Wayward Pines
Foxtel, FX, Thursday nights, 8.30pm
MATT Dillon – looking like he’s been to hell and back, then popped back again for a side visit – stars as the disgruntled American everyman butting up against authority in this weird little show.
Actually, make that weird big show, because it’s clearly got a budget.
Dillon plays a Secret Service agent visiting Wayward Pines, Idaho, in search of two missing fellow agents.
To add spice to the mix, he had an affair with one of them that almost ruined his marriage.
Involved in a devastating car crash, he awakes in a hospital under the care of a creepy nurse, escapes into the creepy town, where he finds lots of creepy stuff. Unsurprisingly, it’s surrounded by a creepy forest. What’s in there? Something creepy. Did I mention it’s creepy?
They’ve already dubbed this one “Twin Pines” in reference to its similarities to Twin Peaks.
And it certainly fits into that whole twisted post-9/11 vibe of paranoia, fear and distrust.
Dillon soon discovers that, much like the Hotel California, you can check into Wayward Pines, but you can never leave.
He finds a burnt body in an old house. And he’s being watched by about a million ‘security’ cameras. And there’s a massive electric fence surrounding the whole freaky town.
Enter his former lover, who initially insists she doesn’t know him, then hisses “They’re listening!”
So, one episode in, what’s happening here?
Is Wayward Pines an insane asylum, a funeral parlour? Is face-like-a-dropped-pie Matt already dead, in some weird, creepy, freaky ‘Lost’ twist?
Time will tell, readers. And I’ll be tuning in to find out.
– Jason Beck
