Wayward Pines recap: Walcott Prep

So, uhhhhhh, where to begin? The mother-son drama? The unknowingly mother-and-son relationship drama? Margaret’s next move? The fact that half of Wayward Pines is about to die? The relief of not having to see Adam’s facial hair?

Let’s start with the past, because, as Kerry says, none of them can escape it. In the cold open, we see Pilcher watching Abigail, a young student at a prep school — Walcott Prep, that is — from a wealthy, well-to-do family who wants to cover up her pregnancy. (Mom’s a senator, Dad’s an all-American lacrosse player; you know the drill.) Pilcher will take the baby, a baby he promises to Abigail’s parents will help him leave a legacy of “unconditional love for humanity.” Later, he meets Abigail herself, and the two bond by reciting passages from Animal Farm. (George Orwell would be proud.) She tells him he wants her baby to be named Jason. Ooooh.

But wait — Abigail’s Jason isn’t our friendly neighborhood Head Douche. In another flashback, Pilcher gets a call delivering bad news about Abigail’s pregnancy, and without a baby to represent the bridge between the past and the future, Pilcher hurries to find another child to adopt.

And that’s when he meets — hold back your vomit at this revelation, everyone — Kerry. Yup, Kerry. Kerry!!! As in, Jason’s girlfriend and — oops — mother he never knew about. Jason, you motherf—er!

Sorry. Too soon?

Anyway, at a Boise, Idaho, public hospital around the holidays in 2013, Kerry’s just given birth to a baby boy, who she believes Pilcher — who gave a generous donation to the hospital to make this happen — will take away to a nice couple in Texas. Instead, well… that baby boy ends up being you-know-who in Wayward Pines and ends up — hold back your vomit again, everyone — choosing Kerry to be his partner in everything, including procreation. Jason already has a God complex, but an Oedipus one, too? That’s just… twisted.

Besides, Kerry’s the tragic hero of the story — and Kacey Rohl, again, sells every moment. When Pilcher met her, she’d been aching to move past, well, the past. She had been impregnated by someone she knew but didn’t know, really — what she implies here still visibly shakes her — and she tells Pilcher she knows how to survive after years of being hurt by her stepbrother and father. (Of course, she points out that the father’s “not them,” because Wayward Pines loves dramatic irony.) As he listens, Pilcher warms to the lonely young woman, and you can almost see the gears turning in his head. “Trust me, you can be a different person, have a different life,” he promises.

In a way, she does — the only trouble is, the man who allows for her rebirth turns out to be her son. Back when Jason wasn’t running Wayward Pines into the ground, he was looking through files of women who could be his partner (binders full of women much?), and thus lands on Kerry’s file, eventually having her awakened to meet him. He’s flustered during their first meeting, complimenting her and promising he’ll keep her safe. Without Pilcher there, neither one make the familial connection.

Until the present, when Jason finally discovers the file listing himself as Kerry’s offspring. (Shudder.) But how’d he find it? See, with thousands (and counting) of Abbies gathering by the fence after Margaret‘s journey through town last episode, Jason realizes the survivors need more time. To get it, they’ll simply have to go back to sleep in the mountain. They woke up at the wrong time, but if they sleep for another few thousand years or so, the Abbies will be gone… right?

Jason sure hopes so. He goes to Theo, who’s been spending his day sarcastically congratulating Xander about being chosen by Rebecca, and also brings CJ in on his plan to put everyone back into cryogenic sleep. With his plan solidified, Jason delivers a speech to the town, telling everyone they’ll begin immediate evacuation. As usual, people start freaking out, but CJ puts them at ease, telling everyone the process is safe — and they’ll have instructions soon. CJ even comforts the students at the Academy, the children who’d been born in Wayward Pines and never had to deal with the sleeping pods. “Do you dream?” Lucy wonders. “Sometimes,” CJ replies quietly, cementing his status as my favorite character (and performance) of season 2.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Jason jumped the gun on his announcement. CJ finds that, due to all the energy used on the town itself, half of the pods aren’t charged and ready. They can only save 571 Pinesians, which means Jason has to figure out who survives. He’ll have to do it soon: Families have already begun lining up at the mountain in hopes of going to sleep.

NEXT: Who sleeps, who dies, who tells your story

At the lab, Theo looks over the supplies when Jason arrives asking him to start categorizing all the Pinesians according to physical condition. Theo picks up on Jason’s plan instantly, pushing Jason into admitting that evacuation can’t happen for everyone. Disturbed, Theo begins muttering to himself, wondering whether taking all of the First Generation is a good idea; after all, “defectives” include people who can’t have children, and that includes Kerry, a member of the First Generation. Thrown off guard, Jason tries to defend his girlfriend-mom. (Ahhhhhhhk.) Theo counters that Pilcher would have left her behind, and just then, Kerry wanders in, so Jason hastily leaves after giving her a kiss goodbye. (Blerrrgghghhh.) Theo, being a sneak, immediately tells her what’s wrong with the pods, before lying outright about Jason’s decision on whether she gets to go to sleep. “He loves Pilcher more,” he says, cruelly hoping she’ll take out the wayward leader. And she appears to believe him.

Later, Jason asks for advice from Rebecca when she notices he has a lot on his mind. She tells him to do what his heart tells him to do, and so he makes the choice: He can’t let Kerry go. But as he looks over her file, stroking her headshot (nooooooo), he spots another, sealed folder on Kerry and grows suspicious. He opens it. He reads the words “sensitive and confidential information.” He begins reading the file. And… you can guess how he reacts. (Or not: He freezes and then, of all things, readies his gun.)

At the worst time possible, Kerry enters, hoping to go over the evacuation plan with him. Jason puts away his gun and begins monologuing to her (it’s his favorite hobby) about how hard the decision is to leave people behind and how they’ll need to do the selection as quickly as possible. She agrees, but realizes he’s not himself. They declare their love for each other. (Euururrrrgh.) He goes in for the kill. “You’re the person I can share everything with,” he says. “That’s why I’m wondering why you didn’t tell me.” He talks about the baby she had before going to sleep, and she has no idea why he’s so angry. “The baby went to Texas,” she says. “How do you know the baby went to Texas?” he responds. Yikes.

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By then, the two can’t stop what happens next: Furious at her and at himself, Jason draws his gun and tries to attack, but Kerry’s too quick for him, so the pair wrestle around the office until the gun goes off. At the end of the hour, we see the two mother-son-lovers (eeeeeek) side by side on the giant model of Wayward Pines, as Jason bleeds out and Kerry gasps next to him. “Walcott Prep, it taught you well,” he whimpers, referring to the mother he thought he had. She cries, and the blood runs through the model town’s streets. Skeeter Davis’ “The End of the World” plays.

Oh, and Margaret has recovered outside the fence. So there’s that.

And now there’s just one episode left! Is Jason alive? Is Kerry? Will the survivors make it? And most important: Did you see that Jason/Kerry twist coming? Tell me in the comments or tweet me at @shirklesxp.