"His"? I see this woman in the avatar and I'm so confused…

Quite. It was a fine likeness, down to his somewhat deficient stature; a seated sculpture would hide that better, but I suppose it would be more appropriate for a statesman than for a "visionary".

I was taken aback at that. I didn't recognise any faces and, on second thought, didn't Ethan blow himself up? You can't put ashes in a gibbet.

He didn't write the series but I agree, the comparison is inescapable. Mind you, although the founders of the eponymous village "travelled" back in time, and Pilcher and company froze themselves to "travel" forward, the ultimate result is exactly the same: an isolated town of which most inhabitants are convinced they…

Well, that's the thing: the adult actors had other commitments and couldn't continue in a hypothetical second season, so the writers got rid of the characters—with the possibility of unfreezing some of them in case the respective actors became available after all.

It sounds perverse and certainly wasn't Pilcher's intention, but twelve years of Pope's Reckoning regime of paranoia and fatalism may well have prepared this community for the truth better than many other strategies would.

Pilcher might have had reservations about the direction of the First Generation, which could have factored into his decision to turn off the lights on this incarnation of Wayward Pines. It would be yet another indication that the town was sliding out of his control, though to be honest, I am not entirely confident…

I did like that Pilcher found Ethan waiting in his office, drinking from his 2000-year aged liquor (I'll guess brandy, based on the glass).

If I might also have your attention, the "alter of David Pilcher's ego" ought to be "altar". Great review, otherwise; I really enjoy reading them every week.

Surely Kate would have had some sort of breakdown at seeing a video of
her old boss saying it's 4020 and then seeing a ruined San Francisco?

That's what I initially think. After I saw Theresa, however, I became convinced that Pam had arranged this little charade so that the woman watching the monitor could plausibly deny seeing Theresa smashing the camera; I still don't question that, even though we haven't explicitly seen it happen.

I could actually go with that. I understand there are people who are fiercely loyal to those in their close circle, and dangerous to anyone who might wish to hurt them. I haven't met such a person as far as I'm aware, but I've heard of such people.

I agree with @SlackerInc:disqus on both counts; I am not questioning why these time jumps were considered necessary, but the specific way they were deployed. It took me a little while to realise I had watched a flash-forward at the beginning of the episode (though maybe it shouldn't have in that case), and I felt…

"Did Ethan punch [Pam] in the first episode?"

Indeed; the fact that Pilcher is posing as "Dr Jenkins, psychiatrist" doesn't mean he actually is one. On the other hand, Pam could very well be a nurse; we haven't been shown any indications that she doesn't know what she's doing, and it is possible that her access to drugs somehow led to her addiction.

They did start preparing earlier, and the first abductions apparently took place in the 1990s, but the last ones (Ethan and family included) happened in 2014.

Even without IVF, it's clearly been happening for millennia; had gay people not been procreating (the natural way), the relevant genes would have died out long ago. People can be very pragmatic.

Right, there is that woman walking her dog every time Theresa visits Lot 33. I didn't notice any birds, but that doesn't mean they are not there. They are not constrained by the fence, after all.

Reckoned in absentia by Pam while Ethan was having his little trip outside the fence, I reckon. She cut his throat in effigy while he was trembling in his hiding place under Lot 33; "just to keep people on their toes" she may have commented later in the Biergarten.

I'm sceptical because we're seeing things that Ethan has no way of knowing; in most works of fiction with an unreliable narrator, we see everything through that person's eyes.