Dazed and confused, a secret service agent wanders into a bizarre town he can’t leave after a fiery head-on collision with a semi that mysteriously lands him in dense forest instead of the hospital.
As far as strange openings, Fox’s upcoming television mystery-drama “Wayward Pines” is at the top of the list. What follows in the proceeding episodes is a riveting tale with uncomfortable characters and unanswered questions, sure to have viewers hooked this summer.
The television series releases on May 14, and is based on Blake Crouch’s trilogy of books “Pines.” Chad Hodge (“The Playboy Club,” “The Runaway”) created the show with a hand from executive producer and well known twist maestro M. Night Shyamalan.
Matt Dillon plays Ethan Burke, the Secret Service agent who instead of meeting his end in an inferno finds himself waking up in the dirt of the dark Idaho wilderness. Burke makes his way to the nearest town, the suspiciously quaint Wayward Pines, and begins yanking at the first threads of an unraveling mystery.
There is a lurking secret that casts a shadow over the small town that everyone is hiding behind fake smiles and awkward conversations. As Burke frantically tries to connect with his family back in Seattle, no one is willing to help him and all phone lines are directed to fake operators. Imagine that.
If the show wasn’t creepy enough, Burke can’t even leave the town. He hijacks a car but all roads leading out of Wayward Pines take him right back into town.
This series is strange, eerie and uncomfortable. At least it starts out that way in the pilot episode.
Unfortunately, the series opens with way too much information to process. There is a lot of backstory on Burke crammed into flashbacks as well as what seem to be important revelations about the show that come suspiciously early in the story.
For the average viewer looking to pick up a summer TV habit the pilot might be off-putting and deter them from tuning in the next week.
If the viewer makes it past the pilot episode, a number of jaw-dropping twists and mind benders similar to those from “Shutter Island” are awaiting their approval.
As far as twists go these are confusing as hell, every twist gets re-twisted, untwisted and then snapped in half. This is entertaining but gets frustrating.
“Wayward Pines’” gnawing mysteries will be sure to have viewers losing sleep. Luckily, the heap of unanswered questions detracts from the first episode’s flaws.
Ethan Burke has disappointingly fallen into yet another acting typecast of a “cop with a dark past.” Luckily for the viewer, “Wayward Pines” is quick to introduce fresh personalities in an attempt to distract the viewer from being bothered by the ‘Jennifer Anniston effect.’
If the odd characters aren’t enough to keep viewers tuning in weekly for this show then the cliffhangers will be. As with the majority of mystery dramas, this show relies heavily on building tension and creating suspense, both of which the writers do well.
From the first five episodes, it is clear that “Wayward Pines” has a lot of potential, but your knuckles will likely be pale as bones before the show fills in any blanks.
Broadcast: Fox
Developed by: Chad Hodge
Starring: Matt Dillon
Release: May 14
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Rating: 3/5