Wayward Pines recap: City Upon a Hill

Abbies aren’t exactly simple-minded creatures living outside the fence, it turns out. This episode, they show they’re capable of strategizing, of outsmarting humans, and of creepily staring at Megan (Hope Davis) until even she freaks out at the sight. And, as we see in the opening scene, they’re a quiet community in the woods when humans aren’t interfering: Before Pilcher‘s helicopter comes to shoot them dead, they’re docile — and even after Pilcher’s massacre, two Abbies help carry an injured comrade out of the woods. They’re cooperating to save one another!

The same can’t really be said of the humans in the present (er, future to us) day. Jason and Kerry have a romantic moment alone together until Jason mentions having a baby and Kerry ends up arguing with him about the safety of the town as a whole. In the Biergarten, Theo mocks the “revolting” beer, and then lashes out again at Rebecca, who tries to make him see why she married Xander while Theo was asleep. “I’m tired of secrets,” she says, before saying she’s ready to answer any question he has. “Did you try to have a baby?” Theo wonders.

Before she gets a chance to answer, the town’s citizens start running down Main Street. The Abbies have started their attack — and the First Generation doesn’t stand a chance.

How could they, when CJ and his harvesters can barely protect themselves outside? After the Abbies, now brandishing torches, set the humans’ crops on fire, they head straight for CJ’s camp, where one enters Theresa‘s tent and begins ripping her apart. (Oof.) Adam saves her — the first time he’s ever saved a Burke! — but the camp’s totaled. Even CJ’s accurate headshots fail to protect everyone.

Inside the fence, alarm bells sound and “all able-bodied men” are told to report to the fire station and help with the crisis. Theo and Rebecca pause their argument to get going — Theo heads to the hospital with Kerry, who tells them they lost contact with CJ and that civilians have to help fight the fires, while Rebecca walks in on Xander rounding up a group of men who decide to arm themselves with guns found inside the mountain’s armory. Xander doesn’t trust Jason with protecting them, and he’s right to feel disloyal. Outside the fence, Jason can barely hold off the Abbies, losing both the crops and half of his First Generation soldiers. Exhausted, he collapses, forced to accept that the humans he was meant to lead might die of starvation in the end.

Chaos reigns at the hospital as well. Covered in blood, Theo runs from patient to patient while fending off the needy Oscar and tending to Theresa, whose collapsed lung is the least of her worries. Jason, being as Jason-esque as ever, chides him for not taking care of the First Generation members, well, first. (Seriously, Jason?) Theo manages to ignore Pines’ Chief Douche, and Jason slinks away, despondent over his failure. On his hospital bed, Kerry tries to comfort him, but he falls into an existential spiral. “What good am I?” he wonders, before stewing over why the soil doesn’t work inside the fence. (Good question, Jason!) Kerry brushes all this aside and reminds him that Pilcher groomed him just for tough times like this. “Who the hell are you?” she asks. “Are you the man born to lead?”

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He says yes — but right now, Theo looks far more composed. Even when Xander stops him to talk, Theo gets in a few jabs at his wife’s other husband. Not until Theo goes to see Rebecca in his office does he finally seem frazzled. There, they finish their earlier, chilly conversation. She tells him she and Xander were like cellmates when they first got married, living under surveillance and strict rules. But feelings developed, she admits — and Theo’s left devastated.

But, hey, at least the woman you love is still alive, right, Theo? (Too soon?) In another part of the hospital, Adam visits Theresa, despite being badly wounded himself. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn Adam had ordered Ethan’s kidnapping because he wanted Theresa for himself. And in a twist of karmic retribution, Theresa chased Ethan until she got kidnapped as well, prompting Adam to follow her into the future. But in the past, he just pined — sorry — for future Pinesian, even watching her while she and Ethan celebrated Ben’s birthday. That memory is the last thing Theresa thinks about as she pulls her hand away from Adam, who had been trying to apologize. And then she flatlines.

NEXT: Are you there, Abbies? It’s me, Margaret

Later, CJ reveals disturbing news to Jason and his minions: The Abbies clearly knew what they were doing, as they first targeted the men with hoses trying to put out the fires. Megan tries to pin it on Mario being confused, but CJ presents the facts: They’ve lost this battle, and it’s because they knew how to use fire and figured out the humans needed those crops as a food source. Jason, though, remains indignant — and doesn’t listen even when Megan starts to believe CJ. After all, the male Abbies in her lab began rattling their cages during the attack, but Margaret remained calm. That’s not normal Abbie behavior, is it?

But figuring out Abbie behavior will have to wait — for now, as CJ points out, Wayward Pines has about six weeks left of sustenance, and they’ll have to start planting soon. Still, Jason has the entire town gather for a funeral before they embark on that mission, honoring the 35 who died outside the fence. “We are the hope of mankind,” he says. “We will survive, for those lost.” When the soldiers fire their guns during the ceremony, CJ flinches; he knows it’s an empty promise.

Xander, too, is jaded from all the speechifying by Jason. He hands back the gun he took from the armory, but provokes Mario into staying and chiding him for his arrogance. Mario reveals he knows Xander was kicked out of the Marines, became a drug dealer, and got handpicked by Pilcher for his “resourcefulness.” That resourcefulness has been useless so far, Mario points out — Xander hasn’t helped “the preservation of our species.” He’s only helped himself.

And so Xander starts to be a better citizen to humanity. Rebecca spots him leaving McConigle’s with a suspicious-looking box, but it turns out he was only handing a family a box of apples to help them survive. He then talks about how it’s possible for them to remain human in Wayward Pines, to still have feelings. And with that, he encourages her to talk to Theo again, and maybe even convince him into having Xander back in the house. It’s not like there are rules against polygamy in Wayward Pines, right?

Anyway, the drama from the love triangle is nothing compared to the problem with Wayward Pines’ supplies. Theo reports to Jason that medication is running low, and Megan argues Pilcher never anticipated they’d need to treat war injuries. Of course, that’s no excuse — and now both Kerry and Megan are terrified of their food and potential flu crises. Mario, constant bearer of bad news, adds that hundreds of Abbies have populated the area where the crops used to be, and they’ve now cut off any hope of replanting. Besides, they’re too close to the fence for comfort.

At her lab, Megan does a CT scan on Margaret on Theo’s orders. They discover her brain’s center of language and advanced thought is double the size of humans’ — which means Margaret may have understood everything said about her this entire time. Disturbed, Theo returns to his office, only to find Arlene trying to butter him up yet again. In a hilariously deadpan move, Theo just stares and brushes past her — and heads straight for Adam to learn more about Abbie behavior. When he mentions they have a female Abbie, he piques Adam’s interest. Adam asks if the female has a mark on her palm — and we know she does. Say more, Adam, say more!

Right at that moment, the screaming starts. CJ hears it while at his desk, the family that received Xander’s apples hear it while standing on their driveway, Jason and Kerry pull back their curtains to listen, and the rest of the town numbly gathers outside to observe. “We’re safe, right, Dr. Yedlin?” Arlene asks. Theo doesn’t answer. And Margaret — well, Margaret just glares knowingly into the camera. Brace yourselves, Pinesians: I’m betting the burning of the crops was just the beginning of the Abbies’ assault.

Any theories of your own on what might happen next? Tweet them to me at @shirklesxp.