Wayward Pines season 2, episode 6, “City Upon a Hill,” saw a major setback for the survival of the human race.
Prospects of survival are looking increasingly dismal for the remnants of the human race, as the Abbies burned Wayward Pines’ crops in “City Upon a Hill,” while also killing dozens of townspeople. Not only that, it seems that the Abbies have the capacity to learn and plan; after their attack on the crops, in which they scorched the ground, they occupied the ground because they recognized its importance to the inhabitants of Wayward Pines.
This is doubly bad news, as CJ announces there are about six weeks left of food stores for the town with no prospects for more. They’re unable to plant within the fence — a prospect Jason briefly ponders before turning his attention back to the immediate issue — and now the Abbies are occupying the land immediately outside the fence. They’re stuck.
Some may not last long enough to starve, though, as Theo declares the stores of medicine are nearly gone. Pilcher didn’t plan for needing supplies to treat war wounds and so didn’t pack accordingly. If, as it seems, the war has only just begun, it’s likely many won’t make it those six weeks.
One of those who won’t make it those six weeks is Theresa Burke. Sigh. Season 2’s targeting of season 1 characters continued in this episode as Theresa was brutally attacked by Abbies at the harvesters’ camp. Adam Hassler saved her, but she had a collapsed lung. While Theo was able to temporarily stabilize her, we see flashbacks detailing Hassler’s plot to have Ethan kidnapped by Pilcher so Hassler could move on with Theresa. However, he realized he couldn’t go through with it — and shortly after, Theresa and Ben followed Ethan anyway, so Hassler followed them.
In the hospital, Hassler held Theresa’s hand as he apologized. Theresa briefly regained consciousness and pulled her hand away — she would never forgive him for what he cost her — before flatlining. This death was twofold terrible for me.
First, it was yet another death of a season 1 character that had a lot more potential to actually do something. Theresa was a strong character who didn’t take things lying down in season 1. She fought for her family, but she completely lost that in season 2 — to the point of death without getting to act in any way.
And second, her death was clearly done to further Adam Hassler’s arc. In other words, she was fridged. Hassler will continue on, affected by the death of the woman he loved, but Theresa will just be another character I invested in during the first season to die. It’s frustrating to lose established characters the way we have, especially since I haven’t found anyone I particularly like among the new characters. (Also, the forced love triangle between Theo, Rebecca and Xander is nothing short of tedious.)
I’m guessing many of these deaths relate to the surprise renewal of Wayward Pines for season 2, and the actors from season 1 being unavailable for extended appearances in season 2. But there are other ways to work around that other than killing them — such as having them placed back in stasis. The tight, deliberate storytelling from season 1, based on the novel trilogy, has definitely suffered in this second season.
My main point of interest for Wayward Pines season 2 has been the deeper look at the Abbies. In a flashback, we saw that they were living peacefully before Pilcher and co. arrived and murdered many of them to build the town. We even saw two Abbies carrying a third, wounded Abbie away from the violence, indicating that they are able to work together and problem solve.
From an MRI conducted on the captive female Abbie, we also discovered that her part of the brain all about higher functions is much larger than that of humans. So, she’s probably understood everything going on around her but has remained calm. There’s definitely a lot more to her appearing in the town and allowing herself to be captured than meets the eye.