History Series / WaywardPines

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: David Pilcher. He exerts a tyrannical hold on the town only because he doesn't want the people knowing the real state of the world, as he told the last group before them and they didn't take it well, either killing themselves or trying to escape the fence into the Aberration infested wilderness. No prizes for guessing [[EatenAlive how that ended.]]]]

* RememberTheNewGuy: Season 2 introduces Creator/DjimonHounsou as C.J. Mitchum, a historian, who appears to have been a member of Pilcher's inner circle since day one, busy working on the crops. And yet he is completely absent in Season 1 without even a mention of him.

* RuinsOfTheModernAge: [[spoiler:Outside the wall, Ethan walks to where he expects to see a major city, only to find overgrown forests covering what used to be skyscrapers. Theresa also finds a video recording of Adam Hassler finding the ruins of San Francisco]].

* RuinsOfTheModernAge: [[spoiler:Outside the wall, Ethan walks to where he expects to see a major city, only to find overgrown forests covering what used to be skyscrapers]].

* HopeSpot: In the last episode, Pam and Kate decide they're going to try to resume the project more optimistically (i.e. less facistically) than Pilcher had. In the next scene, [[spoiler: Ben wakes up after what we discover was three years. Jason's group had stormed the facility right after the previous scene, frozen all the adults, and re-established the police state community with Jason as the sheriff and bodies hung from lampposts with warnings not to try and leave]].

* ItCanThink: The Aberrations show a surprising degree of intelligence in several scenes. [[spoiler: One involved knocking out the emergency generator after Pilcher cuts the power and plunging the hospital into complete darkness. After the humans chase them off with flamethrowers, the Abbies pretend to leave, then attack the farmers and burn the crops, before gathering a horde outside the wall, likely content to wait out the few months that it will take for the humans to starve to death]].

* CozyCatastrophe: [[spoiler:Very deliberately [[InvokedTrope invoked]] with the idyllic, close-knit nature of the town, to the point that the majority of the populace is made unaware of the true nature [[AfterTheEnd of the catastrophe]].]]

* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:Flamethrowers turn out to be surprisingly effective at scaring off Abbies, although they may be just trying to lull humans into a sense of false security]].

* ItCanThink: The Aberrations show a surprising degree of intelligence in several scenes. [[spoiler: One involved knocking out the emergency generator after Pilcher cuts the power and plunging the hospital into complete darkness.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: As of this point, [[spoiler:the following primary characters are dead: Ethan (blows himself up to keep Abbies from killing everyone), Ben (exiled by Jason and killed by Abbies), Kate (slits her own throat to avoid living in this future), Pilcher (shot by Pam), and Pam (killed by Jason for trying to destroy the town)]].

* {{Badass}}: Ethan Burke. When confronted and wounded by [[spoiler: a pack of [[HumanoidAbomination Abby's]], he manages to kill or wound the one who injured him and evade the rest by hiding under a corpse. These are creatures who are so powerful that it had been previously stated that a single one had killed two heavily armed soldiers, and surviving a confrontation with a pack was stated to be downright ''impossible''.]]

Probably best-described as Series/{{Lost}} meets Series/TwinPeaks, it's been met with both critical and public praise. The trailer for season one can be watched [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmFPf7I0Jlc here.]]

* [[spoiler: OlderThanTheyLook / Really700YearsOld: everybody in the town once it's revealed that it's really the year 4028.]]

* ParanormalInvestigation

* SceneryPorn

* TheDogWasTheMasterMind: [[spoiler: Remember the friendly old psychiatrist Doctor Jenkins? Turns out he's David Pitcher, mastermind of Wayward Pines.]]

* AntiVillain: [[spoiler: David Pilcher, of the [[WellIntentionedExtremist type 3]] variety.]]

* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: [[spoiler: After killing Sheriff Pope, Ethan Burke is promoted next episode to Sheriff.]]

* WhamEpisode: Episode 5. [[spoiler: We learn that the year is 4028 and that the inhabitants of Wayward Pines are the last remaining humans in existence, with the rest of the population having been wiped out by feral monsters called "aberrations".]] Episode 10. [[spoiler: Ben has been in a coma for over four years. In that time, all of the adults have been put back into cryogenic sleep by the children, who have taken over the town in the name of their saviour, David Pilcher.]]
* WhamShot: In "The Truth", Ben is handed an old coin and asked to examine it. When he does so, he discovers that it is a quarter [[spoiler: from the year 2095.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: Actually a BaitAndSwitch. The promotional materials, and most of the first episode, give the impression that this will be a SpiritualSuccessor to TwinPeaks. At the end of the first episode you find out the real inspiration: [[spoiler: ''Series/ThePrisoner'']].

Wayward Pines is a 2015 American television series, based on the novel ''Literature/{{Pines}}'' by Blake Crouch. The series started airing in May 2015. It's executive-produced (and the pilot was directed) by Creator/MNightShyamalan, and stars Matt Dillon, Creator/CarlaGugino, Creator/TobyJones, Shannyn Sossamon, Creator/ReedDiamond, Tim Griffin, Charlie Tahan, Creator/JulietteLewis, Melissa Leo and Terrence Howard.