I was on board with Wayward Pines from episode 1. I loved the weird and darkly humorous tone of the show, and that all star cast is just the cherry on top. Sure, the show isn't on par with Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, but it was surprisingly entertaining for a limited summer series. Then the mystery was revealed in episode 5, and my jaw dropped. What a ballsy and unique way to structure a story, to pull back the curtain halfway through the show! Of course, showrunner Chad Hodge has a lot to owe to Blake Crouch, the writer of the novels in which the show is adapted from. On top of that, the fact that Hodge went into this knowing he only had ten episodes to tell this story, from beginning, middle, and end, provided a bright light at the end of the tunnel that most mystery-based shows, like Lost, did not. As the audience, we knew we weren't going to have to wait 5+ seasons for the jaw-dropping reveal only to have the show try to answer every other question we may have along the way.
Fast-forward to episode 10. To say that the finale was a huge disappointment is an understatement. I got to speak to Chad Hodge after viewing episode 5, praising him on how fantastic it was. Yes, the episode was filled with exposition, but the way the episode cut between the three Burke family members learning different facets of the truth was clever writing on Hodge's part. He seemed to be overjoyed with what he pulled off, and he should be. But what conjured Hodge to end the show the way that he did is a bit of a mystery itself. There wasn't a worse ending for the show. To have the First Generation kids take over the town and make WP the way that it was from episode 1 seemed like a slap in the face. I felt cheated. The idea behind it makes sense: The kids were put on a pedestal, and they felt empowered by Pilcher to run the town the way he did before he was killed off. Narratively speaking, however, it makes little sense to end the show in such a bleak and contrived way.
First of all, the whole First Generation thing wasn't developed enough for it to be plausible for a bunch of kids to overtake the adults. So you're telling me these frat guys managed to take over Theresa and Pam's intelligence, on top of all the security guards they had? Yeah, right. Additionally, to have Jason survive the gunshot from episode 9 was ridiculous. Overall, there weren't enough setups or foreshadowing that pointed to an unhappy ending for WP. Secondly, the show, from episode 1, built towards hope. It built towards Ethan and the town overcoming Pilcher's oppression to build a better future for WP. Why, after all that, end the show with the town getting back to the way it started? Why spend 10 weeks watching the show only to have us go back to square one? Why did Hodge decide to end the show in such an underwhelming and unsatisfying way after weeks of consistently good episodes? That, perhaps, is a mystery that will never be explained.
Fast-forward to episode 10. To say that the finale was a huge disappointment is an understatement. I got to speak to Chad Hodge after viewing episode 5, praising him on how fantastic it was. Yes, the episode was filled with exposition, but the way the episode cut between the three Burke family members learning different facets of the truth was clever writing on Hodge's part. He seemed to be overjoyed with what he pulled off, and he should be. But what conjured Hodge to end the show the way that he did is a bit of a mystery itself. There wasn't a worse ending for the show. To have the First Generation kids take over the town and make WP the way that it was from episode 1 seemed like a slap in the face. I felt cheated. The idea behind it makes sense: The kids were put on a pedestal, and they felt empowered by Pilcher to run the town the way he did before he was killed off. Narratively speaking, however, it makes little sense to end the show in such a bleak and contrived way.
First of all, the whole First Generation thing wasn't developed enough for it to be plausible for a bunch of kids to overtake the adults. So you're telling me these frat guys managed to take over Theresa and Pam's intelligence, on top of all the security guards they had? Yeah, right. Additionally, to have Jason survive the gunshot from episode 9 was ridiculous. Overall, there weren't enough setups or foreshadowing that pointed to an unhappy ending for WP. Secondly, the show, from episode 1, built towards hope. It built towards Ethan and the town overcoming Pilcher's oppression to build a better future for WP. Why, after all that, end the show with the town getting back to the way it started? Why spend 10 weeks watching the show only to have us go back to square one? Why did Hodge decide to end the show in such an underwhelming and unsatisfying way after weeks of consistently good episodes? That, perhaps, is a mystery that will never be explained.