Wayward Pines Review: Pass Judgement (Season 2 Episode 8)
After Margaret’s escape on last week’s Wayward Pines, I was expecting the narrative to pick up a bit.
After all, there’s only one episode left before the finale, and the conflict is pretty clear at this point.
Wayward Pines must survive a mass abbie attack.
First off, I would like to get this out-of-the-way: Frank explicitly spelled ‘abby’ out for us.
Apparently, we’ve spelled it wrong all this time. I’m not sure if someone is mad at us spelling it wrong, or if they have decided to suddenly change the spelling.
One thing is for certain: Wayward Pines is struggling to find quality content to show us these days.
After all, they’re focusing on mundane stuff; a stupid spelling bee contest, or the Kerry baby drama, and the exhausting love triangle between Xander, Rebecca, and Theo.
“Pass Judgement” might just be the weakest episode of the season. The episode spends a lot of time showing Margaret playing hide-and-seek with the soldiers.
When we’re not watching Margaret running from the soldiers, there’s the baby drama on-screen. Apparently, Kerry can’t have a baby.
According to the rules of the town, that would mean she can’t do her duty.
Since Jason is such a good guy, he might even kill her because she’s useless to him.
Thankfully, he is a bit more understanding. He may be a maniac, but he does get fits of compassion from time to time.
Since Jason was on his best behavior this time, it was up to Xander to be the bad boy.
He arms some citizens with the guns he stole, and they end up shooting Mario while one of them is shot in return.
It’s one of those weirdly stupid situations you might find in a sitcom, but in a show like Wayward Pines, this is beyond awkward. To me, it feels like a sign that the show is breaking apart.
Theo, however, is well on his way to becoming Jason’s successor. The way he handles the standoff between the soldiers and the armed citizens, and how he calls out Jason’s stupid decisions, reminds me of Ethan Burke.
Since Arlene and Jason happen to be the only Season 2 characters alive that have made guest appearances in Season 1, the show has lost much of the character it had back in those days.
It feels like the show has decided to abandon its mystery origins to turn into a ridiculous live action show, because that is exactly what this episode is.
If you throw in some romance, you have a show that has utterly lost its identity.
The only suspense is Margaret’s judgement of her victims and the conclusion. Watching Margaret decide who lives and dies is fascinating. Rebecca and Hassler get a free pass, anyone in army clothes does not.
But Hassler’s decision not to shoot Margaret might be the only plot-related thing to happen in the entire episode. I’m sure he didn’t save the town by doing this, but maybe the abbies might be more open to negotiation after witnessing his stand-down.
What did you think of this episode of Wayward Pines? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Wayward Pines airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on FOX.
Irtesam Zaidi
Irtesam is a passionate writer with a taste for stand-out TV shows, music, and games. He is a fan of Sci-Fi and TV shows like Doctor Who, Mr. Robot, Game of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He is also a writer at TVOvermind.