Wayward Pines with Matt Dillon takes kooky crime plot to new places

Quirky series Wayward Pines has a comic noir feel but what’s the point?

Matt Dillon and Juliette Lewis, two of the big names in the cast of Wayward Pines.

Wayward Pines is an odd beast while also being the most conventional of new American pay-TV dramas.

In the latter terms, the new drama from the FX channel ticks the boxes: A-list film cast (Matt Dillon, Melissa Leo, Carla Gugino, Terrence Howard and Juliette Lewis, among others); a big-name executive producer and director (The Sixth Sense’s M. Night Shyamalan); kooky crime plot in a distinct locale; and beautiful production values.

And it’s odd because it takes a while — at least two episodes — to finally deduce the particular tone Wayward Pines (MA15+, 513min, Fox, $49.99) wants to deliver. Or at least limit your guesses of the tone.

This short-run series wears its influences proudly, from Northern Exposure, Lost, Under the Dome and, most obviously, Twin Peaks, to even — at least to my eyes — The X Files. DVD Letterbox hasn’t reached the end but I’m not sure the series actually has a point other than assembling a bunch of talented people for a bit of fun.

Chad Hodge adapted the series from Blake Crouch’s novel Pines. The 10-episode run stars Dillon as Ethan Burke, a Secret Service agent who wakes up trapped in the small town, Wayward Pines, where he was meant to be investigating the disappearance of two other agents.

The town has a bit of The Truman Show to it, though. Burke stumbles through the close-knit idyll encountering people who could be hallucinations, actors or plants.

The town’s quirks soon add up to something far more unconventional.

You may believe the series is about to unfold in the Shyamalan-style of perpetual unease and psychological malaise, as flashbacks to Ethan’s past (with wife Theresa, played by Shannyn Sossamon, and their son Ben, Charlie Tahan), and glacial revelations suggest all manner of possible narrative contortions. It may all even be a puppet show being manipulated by a space monster. Or something.

The dialogue is the giveaway, though. It has a comic noir feel that ensures you can’t take anything too seriously. Or maybe the dialogue is merely bad; I lean to the former.

Dillon is terrific at delivering the lines. He thrashes about with the seriousness he brought the noir-soap classic Wild Things and it’s amusing even if it seems somewhat out of place on television.

He adds to the enjoyable skew-whiff nature of the series, as does Leo’s Nurse Pam, who appears to be acting in another series altogether.

The lack of balance is an asset, to a point. Then the series takes another turn in the fourth episode and I’m unsure whether to stick with it. Wayward Pines looks the goods but doesn’t make that vital step from diverting to compelling.

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Twitter: @michaelbodey