Jun. 15 Wayward Pines pilot review: I saw this preview of this show. It looked like a man (Matt Dillon) is talking to a woman (Carla Gugino) and it seems like someone is watching and listening with a hidden camera. I felt I wanted to check it out. I saw the 5th episode "The Truth" and it was so good. It really told us the mystery of the town and why it is. I never predicted it from the pilot "Where Paradise is Home." On imdb.com:
"A Secret Service agent goes to Wayward Pines, Idaho, in search of two federal agents who have gone missing in the bucolic town. He soon learns that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive."
The show is based on books by Blake Crouch. I have never heard of the books or him.
Here's my review:
Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon wakes up in the forest by a stream. It has a very cinematic view.
Cut to him talking a black guy therapist. Ethan talks about a Easter bombing and a guy was released.
Therapist: Have you experience hallucinations?
Present. Ethan goes to a diner and an Asian woman who works there tells him that he's in Wayward Pines, Idaho. He collapses.
Ethan wakes up in the hospital. He gets a flashback of a car accident he was in.
Ethan: Agent Stallings?
Nurse Pam (Melissa Leo): He's dead.
Cut to Secret Service headquarters, Seattle.
Mrs. Theresa Burke (Shannon Sossamon) and teen son Ben (Charlie Tahan) are talking about how Ethan is missing.
Ethan's boss Adam Hassler (Tim Griffin) talks to Theresa about Ethan.
There are no phones in Ethan's hospital room. Ethan goes the Sheriff's office to get his things. It's closed.
Ethan goes to the bar. The bartender Beverly (Juliette Lewis, recently who played the hard detective on the show Secrets and Lies) is here. She is nice and a contrast from the last show she was on.
Ethan tells her he works for the Secret Service. She gives him the use of the phone and he leaves a message to this home. He doesn't have a phone or wallet.
Beverly gives him her address. On the back of the paper it says: "There are no crickets in Wayward Pines."
Ethan finds a little electronic box that makes cricket sounds.
Motel owner evacuates Ethan. As soon as I see the owner, I thought: "It's Oliver from the Edmonton- shot show Mentors. I had to look him up, his name is Chad Krowchuk.
Ethan goes to Beverly's rundown home and finds a dead man tied to a bed. It's one of the two missing agents he was looking for.
Ethan goes to Sheriff's office.
The Sheriff Pope (Terrence Howard from the TV show Empire) is sitting and eating an ice cream cone.
Ethan: I found Agent Evans. The other missing agent is Kate Hewson (Carla Gugino).
Hessler talks to a CSI guy: We found the car, but no GPS.
Ethan calls Secret Service and Hessler isn't there.
Ethan goes to bar and looks for Beverly.
Guy: There are 2 people working here, and it's not a woman.
Guy knocks out Ethan and radios in: 1016, he's not doing well.
There is a flashback where Ben blows out birthday candles.
Ethan is handcuffed to hospital bed. The psychiatrist Dr. Jenkins (Toby Jones) tells him that he had bleeding in the brain. You have a dissociative breakdown.
Nurse Pam tries to calm Ethan down as Ethan is about to go into surgery. Pam injects a needle in his leg.
Later Ethan wakes up and Beverly is there and un cuffs him. Ethan runs into a washroom and breaks mirror. He puts it to hallway to see Pam.
Pam: I will give you anesthesia. If you don't come with me now, you will wake up during surgery and be conscious.
Pam goes to door where Beverly is in because there are water footprints. Ethan hits Pam with a mirror and stabs her in the neck.
Beverly takes Ethan to a crypt.
Beverly: They try to break your mind. I was a software sales rep. I got into an accident. I was here since Oct. 21, 1999.
Ethan: It's 2014.
Theresa and Hassler talks about how there is no blood or sweat in the car that Ethan was in.
Theresa: Is he with her?
Hassler: I can't find him.
Ethan puts on new clothes.
There is a flashback of Ethan talking to missing agent Kate.
Ethan: 621 people are dead. That's on me.
Ethan kisses Kate.
Kate: Ethan, we're partners.
It turns out Ethan cheated on Theresa with a fellow agent Kate.
Cut to present and Ethan sees Kate in the park with long hair.
Ethan follows her home and there is her mailbox that says "Ballinger."
Ethan and Kate talk.
Ethan: Kate, I came here to find you.
Kate: They're watching us.
There is a light blinking in the fan.
Kate: I have lived her for 12 years.
Ethan: You were with me 5 weeks ago. You're putting my life at risk.
Kate: You could be happy here Ethan.
Ethan: Am I having a relapse?
Ethan steals a car and the car owner who is a woman is yelling at him.
Ethan drives out of town and then he sees the Wayward Pines sign again. He drives out and he climbs to the mountains.
There is a sign: "Return to Wayward Pines. Beyond this point you will die." There is a huge fence all around town.
Hassler: Call it off.
Dr. Jenkins: It's been taken care of, nothing to worry about.
Theresa checks the home phone and there are no messages from Ethan.
Ethan's car is stopped by Sheriff Pope.
Ethan: How do I get out of here?
Pope: You don't.
Comparisons:
A town that is trapped: It was done first on the summer TV series Under the Dome when it came out in 2013.
Now it's done on the summer TV series Between that debuted this year.
My opinion: I was curious when I saw the trailer. After the pilot, I was kind of eh with it. "Eh" as in I wasn't really happy or excited about it. However, I was still kind of interested in the mystery. It was also the summer time so there isn't too much good TV to watch.
I'm glad I did keep watching it, because after I saw the 5th episode, I was like: "What?"
I recommend you all watch it.
Jun. 16: It's been a day since I was the 5th episode, and I'm still like: "Oh my God."
The pilot did have me asking questions like:
1. Will Ethan be reunited with his family?
2. How will Ethan get out of town?
3. What is Wayward Pines with the hidden cameras and microphones?
It's kind of interesting to start a new life and have fresh start somewhere else. However, I see that there is no cellphones, TV or internet there.
