Entertainment

Why Is Ethan In 'Wayward Pines'?

by Keertana Sastry

I think it's safe to say that Wayward Pines, Idaho is not one of my dream vacation spots. Fox's new series Wayward Pines, which is executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan and based on the novel Pines and its sequels by Blake Crouch, follows Secret Service agent Ethan Burke on his search to find two fellow special agents who went missing a month earlier. On the way, he gets into a car accident and wakes up in Wayward Pines, where nothing is as it seems. The series' pilot shows Ethan discovering that the town is more sinister than it looks as he tries to unravel what's going on and where his missing colleagues have gone. At the end of the episode, we see that Ethan's boss at the Seattle office of the secret service, Adam Hassler, seems to not only know what's going on in Wayward Pines, but also may have volunteered Ethan up to become a prisoner in the town. So the question must be asked: Why was Ethan chosen for Wayward Pines?

Before we can answer that question, it's also important to determine what on Earth is the real purpose of the town. Why are they snatching up people, who is involved in all of this, who is the mastermind behind Wayward Pines, and are they getting outside help from the government?

The series could be following the main plot of the books for the answers to these questions. If you don't want to know what happens in the novels and what might happen in the series, this is your official SPOILER ALERT! For those who want to know, continue on ahead! In Crouch's books, Wayward Pines comes from the mind of a billionaire named David Pilcher who believes the world is going to the dogs. So he decides to put people in suspended animation for hundreds of years until he basically decides the world is a better place. Anytime people wake up from this suspended animation, they believe it's the day after their crash and that they're stuck in Wayward Pines, where they must live until the world is safe to travel once again.

So if that's the case, then why choose Ethan for this new life? My guess is that his skill set and determination to make things right in the world were assets to the leaders of the community. At the beginning of the series, we find out that Ethan holds himself responsible for failing to bring in a criminal (thanks to an order from a higher-up official) who later sets off a bomb that kills dozens of people. Perhaps Ethan's desire to not only keep people safe, but live by a code of ethics and justice, is something the town needs.

In the book series, Ethan is asked to become the sheriff of Wayward Pines after he learns the truth about the town. Maybe Ethan's boss at the Secret Service volunteered him for the position and for the town because he knew Ethan needed the right opportunity to get over his failure and find new purpose. Will Ethan find out the truth soon? Considering the town's big mystery is supposed to be revealed by the fifth episode, I'm more interested to see what Ethan does with this information as things get stranger and stranger.

Images: Liane Hentscher/FOX (2)