With the Twin Peaks revival apparently throttled in its crib by arguments over money, who will carry the torch for David Lynch’s singular vision of suburban unease in 2015? Step forward, M Night Shyamalan. No really. M Night’s new “event series” Wayward Pines, the first episode of which Fox has made available today around the world, is the most Twin Peaks-y show you’re likely to see this year, albeit with the whopping great caveat that it’s Twin Peaks done by M Night Shyamalan, with all the attendant daftness that that description conveys.

Adapted from a series of books by Blake Crouch, Wayward Pines stars Matt Dillon as Ethan Burke, a traumatised special agent who wakes up in the titular town after being involved in a car accident while on the hunt for a pair of missing colleagues. On the face of it, the town is idyllic – all picket fences and gleaming mom and pop stores – but behind the artifice lies something darker. With the exception of Juliette Lewis’s friendly bartender, the town’s inhabitants all seem extremely creepy - most notably the menacing, rum-and-raisin-ice-cream-devouring chief of police (Terrence Howard), and a manically cheerful hospital nurse (Melissa Leo). Meanwhile the phones don’t seem to ring out, the cricket noises in the bushes are being piped out by speakers and, oh, there’s a dead body in the abandoned house at the end of the street.

Enjoy your life… Wayward Pines trailer.

Crouch has openly admitted that the original novels were heavily influenced by Twin Peaks and the set-up - special agent in an oddball town - and dreamy 50s-tinged visuals, and lightly camp tone bear that comparison out. There’s also hints of the grand mystery of Lost here, most notably in the opening close-up shot of an opening eye, near identical to the way which that show famously began.

Yet at the same time there’s no escaping that this is an M Night project, and where those shows balanced out the weirdness with well-drawn characterisation, Wayward Pines is all about the plot, plot, plot. This opening hour whizzes past in a flurry of dramatic developments, failing to do anything more than vaguely etch out the basics of its characters: Dillon’s tortured hero, his doting wife back home, the various shades of oddball that make up the town.

No really, Johnny Drama from Entourage is my brother. Matt Dillon and friendly bartender Juliette Lewis. Photograph: Fox

In truth, that’s to be expected: Wayward Pines was never likely to be In Treatment. You don’t watch an M Night project for finely hewn characterisation; you come for the big reveals. By that measure Wayward Pines is more of a success. The central mystery about where Burke precisely is – a weird town? In a coma? Purgatory? – remains tantalisingly unresolved as the episode closes, with a juicy reveal that sets things up nicely for the next instalment. And while, there are some extremely silly moments – Burke being chased around a hospital by Leo’s wild-eyed nurse while drugged – the show just about sits on the right side of the entertaining/stupid divide.



Have you seen Empire yet? Check it out… Terrence Howard and Matt Dillon. Photograph: Fox

As ever with Shyamalan’s work, there’s the danger of Wayward Pines corkscrewing wildly into ludicrousness at any time, though the fact that he’s adapting from source material rather than coming up with the stuff himself should hopefully prevent some disaster like The Happening from, erm, happening. If nothing else Wayward Pines should provide some diverting and daft entertainment in those lean summer months, which is no bad thing.



The global premiere of Wayward Pines is 14 May. The first episode is available from Fox in the UK on Virgin Media and Sky Go, and on Fox in the US.