Matt Kelly – Wayward Pines

May TV looked like it would be a bust. The Flash, while excellent, was about to wrap up the first season. Game of Thrones was in the middle of it’s most uneventful plot lines since the series began. No one was even close to answering 500 Questions. Was there no hope? Who could possibly save us from boredom?

Matt Dillon, that’s who.

I wasn’t originally sold on Wayward Pines. Like everyone else, I was burned by Lost and that made me very wary of another episodic mystery drama where nothing is what it seems and everything will be revealed next week unless we decide to keep the show going for much longer than we initially expected in which case you will never find anything out and we will make up nonsense until everyone gets tired of us and stops watching. You know. That kind of show.

Fortunately Wayward Pines has learned from the mistakes of its predecessors and is ready to make you believe in this kind of television again. The most important difference is that it has an ending. Wayward Pines is a 10 episode mini series and after 10 episodes, that’s it. We’re done. Now I’m sure that if Pines becomes a mega hit, Fox will make some attempt to cash in on its success, but because the show is based on a book series and it looks like they are following the narrative pretty closely, there isn’t too much wiggle room.

The best thing about Wayward Pines is that it answers the questions it asks. Obviously the big question of “What the hell is going on?” probably won’t be answered until the last episode or so, but almost every other big question has gotten some light. We saw the wall. We saw what is beyond the wall. We are getting closer to an answer and it is very satisfying. The characters are interesting and they are clearly all in some pretty real peril. Beyond Ethan, I guess, no character has the kind of plot armor that makes this kind of television predictable. Do yourself a favor and check out the pilot. I have yet to talk to someone who watched the pilot and isn’t hooked.