Look, we all knew that Wayward Pines wasn’t going to stick the landing. After “The Truth,” still one of my favorite TV episodes of the year, it would be almost impossible for this show to deliver a satisfying ending, a pleasing way to wrap up all the insanity. “Cycle” isn’t a disaster, but it’s a little disheartening to see Wayward Pines go the way of a somewhat rote sci-fi thriller.
Most of “Cycle” is structured around the abbies’ attack on the town, which is unfortunately hard to follow because it all takes place at night. I have issues with the abbies themselves, too. Their character design is pretty unimpressive; they look like fanged versions of the zombie-vampire monsters from I Am Legend. What’s far more menacing than seeing them in person is seeing the red dots that represent them on David Pilcher’s computer screen, moving en masse to Wayward Pines.
Pilcher explains his plan, as all good villains must: he wants to wipe out the current crop of citizens and try again with the a new group – “group C,” he calls them. Toby Jones plays megalomania with aplomb, and he and Melissa Leo play well off of each other. Pam is the sympathetic one of the two now, which is an impressive feat for the show to pull off, considering how she was posited as a Nurse Ratched type back in the pilot. Wayward Pines has retained its admirable sense of character consistency throughout the season. Characters might change their minds or even their motivations, but it has never felt less than genuine.
That sounds like faint praise, and maybe it is. I guess I’m falling prey to one of the perils of fandom. I got attached to the Wayward Pines of the first four or five episodes, and while it’s okay that the show settled into a groove – nicely, too – part of me still wanted the show to end with some similarly crazy bullshit. We all know what’s going to happen as soon as Ethan is given Chekhov’s Pipe Bomb, which makes his detonating of it the second time that Wayward has telegraphed an explosion from a mile away. But Ethan’s sacrifice at least feels personal, and I appreciate that there was no drawn-out goodbye scene between him and Theresa, or Ben, or Kate. To some that might seem like a cop out, but Wayward Pines, at its core, is all about doing what’s best for the greater good, and in light of the situation, it would be really selfish of Ethan to potentially risk lives just so he could get a kiss.
This is a hard episode to grade, because pretty much any criticism can be refuted with “Okay, how would you handle it?” And that’s a good point! I have no idea how I personally would end this show. But “Cycle” managed to stick the landing, in a way that leaves the story open ended without blatantly inviting a follow-up series.
Ben wakes up after three years in suspension, to find that the town has been pretty much taken over by the First Generation. There’s a statue of David Pilcher with the word VISIONARY at his feet. There’s a man hanging from a power line, with a sign reading TRIED TO LEAVE around his shoulders. It’s an impressively nasty ending, and it’s of a piece with Wayward‘s cynical nature. (There’s a reason Pam and Kate’s talk of rebuilding sounded too good to be true.) It’s spooky and low key, and I can forgive “Cycle” for limping its way along for most of its runtime.
But any complaints aside, I can’t be too mad at Wayward Pines. It’s not possible! I admire the hell out of Fox for how they marketed this. “Hey, check out M. Night Shyamalan’s Twin Peaks knockoff.” It’s rare for a major network to take a chance like this, and even rarer that it pays off. Hats off, Wayward Pines, you were a hell of a show.
“Cycle” grade: 3.5/5
Wayward Pines series grade: 4.25/5
About Author
