Wayward Pines

 

Been watching Wayward Pines, the new TV series. The pilot episode was directed by M Night Shyamalan. Yes, the one and only 'Twist' Shyamalan. And he is also executive producing the show. The series follows Detective Ehan Burke, who was on a mission trying to locate two of his colleagues, but then has a motor accident and wakes up mysteriously in a small time shady town of Wayward Pines. He has no recollection of why he even went there, and his personal effects are lost. There is no sign of his car either. And when he makes his way to the town, he finds the townspeople creepy.

Not creepy in the sense of zombie or ghosts. Creepy in the sense they seem to live in a cult. They refuse to discuss their past, there is a constant look of fear on their faces. They don't seem interested in the outside world , and refuse to let Ethan leave. Ethan himself finds that he is unable to call the outside world, the entire town is surrounded by electric fences, and there are mysterious beings living probably outside the perimeter. The town's sheriff is hell bent on keeping Ethan there, and although he finds the dead body of one of the colleagues he was searching for, the sheriff does not help him in his case.

It is also shown that Ethan's wife and son is trying to search or contact Ethan as well, but are unsuccessful in their attempts. Ethan's wife Theresa suspects Ethan may have followed Kate, his ex, and the other cop Ethan is trying to locate. Eventually Ethan does find Kate in Wayward Pines, but is shocked to see Kate has aged by several years although he had seen her last 5 weeks ago.

This is an interesting premise. There is mystery, creepy town full of creepy people, and Ethan has no gadgets , computers or even a cell phone to help him. Nobody in the town is helping him, and everyone is trying to keep him in the town, specially the sheriff. Ethan is trying desperately to get home to his family, and also trying to make sense of the situation he is in.

And this is the explanation of it all: Wayward Pines is not a typical town in the countryside, it is a self sustained time capsule to sustain life. The year is not 2014 as Ethan thinks it is, almost 2000 years have passed since then. A 'genius' scientist had figured that humanity is evolving to its eventual doom, and something has to be done to preserve life as we know it. So gets the funding and sets up an elaborate time-capsule. People were selected and frozen in some kind of cryogenic life preserve, and were re-animated 2000 years later in the artificial town. Outside the town limits, humans evolved into their next stage, into a half-animal half-human breed, and are no unrecognisable. The scientist, Jenkins , then set out to form Wayward Pines to be the last surviving town on the planet with real humans in them. Since the people were taken at various time lines, they all have aged differently. And no one can leave the town because the world outside has completely changed. It is no longer hospitable. There is group of people in power who run the town, with the sole aim that the townspeople are kept in the dark from the true reality, and that they continue to thrive in the town and take humanity to its next generation.

Of course this full plot is yet to be revealed in the series, as only 2 episodes have aired to this day. But the series is based on a set of books, and the books are available on the net.