Wayward Pines season 1 runs from May 14, 2015 to July 23, 2015. This page tracks each episode with director, writer, release date, and a short summary.
- Where Paradise Is Home
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Written by: Chad Hodge
Released: May 14, 2015
U.S. Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke awakens from a car accident on the outskirts of Wayward Pines, Idaho. After entering town and collapsing in a coffee shop, he recalls driving with Agent Stallings, searching for Agents Kate Hewson and Bill Evans. Beverly, a bartender, gives him a note with an address where he finds the decaying corpse of Agent Evans, which he reports to an uninterested Sheriff Pope. When Ethan is subsequently hospitalized, psychiatrist Dr. Jenkins suggests surgery, but Beverly helps Ethan escape. In Seattle, Dr. Jenkins meets with Ethan's boss, Adam Hassler, and tells him everything is going as planned. Ethan's wife, Theresa, wonders if he has run off with Kate, his former mistress. Ethan finds Kate in Wayward Pines, but she is noticeably older than when he saw her five weeks earlier, and she claims to have been there for 12 years. Ethan steals a car to leave town, only to discover that a high electric fence blocks the only exits from Wayward Pines. Sheriff Pope tells him that he can never leave. - Do Not Discuss Your Life Before
Directed by: Charlotte Sieling
Written by: Chad Hodge
Released: May 21, 2015
Defying Pope's orders to stay put, Ethan goes to the morgue to inspect Evans's clothing and retrieve his journal with a map of the area. He learns that Evans was married and speaks with his widow, who claims her husband committed suicide in front of her. Ethan inspects the map to find a way past the fence, and he and Beverly plan to escape after removing the tracking devices implanted in them. Meanwhile, Ethan's wife, Theresa, and son, Ben, set out for Idaho to find Ethan. Before Ethan and Beverly can escape, they are invited to dinner by Kate and her husband, Harold Ballinger. There, Beverly slips and mentions something from her recent past, breaking one of the town's rules (for her, the year is 2000, and she has been in town since 1999). She panics, and she and Ethan leave. Kate tells Harold she is sure they will run. Phones around town begin to ring, and the townspeople are mobilized to search for Ethan and Beverly, who separate. Beverly is caught, and then executed by Sheriff Pope in front of the entire town in what he calls a "reckoning". - Our Town, Our Law
Directed by: Zal Batmanglij
Written by: Chad Hodge
Released: May 28, 2015
Kate warns Ethan that he has been given a rare second chance after Beverly's execution. Theresa and Ben follow Ethan to Wayward Pines, but Sheriff Pope intercepts them en route. While attempting escape, Ethan finds Theresa's car, which looks to have been abandoned for years. The Burkes are reunited, but before Ethan explains the odd events to Theresa, he goes to confront Sheriff Pope. Ethan meets Kate, who explains that she tried to escape for years, but the only way to survive is to play along. After Ben sees Ethan and Kate together, he and Theresa try to leave, but Sheriff Pope stops them. Ethan intervenes, and when Pope points a gun at him, Ben runs over Pope with the sheriff's truck. Ethan opens a gate in the perimeter fence with Pope's remote, but before the Burkes can drive out, something enters and drags Pope's body beyond the fence. Hearing bestial cries, Ethan closes the gate. - One of Our Senior Realtors Has Chosen to Retire
Directed by: Zal Batmanglij
Written by: Steven Levenson
Released: June 4, 2015
Ethan explains all he knows about Wayward Pines to Theresa, and they agree to play "happy family" until Ethan can investigate. Ethan learns from Mayor Brad Fisher that he has been named the new sheriff. Playing along, Ethan soon finds a hidden cache of files about the town's residents, which includes information about their former lives. Ben is welcomed to Wayward Pines Academy by its principal, Megan Fisher, the mayor's wife, who Ethan has learned used to be a hypnotherapist. Nurse Pam and Ethan face off over "insurgent" realtor Peter McCall. Told by a mysterious caller that a reckoning is required for Peter, Ethan instead takes the man to the perimeter fence in hopes of hiding him. Peter indicates the cliffside as the only way to escape from the town. Knowing that Ethan needs to do as he is told in order to gain time to solve the mystery of Wayward Pines, Peter kills himself by making it look like Ethan pushed him into the electric fence. Later, Ethan begins climbing the rock face to escape and get help as a mysterious figure awaits him on the other side of the fence. - The Truth
Directed by: James Foley
Written by: Blake Crouch and The Duffer Brothers
Released: June 11, 2015
Ethan is slashed and stalked by violent humanoid predators as he makes his way through the woods toward Boise. During his orientation at the academy, Ben learns some of the truth about Wayward Pines: humans have evolved into "Abbies" (aberrations), the result of a series of genetic mutations, and are now vicious carnivores who dominate a wasted Earth in the year 4028. The citizen-abductees of Wayward Pines were kept in hibernation chambers for over two thousand years before being awakened in the town, which is essentially an ark to re-introduce and protect the human race to ensure its future. Principal Fisher tells the students they cannot reveal this truth to their parents. Ethan comes upon the ancient ruins of Boise. A helicopter arrives with Dr. Jenkins, who introduces himself as David Pilcher, creator of Wayward Pines. He explains that the town is humanity's only sanctuary. - Choices
Directed by: Jeff T. Thomas
Written by: The Duffer Brothers and Brett Conrad
Released: June 25, 2015
Dr. Pilcher takes Ethan to the town's secret control center and tells him the history of Wayward Pines. In the 1990s, Pilcher discovered the mutant gene and predicted the coming of the Abbies, but the scientific community shunned him. While he was able to recruit a number of volunteers for his project, the bulk of participants were abducted. Keeping everyone in cryochambers for over 2000 years, Pilcher and his closest associates (including Pam) awakened in 4014 to find that they were the last remaining humans. The initial townspeople awakened—"Group A"—were told the truth about the world outside Wayward Pines. Unable to handle the truth, they all perished, either by suicide, violent anarchy or by escaping and falling victim to the Abbies. The adults of the current "Group B" have not been told the truth, but Pilcher is aware that a secret faction is disaffected and planning to breach the wall. Pilcher awakened Ethan to impose order on Wayward Pines. Ethan is willing, but only on his terms. Meanwhile, the Ballingers are building a bomb as part of their plan to finally escape. - Betrayal
Directed by: Steve Shill
Written by: Rob Fresco
Released: July 2, 2015
Theresa thinks something nefarious has been done to Ethan when he tells her that it is the year 4028. He finds a pipe bomb in his vehicle and begins investigating the conspiracy. Theresa investigates Plot #33 and finds that a metal structure lies beneath the empty lot. Ethan finds that a former explosives expert, Franklin Dobbs, planted the bomb and soon discovers that Harold is involved in the secret group. He correctly surmises that Kate is the group's leader. Kate thinks Ethan's story about what lies beyond the fence is the result of brainwashing, telling Theresa she got a call out to Hassler within her first week in Wayward Pines. Kate pushes up the group's plan to blast through the wall to that night. Ethan intercepts Kate and her accomplices at the fence before they succeed but soon realizes there is another bomb that is headed to the fence in a delivery truck. He is in pursuit when the bomb—inadvertently armed by Amy—detonates early, leaving Amy injured and Ben bloody and unconscious. - The Friendliest Place on Earth
Directed by: Tim Hunter
Written by: Patrick Aison and Rob Fresco & Chad Hodge & Blake Crouch
Released: July 9, 2015
In the aftermath of the explosion, Ben is hospitalized and Ethan and Pilcher try to locate the remaining members of the conspiracy. Suspecting that someone on his surveillance staff is aiding the rebels, Pilcher tasks Pam to investigate. Megan Fisher tells an awakened Ben that Ethan had the bomber in custody but let him go because he is Kate's husband Harold. Ethan confronts a jailed Kate, who refuses to cooperate with his investigation. Harold and Alan steal a dump truck to ram the fence, but Harold stays behind for Kate. Alan makes it to the other side of the fence with the body of a fellow conspirator he hopes to bury, but the two are immediately attacked by Abbies. - A Reckoning
Directed by: Nimród Antal
Written by: The Duffer Brothers
Released: July 16, 2015
Ethan arrives at the fence just in time to stop three Abbies from breaching it. He convinces Harold to give him the names of the remaining 14 conspirators, but Ethan soon finds that they have all removed their tracking chips and gone off the grid. Three young men from the "First Generation", led by Jason Higgins, storm the jail wanting to reckon Kate, Harold, Franklin, and two others. They are initially thwarted by Arlene but return later, and Jason executes all except Kate, who survives only when Ethan arrives to shoot her attacker. Meanwhile, prompted by a conflicted Pam, Theresa has gone into the tunnel system under Plot #33 and finds a video of Adam Hassler making a report from the ruins of San Francisco in the year 4020, which she shows to Ethan and Kate. Ethan tells Pilcher he now believes he must reckon Kate, and insists the whole town be there. Instead, Ethan tells them all the truth about Pilcher and Wayward Pines. Observing, Pilcher cuts power to the town—including the fence. - Cycle
Directed by: Tim Hunter
Written by: The Duffer Brothers and Chad Hodge & Blake Crouch
Released: July 23, 2015
Scores of Abbies breach the perimeter of Wayward Pines. Learning what Pilcher has done, Ethan and Kate direct the assembled citizens to the bunker under Plot 33, but not before the Abbies begin to arrive and slaughter everyone they can. Jason, still recovering from being shot by Ethan, heads to safety in another bunker with members of the First Generation. Pam objects to Pilcher's intent to wipe the town clean and start over with "Group C", so he has her refrozen against her will. The townspeople flee through a tunnel from the bunker to the mountain complex, with Abbies in pursuit. The volunteers, about to be refrozen by Pilcher's security force, rebel and reawaken Pam who kills Pilcher. With the survivors (including Theresa and Ben) safe in the complex, Ethan sacrifices himself to stop the rest of the Abbies. Ben is injured and wakes up in the hospital; it is three years later and Amy, now a nurse, tells him that "they" are listening. Jason and the First Generation have seized control of Wayward Pines and frozen most of the adults. As Ben walks through the town, he finds that Jason has become the sheriff—and corpses are strung up on lampposts bearing signs saying, "DO NOT TRY TO LEAVE".