Martin Carr reviews the fifth episode of Wayward Pines season 2…
Pines is not for everyone. I figure that has become clear for those who have chosen to read my reviews of this season. Mildly unimpressed is merely the tip of a larger iceberg in my opinion. Intrigue and mystery which made the first season so compelling has been replaced with human interest drama, which somehow feels lukewarm in comparison. There have been lots of soul searching conversational segues leading to more empty silence, mournful looks and dead air. What has been lacking was any one person to identify with if we’re honest.
Jason Patric who is the reliable Theo Yedlin and Nimrat Kaur his partner in solitude are a couple with secrets. Nothing as clichéd as infidelity you understand, after all that’s pretty much a given considering people are paired up with no regard for back history, prior commitments or whatever. We are talking seismic shifting, tectonic plate troubling relationship breakers liable to drive more than a wedge between the Yedlins.
If anything between the navel gazing by Theresa and Adam outside the fence, issues of procreation crisis and matters concerning sexual orientation, Theo and Rebecca may be the saving grace. Between subtly intertwined flashbacks which brings back Toby Jones as David Pilcher and the capture of a female aberration, Pines seems to have had that shot in the arm which was necessary. In the realisation of this revelation show runners have added some much needed depth for those mourning a lack of progression.
Wayward Pines is now more than ever addressing issues which others may shy away from. Sanctioned experimentation, cryogenic freezing, eugenics, mortality and our place in the grand scheme, all come under the microscope in a prime time slot. What I mentioned about this programme being used as a soap box to air these issues still stands, but the focus is definitely more on the drama than any pulpit preaching on contentious topics. There seems more going on under the hood in Pines than we had been lead to believe, while my reservations about writers maintaining the longevity has been answered.
With the very real turning of a tide and our exit from the EU last week Pines could not have more relevance. I know that leaving a monetary union, human extinction, revitalisation and the fight for dominance are strange bed fellows, but bear with me. For some we are now fenced off from everyone else arguing amongst ourselves over who to blame, rather than dealing with the choices we played a part in making. Others are looking beyond the fray with a clear head and trying to rationalise, plan and keep allegiances strong beyond our borders. While yet another group choses to hide away, dissect and demonise other countries for fear of finding commonality. By accident then art has begun to imitate life and Wayward Pines has found its mojo from the most unlikely correlation. It is indeed time to ‘Sound the Alarm’.
Martin Carr – Follow me on Twitter
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published June 28, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
