The Wayward Pines season 2 finale, “Bedtime Story,” wrapped up the season but left more questions than answers.
I’ve made no secret of my negative feelings about Wayward Pines season 2 after enjoying season 1 quite a bit, and “Bedtime Story” was a culmination of every frustration I’ve felt through season 2.
The weakest point in season 2 was the approach to the characters. With the vast majority of surviving season 1 characters being killed off with little to no fanfare — or narrative purpose — we were left to follow a new cast of characters. Yet not enough work was done with them to invest myself in their stories.
In season 1, Ethan’s sacrifice was heart-wrenching because we followed his journey from the present day into the future and got to know his family. He was our window into the town; he knew as little as we did, so he stood in for us, the audience. Losing the audience surrogate was painful and powerful.
In season 2, though, we don’t need that window into the town. We already knew what was going on after season 1. So when Theo was awakened and struggled to come to terms with the new status quo, we were impatient for him to get with the times — literally — so we could move forward.
Instead, we were given a new cast of characters, none of which we truly ever got to know particularly well. I never got to know Theo the way I did Ethan. I was initially intrigued by Rebecca, a strong woman like Theresa in season 1, but her story quickly dovetailed into a focus on an underdeveloped love triangle, complete with pregnancy. The only point of that seemed to be to isolate Theo. Yawn.
I never cared to get to know Jason because he was all kinds of awful. Toward the end of the season, Kerry had some potential as a character, but it was too late for us to really spend much time with her. And she ends up making the ultimate sacrifice, mirroring Ethan in season 1 — yet for some reason, she went outside the wall long before the incubation period of the diseases she injected herself with was over. She would not have been contagious when she went out there, so her sacrifice was likely in vain.
I was intrigued by CJ, and the episode that gave us his backstory was the most enjoyable for me. Yet he felt underused through the season. He was the last human we saw at the end of the season, taking a few moments to contemplate killing everyone or putting them back in stasis. He put them back in stasis, but it was a bit of a strange moment since we didn’t spend enough time with CJ to really understand his hesitance to keep humanity going after wasting so much energy gathering everyone up until that point.
And let’s not forget the season 1 characters: Ruby (RIP). Ben (RIP). Pam (RIP). Theresa (RIP). Adam Hassler (where the heck did he go?).
Beyond the characters, the finale was relatively devoid of action; we had a mob turn violent and murder a guard as well as Xander shoot a guy holding a Molotov cocktail, setting him on fire. Other than that, the impending invasion of the Abbies never manifested. Margaret summoned more Abbies, I assume in preparation to attack the town, but she spent the entire episode standing on a cliff, which is a disappointing close to the setup.
Perhaps this was to avoid too similar a finale to season 1 when Abbies invaded. Perhaps the point was that the humans were doing a good enough job destroying themselves. It’s hard to tell. And that confusion is a problem.
On a story level, I found myself most drawn to the Abbies this season. I was curious about their mystery, such as how and why they evolved into the form they did. Why was Margaret the leader? What set her apart from the other Abbies? What was with the symbol on her hand (similar to symbols seen on an Abby in the final moments of the episode)? But that was a string left dangling once Margaret escaped the town.
And in the final moments, we saw an Abby with markings reminiscent of the mark on Margaret’s hand holding a baby that looked surprisingly humanoid. Was this an effective cliffhanger? I would say no, as I was more confused than intrigued.
But that was me; I was not a fan of this season. Hit the comments with your views on Wayward Pines season 2.
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