Summary
Suspend your disbelief and allow the character development to consume you — The Wilds is an addictive teenage thriller that will leave audiences provoked.
This review of Amazon’s The Wilds season 1 contains no spoilers. The YA thriller will be released on the streaming service on December 11, 2020.
We recapped every episode — check out the archive.
Let’s all admit it. When we saw the premise for YA series The Wilds, we all thought “LOST but with just women”. That byline does the new Amazon series a disservice because, despite the characters being trapped on an island, the story itself is uniquely different. There are similarities that we cannot ignore; the series is coated in conspiracies, and each episode leaves audiences with more questions than answers. Audiences will leave The Wilds season 1 with plenty to chew on; frustrated but also excited at the prospect of a continuation.
The story is bizarre but compelling; it follows a group of teenage girls who have all been encouraged to go to a retreat by their parents. En route, their plane crashes, and they are stranded on an island. It’s flagrantly apparent from the first episode that there is something more sinister at play. The situation is too ideal and comfortable — the story has a purpose involving all the characters.
And the story is the characters more than the actual conspiracy at play. The story structure is purely character development. Each episode smartly delves into each teenage girl; their background, their past, and reasons why being on this island were not by clumsy coincidence. It could be argued that the conspiracy surrounding these characters is hammed in, and it’s weaker than their actual stories. Audiences will not enter this story caring for the island, and what the objective is. They will only care about the personal stories that drive a character’s personality and ambition. This series will undoubtedly create many hashtags and fan adoration for certain characters.
The Wilds is a series that gets stronger with each episode — season 1 can be forgiven for the cheesy and convoluted pilot; once the cast beds in and the chemistry lights up, the story becomes easily binge-able. Each character represents something different, and with the wide-ranging approach of personalities, teenagers from different backgrounds will be able to it relate warmly.
There is a running theme that is present in Amazon’s The Wilds — there’s this idea that these women are being challenged for the greater good. It ties in feminist themes, with the women all wanting to be a true version of themselves. As the story unfolds, that theme grows stronger. Season 1 is also heavy on the escapism; each teenage girl has a reason to escape — they have all been victims of something traumatic in their lives; whether it be at the hands of men or heartbreaks when the characters begin to show an element of togetherness, their issues meld together well, complementing each other rather than being separate.
With that being said, it’s difficult to deep-dive into The Wilds without spoiling the story — from the first episode, everything is a reveal; everything is a hint at what’s to come. With the story having many elements at play, the creators could easily ruin the concept with a continuation, but let’s hope they can keep audiences engaged and happy. Suspend your disbelief and allow the character development to consume you — The Wilds is an addictive teenage thriller that will leave audiences provoked.
