overnights

Wayward Pines Recap: Running in Circles

Wayward Pines

Pass Judgment
Season 2 Episode 8
Editor’s Rating 2 stars
WAYWARD PINES: L-R: Guest star Tim Griffin and Jason Patric in the

Wayward Pines

Pass Judgment
Season 2 Episode 8
Editor’s Rating 2 stars
Tim Griffin as Adam Hassler, Jason Patric as Theo Yedlin. Photo: Sergei Bachlakov/FOX

Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

That’s a pretty good way to describe the insanity that goes down in “Pass Judgment,” as Margaret escapes from her cage, sending Wayward Pines into a manic, gun-toting frenzy.

After a lengthy prologue of Higgins and his minions trying to locate Margaret in and around the Mountain (and Yedlin discovering the mess she made with Fisher), she flees to outside, leading the town to go code red and order everyone to stay inside. The whole episode becomes a wild goose chase from there, as people get armed and patrol the streets, trying to locate an on-the-lam abby who, despite already being established as a clever creature, appears to be going in circles.

Whether intentional or not, “Judgment” includes a scene that could be taken for a prescient commentary on our gun-crazy culture. Halfway through the episode, Mario and the Pilcher Youth are stalking around one of the neighborhoods, fully armed and chasing Margaret, when they bump into a couple also packing heat. (Have these two been on the show before? I don’t remember.) Their guns are courtesy of Xander, who had some firearms stashed away. As the panicky editing and hyper camera work illustrates, all these gun-carrying folk are scared, confused, and ready to shoot some shit. Needless to say, when they see Margaret running, bullets start flying and hit the wrong people. Mario gets one in the neck, while the husband gets a bullet and dies instantly, prompting a standoff between the wife and the rest of the soldiers. Thank God for Yedlin, who instantly shows off the leadership skills Margaret quietly insisted he had last week: He jumps in and tells them to put down the weapons so he can take Mario to the hospital.

Yes, Yedlin is also part of the search party, as he and hairy-ass Hassler go out to the woods to track down Margaret. A lone Hassler eventually catches up with Margaret, just as she’s about to climb in the drainpipe that would lead her to her abby brethren. Despite having her at gunpoint, Hassler lets Margaret go back to her peeps. He then drops his rifle and does the only thing he can — follow her. When he comes out on the other side, he’s greeted by a shitload of abbies who, though relentlessly hissing at him, let him pass. Although it looks like a weird move to bolt from the Pines and be one with the abbies, you can understand why Hassler wants to leave. I mean, c’mon: These humans are crazy!

Anyway, Margaret heads back to her abby elders for comfort after getting clipped in the arm by Xander, who came to Rebecca’s aid when she was face-to-face with the fugitive. After all, Xander didn’t want Margaret to hurt the baby. Oh yeah, I forgot! In a quintessential soapy twist, Rebecca is carrying Xander’s child. (Before Margaret could attack Rebecca, she sensed Rebecca was with child, taking her back to memories of an abby holding her newborn.) Of course, Yedlin doesn’t know. I have a feeling this love triangle could go the same way as that silly-ass love triangle from Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor, in which Ben Affleck becomes the baby’s father to Kate Beckinsale’s unborn child after real daddy Josh Hartnett dies in battle. If Xander becomes a casualty, perhaps Yedlin will pick up the slack and become the father he didn’t want to be.

Unfortunately, a baby isn’t in the future for Higgins and Kerry. After showing her a bunker in his home where they could live and start another civilization if the abbies take over, Higgins gets the bad news from Kerry that she can’t have children. Remember when she was attacked by an abby? Yedlin informed her that the trauma and the scarring have made her barren. Although he was calm, reassuring her that he loved her, you know this gives Higgins another reason to go Hayden Panettiere on some abbies.

Margaret seems to be thinking the same thing, as “Pass Judgment” closes with her flashing back to when Pilcher opened fire from above, killing and injuring her fellow abbies. As much as this hysterical time-killer of an episode only prolongs the inevitable, we know a showdown is just around the corner.

Stray Thoughts:

  • I keep forgetting to mention the opening bit that explains everything that’s happened so far for new viewers (it reminds me of the intro to this show). I see they replaced Hope Davis’s voice with Kacey Rohl’s.
  • Siobhan Fallon Hogan’s Arlene gives us a lot of spacey moments this week, from dozing off in the salon and telling Rebecca, “You’re a very well-informed hairstylist!” to alerting Xander that she has binoculars … to watch birds, not to spy on other people.
  • As much as Rebecca insists to Kerry that she’s her own woman and she’s not defined by any man, this episode certainly confirms that she’s feeling her baby-daddy Xander more than Yedlin these days. (That kiss they have after meeting Margaret seems to make it official, no?)
  • “If Megan gives you any trouble, please let me know.” Man, Kerry really didn’t like that bitch!
  • “Maybe they got her.” “Maybe they didn’t.” Yeah, the writers could’ve cut that pedestrian dialogue.
  • Lucy and Frank briefly return, apparently so viewers could scream, “Why are you kids are out in the goddamn woods when there’s an abby loose?” (Though, they do safely end up in Rebecca’s salon.)
  • What’s the deal with that douchey kid who goes into the woods to make out with his girlfriend when the town is on high alert? I just knew Margaret was gonna gut that bastard when she caught him and his girl. Unfortunately, she decides to let those kids have their fun.
  • This episode was directed by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David Lynch, which gives this show yet another association with Twin Peaks. (She also wrote the Peaks spinoff novel, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.)

Wayward Pines Recap: Running in Circles