Wayward Pines: Pass Judgement – All Panic (Review)

Wayward Pines saw the last of the season one denizens of the town, bar one, killed off by Margaret last week. The over zealous and procreation preoccupied former headmaster of the academy, Meg Fisher was killed by the Abby she callously studied for the community.  (There is now only Arlene left from the previous batch of citizens. Thank goodness for her presence. She is the only comic relief the show has.)

In “Pass Judgment,” Theo finds Meg’s dead body, slumped back in her wheelchair, and sets off the alarm when he sees that Margaret is gone.  The Abby leader had not yet  escaped the lab in the stronghold and the alarm allows her to get out of the facility.

Before the entire town goes into lockdown mode, Kerry (Kacey Rohl) learns that she cannot have children.  Either because of the earlier Abby attack or something else that the Pines has no way of checking she will never carry a baby full term.  She is devastated by the news. 

Jason is forced to tell the town that Margaret is loose.   Yedlin pushes the leader into brief subservience and it looks like the surgeon could be in line to be the next dictator of Wayward Pines.

The current leader sends out his men to scour the streets for the escaped Abby and calls for unarmed volunteers to help in the search.  In one of those moments that will not make sense later on, Yedlin urges Higgins to arm the helpers. He refuses and Kerry backs him up.

Margaret manages to practically be everywhere at once. In the woods, along a residential street, and down on main street jumping from rooftop to rooftop.  She kills one soldier/cop on his own and uses his bleeding body as a decoy.

The Abby leader is smart and seems to have a photographic memory.  This is not a good thing for the inhabitants of Wayward Pines as she remembers clearly when Pilcher’s troops  shot her family to rag doll ribbons years before.

Mario (Christopher Meyer) leads his little cadre up and down the streets of the town maniacally aiming everywhere while calling out that it is clear. Xander (Josh Helman) tries to do his bit  by handing out guns he kept hidden from Jason’s troops to a couple who want to help.

The couple and Mario’s men meet up on a street where Margaret runs circles around the group.  The encounter between Mario and the couple ends badly. The man is shot dead and Mario is badly wounded. Theo arrives and calms the situation down and arranges for Mario to be sent to the hospital.

Adam Hassler (Tim Griffin) agrees to help Yedlin search for Margaret while Rebecca finds old maps of the town and works out where the Abby leader is trying to go. The Abby runs into Rebecca and the creature senses that Rebecca is pregnant.  Margaret raises  one  hand  to attack Rebecca and as she falters, Xander arrives and shoots  the Abby in the arm. 

Margaret eventually finds the drain she wants. As she is about to crawl through Hassler arrives and the two freeze, looking at each other. He  nods consent and Margaret crawls into the pipe. 

After a moment, Hassler puts his rifle down and crawls in after her.

Higgins arrives at the pipe and they find Adam’s gun.  The group can hear the screams of the Abbies and it sounds like they are coming through the escape route.   Higgins orders three grenades thrown into the pipe.

Rebecca is pregnant with Xander’s baby and the couple talk about Theo. Kerry is shown the  room that Jason has set aside for their  own personal survival. She tells him that she cannot have children.

Hassler crawls outside the fence, through the pipe, and Margaret stops the male Abbies attacking him. The leader joins two other Abbies and they soothe their wounded leader as Hassler walks away.

While the memory flashes of Margaret showed how the leader thought and what she remembered this Abby-hunt was a bit of a let down.  The entire population panicking over one escaped Abby was rather funny. Everyone running around  willy nilly  were told to stay at home and to lock themselves behind their doors.

Yedlin, in a reversal from his earlier conversation with Jason, tells Xander off for giving guns to civilians. Of course this comes after the shootout between Mario and the couple in the street.

Hopefully the show’s makers will not kill off  Arlene  (Siobhan Fallon Hogan) , who so bravely offered up her (not) neighbor-spying  binoculars, and allow her to stay. She is really is  the only funny thing about the show. 

Although,  this episode was fairly amusing with its widespread panic at one Abby running about  inside the fence.  There are two episodes left of Wayward Pines and with that knowing look from Margaret and those thousands of red dots outside the fence, it is looking like the Abbies may run over the town after all.

Wayward Pines airs Wednesdays on FOX. Tune in and see if the town’s inhabitants  survive or if the Abbies take over.

CAST:

• Jason Patric  –  Dr. Theo Yedlin
• Djimon Hounsou  –  CJ MItchum
• Toby Jones  –  Pilcher
• Hope Davis  –  Megan Fisher
• Tom Stevens  –  Jason Higgins
• Nimrat Kaur  –  Rebecca Yedlin
• Rochelle Okoye  –  Margaret