca mercy or not, will never be known as Xander appears from out of nowhere and hits Margaret with a shot to the forearm. Badly injured she growls at Beck and runs away and Rebecca and Xander kiss passionately.
Jason pulls Kerry aside and takes her into a room she’d never seen before containing cryogenic chambers. Higgins smiles and says this is their escape, they’ll go back to sleep and return after the Abbies die out and they’ll become the new Adam and Eve. Kerry breaks down and tells Jason she can’t have children and Higgins says he feels so sorry for her and had he known that he would have planned things differently. She then tells him she loves him and he responds the same way. However will Jason decide to choose a new mate?
Mario wakes up after surgery and Theo tells him the bullet passed right through him, missing his liver by about an inch. Mario looks Yedlin in the eyes and asks are we dead? Theo says that Mario should make a full recovery, but the soldier shakes his head and asks Yedlin are WE dead? Theo admits he was doesn’t know and the brave front Mario puts on disappeared as he broke down crying.
Margaret finds the drain pipe she used to enter the town and she’s about to enter it when she hears a rifle being cocked. She turns around to see Hassler pointing his rifle at her. Margaret’s fearful at first but she flashes back to Adam in the lab saying they needed to set her free. Realizing Hassler’s aware of her intelligence, she suddenly stands tall and stares into Adam’s eyes. He gestures with his head for her to enter the drainage pipe and she doesn’t hesitate and takes off. Hassler waits a few minutes then lays his rifle on the ground and heads into the pipe.
After studying the schematics, Rebecca and Xander head to Jason and tell him they know Margaret’s escape route. Along with Kerry and some soldiers, they arrive at the drainage pipe too late and they realize that Margaret either took Hassler or he allowed her to escape. To keep the Abbies from using the drain pipe to invade the town, Higgins had the soldiers collapse their end of the pipe with grenades.
On the other end of the pipe we see Adam emerge to find a swarm of males waiting for him. They appear ready to pounce on him when Margaret growls at the males and signals for them to let Hassler pass safely. As soon as he gets out of the area Margaret collapses into the arms of two other Abbies who attempt to comfort her. Margaret flashes back to the day that Pilcher destroyed their settlement.
