WAYWARD PINES Pilot Review - WonderCon 2015
Wayward Pines (or The Rock-Bottom of Matt Dillon’s Career) is a very predictable, unsatisfying piece of television drivel that the Geektyrant gang and I subjected ourselves to for no apparent reason. Wait, let me back up here. We are currently in Anaheim for WonderCon 2015 and Wayward Pines was one of the first things on our lists to check out. Wayward Pines is an upcoming “thriller” that will be hitting FX in May this year. The show stars Dillon, Carla Gugino, Toby Jones, Melissa Leo, Terrance Howard, and Juliette Lewis. M. Night Shyamalan is the Executive Producer of the series and director of the pilot episode that we screened. Unfortunately, he was the draw for me. I am holding out hope that one day the genius that he displayed in the beginning of his career will reemerge. This did not happen with Wayward Pines.
The story follows Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke (Dillon) as he tries to track down two missing agents in the Pacific Northwest. They immediately establish that Burke has a loose grip on reality, at best. While searching for his fellow agents, Burke and his partner get into a car accident and Burke ends up in the town of Wayward Pines, Idaho.
I am going to keep this a spoiler free post, but if you have ever seen an M. Night movie, you know that not everything is what it seems. The show had a very student film feel too it. The writing, acting, and production value were sub-par. I haven’t decided which performance I disliked the most: Melissa Leo’s crazy nurse routine or Shannyn Sossamon’s portrayal of Ethan Burke’s wife, Theresa. Leo was so over the top it was distracting, and Sossamon seemed like she was having a hard time just acting like a human, let alone a character on a television show.
In the end, the worst part is not the acting, writing or the production value. It is that when the episode is all said and done, it is the disappointment that you feel when you realize that M. Night just took a story line that he had done before, shined it up, changed some names and places, then tried to shove that bitter little pill down our throats once again.