Is the aim of Wayward Pines to create the perfect, obedient human?

Discussion of “Wayward Pines” (8 p.m. Central Thursdays on Fox) on threads such as the AV Club and IMDB has centered on what the heck is happening on the show. Those questions are fascinating, but a bigger question is rarely talked about: What is the point of Wayward Pines?

I suspect the goal of Dr. Jenkins (Toby Jones) is to create the perfect, obedient human. But first, we must spend some time on the original question (“What’s going on?”) because that, too, is far from settled. (Note: This post includes spoilers of the first five episodes, but nothing about the books the series is based on, as I haven’t read them.)

How did people get from the present to the future?

Episode five (“The Truth”) of this 10-episode series finds Mrs. Fisher (Hope Davis) revealing to Ben Burke and two other students from 2014 that they are now living in 4028. Meanwhile, Theresa Burke hears from her first real-estate client, recently arrived in WP, that he saw cryo-freezing pods. Also consider the fact that Sheriff Pope (Terrence Howard) looks a bit younger in the 2014/outside-the-wall scenes than in 4028/inside-the-wall.

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Throw in the fact of the dust-covered crashed cars in the underground warehouse (car crashes are the means by which the WP movers-and-shakers abducted people), and the popular view is that “Wayward Pines” does not have a “Terra Nova”-style time portal, but rather that the 2014 scenes were “Lost”-style flashbacks. Witting and unwitting participants alike were frozen in the late 20th century/early 21st century and thawed in the early 41st century.

What years were people abducted in, and what years were they revived?

The Burkes were taken in 2014, as were the two students Ben undergoes orientation with. Kate Hewson (Carla Gugino) was also taken in 2014. We know through dialog that Beverly (Juliette Lewis) was nabbed in 1999. Kate aged 12 years since Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) saw her mere weeks ago, so we can presume she was thawed in 4016.

Beverly had been in WP for one year, so we can presume she was thawed in 4027. Judging by his aging from the flashbacks to the future, the sheriff was probably released from cryo-stasis about a decade before the events of the show. The real-estate agent (Theresa’s boss) seems to have come out of the 1960s, and Ben’s girlfriend, Amy, gives off a futuristic vibe, but both could believably be from the early 21st century.

How long has Wayward Pines been up and running?

The planners of Wayward Pines probably were thawed in the early 41st century. Jones looks about the same age in the flashbacks as the WP scenes, but he’s an actor who could pass for 40, 50 or 60 while looking the same.

Certainly Dr. Jenkins, and probably Nurse Pam (Melissa Leo), are among the bigwigs who were the last to be frozen (maybe a bit after 2014) and the first to be unfrozen, and there’s gotta be a massive staff of folks in the underground warehouse providing WP with supplies. But because Ben’s class is called “the first generation” of WP, we can presume WP hasn’t been up and running for more than a couple decades.

Are there clones?

Some fans – notably the reviewer at the AV Club, Alex McCown — have speculated that Beverly’s line to Ethan (“I’ve always believed you”), Dr. Jenkins’ desire to operate on Ethan’s brain (presumably for his own good, as related to the car crash) and the two sets of numbers on Pete’s file indicate that the cryogenics program is supplemented by a cloning program. I admit that a good case can be made. But we haven’t seen any clones so far, at least not explicitly.

Are the abnormals (“abbies”) real?

Mrs. Fisher tells Ben (and us) that abbies are devolved humans who have gone feral and live in the woods. For his part, Ethan actually encounters the naked, fleet-afoot and deer-devouring creatures beyond the wall. Essentially, they are a whole race of Jersey Devils (from the Season 1 “X-Files” episode).

But also popping into my head were the creatures from “WP” executive producer M. Night Shyamalan’s movie “The Village,” which turned out to be people in costumes. In “WP,” the abbies seem to be what Mrs. Fisher says they are, but at the same time, it’s a convenient excuse for keeping people walled in.

Are there other walled towns like Wayward Pines?

Almost certainly, yes. In the underground warehouse, we see portals labeled “Wayward Pines.” The helicopter is also labeled thusly. There would be no need for labels if WP was the only destination for the supplies.

Were goods and supplies cryo-frozen, too, or do they come from the 41st century?

I suspect the latter. While humanity has collapsed, the Earth itself seems to be in good shape, so raw materials should be available. The underground warehouse was designed to last at least 2,000 years. In addition to housing the cryo-tubes, it also could have provided a safe headquarters from which to plan and construct the walls of WP (and other towns), along with weapons for shooting down the abbies. Could they build a helicopter? Sure. All this theory requires is lots of time and people.

How was Wayward Pines made possible?

Government cooperation is a given, because Jenkins’ experiment couldn’t be carried out under its nose – and indeed, we see Jenkins chatting with Ethan’s boss at the Secret Service. I think it’s safe to say this is a government project, funded by unknowing and unwitting taxpayers and more specifically by the money we regularly hear about being misplaced or unaccounted for by various government programs (such as the $2 billion that disappeared during the Iraq War).

How did Dr. Jenkins know humanity would collapse at the end of the 21st century?

In “Terra Nova,” knowledge could go through the time portal, but if there’s no time portal in “WP,” then knowledge can’t go from the future to the present. Dr. Jenkins dreamed up WP, but he couldn’t have known humanity would collapse around the end of the 21st century (the last quarters were minted in 2095).

My guess is that he didn’t know when or even if humanity would collapse. He just saw the signs in the late 20th and early 21st century and put his plan in motion. All of Wayward Pines’ knowledge about the collapse of humanity and the rise of the abbies came from archeological excavations (as per the quarter) and other traditional ways we learn about the past without actually living in the past.

What is the point of Wayward Pines?

Thematically, this is the biggest question of all. Until I see signs contradicting this, I think Jenkins designed Wayward Pines as a place to “perfect” humanity, particularly the way people interact with each other. In addition to being a doctor, he’s a communist, a Pollyannist, a nostalgist and a scientist.

Is Dr. Jenkins a good person or an a–h—?

In my view, he’s an a–h—. He feels bad about the Reckonings (public executions for breaking the town’s rules), such as Beverly’s execution for mentioning her daughter from outside the walls. But he believes this is the price that must be paid to reach his goal.

If you think about it, many modern political philosophies are OK with some people being sacrificed (either by death, or by having their lives destroyed) at the altar of the central government’s interests. There’s a continuum of how much people are willing to put up with. Many people might see Dr. Jenkins as a decent, well-meaning fellow, but I don’t.

Will Ben side with the secret society of young people, or with his parents?

For god’s sake, I hope he sides with his parents. I think the theme of the show is that humanity can’t be contained and shaped the way Dr. Jenkins and his cohorts think it can, and that free thinking and free association are ultimately good things.

Ben’s killing of Sheriff Pope suggests he’s a nonconformist; however, I suspect the WP planners are willing to take a chance on him because those people in the cryotubes are a valuable and limited commodity, even if there is some cloning tech available. If Ben needs to be Reckoned, they’ll do it, but I don’t think they’ll kill him just for comparing notes with his mom and dad. I suspect the show will end with the Burkes rallying people to their cause against the WP planners.

Then again, that’s an obvious ending to the show. Exemplified by “The Truth,” “Wayward Pines” has the ability to surprise us.