Summary
“Day Two” deep dives into Rachel’s life and demonstrates how relationships with parents can drastically mould your life in a negative way.
This recap of Amazon Original series The Wilds season 1, episode 2, “Day Two” contains significant spoilers.
We recapped every episode — check out the archive.
The opening
“Day Two” opens up with Rachel, confirming this will be her episode primarily. She asks the investigators if her parents know about Nora — she talks about how she’s older than her, and she warns the investigators that they are going to hear a lot of sh*t about how she acted and how she was with her sister — she confirms that they are twins. Flashbacks ensue showing the twins at the dinner table with their family. They seem to be a tight unit, but Rachel does not seem happy at the dinner game they are playing. This ties into Rachel’s insecurity with her family, which is fleshed out all chapter.
Jeanette’s phone
Rachel felt alone on the island. She knows she could have found comfort in her sister, but she couldn’t let go of the blame. On the island, Leah shows everyone Jeannette’s phone; she doesn’t tell them that she rang Jeffrey and claims the battery died. Leah finds it suspicious that Jeanette didn’t tell them about her phone. She’s then angry that Jeanette never revealed the phone at the time of finding it and spits on the grave. Like Leah in the last episode, Rachel is a complicated character who has plenty of demons overriding her personality.
The conspiracy
“Day Two” delves into the conspiracy more; Gretchen looks upset after Jeanette has died on the island. She rings Audrey with a decision. Afterward, Gretchen looks at the cameras with Thom and Susan and marks how the girls on the island have formed different social groups already. Gretchen reassures Thom and Susan that they are going to make sure that Jeanette’s death was not for nothing. At this stage, it is not clear what the experiment is or why they are doing it. The Amazon series is smartly keeping it in their hands, but it will only work if the revelations are good.
Swimming failure
Flashbacks show that her swim coach warned Rachel that she should be cut from the team because she isn’t talented enough. She doesn’t want her to work on something that will not produce anything lifeworthy. The coach references that her body doesn’t work for swimming. It’s a damaging moment for her self esteem, but the coach tells her it is an opportunity for her to figure out what she wants to do. Disturbing scenes show her trying to make herself throw up after exercising. She’s playing a dangerous game. It’s worth noting that the coach remarked that Rachel had a nice body, and did not point to her weight as a factor at all — it was more about shape and size, but it shows how easily impacted we can be by people’s words.
Sparking into action
On the island, Leah apologizes to Rachel for the misunderstanding between them. Rachel plans to swim to the wreckage to see if they can find useful equipment, but Leah is hesitant in helping out in the water. This angers Rachel, which is a theme — she has an extremely short fuse.
Rachel wants to lead an expedition to climb up the mountain so they can plan their bearings. Dot gives her a mirror which will help flash into the sky and ask for help in case there is a plane. Nora wants to help her sister, but Rachel calls her dramatic and tells her she isn’t joining. Meanwhile, Gretchen mentions an operative on the island and wants to make sure they find the package.
Rehabilitation
Flashbacks show Rachel in rehabilitation and her sister Nora visiting her. Rachel has hit rock bottom and is on the road to recovery. She tells Nora that she doesn’t belong in rehab and asks for help. In another flashback, Nora gives her sister Rachel a good luck charm for her diving and jokes she’s put a hex on the other swimmers. Nora is worried that she isn’t healthy and asks about it. Rachel assures her she is fine. While this isn’t Nora’s episode, it’s easy to tell that she’s extremely perceptive about people. Hopefully, her chapter is equally as interesting.
Losing the mirror
Rachel starts the expedition with Leah and Shelby. She jokingly accuses Shelby of being racist when she says they are working on different thresholds — Shelby meant that she’s an athlete not that she’s got black heritage. Suddenly, Shelby wants a break, but Rachel loses her cool (again!) and throws the mirror. It goes off a cliff edge, and Leah is extremely emotional about it. It’s then revealed that Nora joined them after all. Rachel justifies her anger by saying she wants her life back in the world.
There’s nothing
As Rachel is about to dive in a flashback, it shows her climbing the mountain on the island. She’s clearly not well enough for diving as she reaches the platform. When Rachel looks out from the top of the island, she gets panicked because there doesn’t seem to be anything of use. When she dives in the flashback, she hits her head on the platform on the way down, and blood gushes from her head in the pool. On the island, Nora tries to hug Rachel, who is having a breakdown. Nora is trying to comfort her sister, and even though she’s elusive at the moment, it’s obvious she cares about her.
The package
Shelby finds the bag left by Gretchen on the island. Inside there is an aviation license for a man named David Michael Crane — Gretchen has evidently made the group feel this was the pilot’s bag. Shelby shows the rest of the group — there’s a medicine cabinet inside the bag. This is convenient for Martha’s wounded foot plot as the character needed painkillers.
Nora reminds Rachel that she was cut
Late at night on the island, Nora reminds Rachel that she was cut from the team and wonders why she will not let it go as she will not be going back to it in the real world. Flashbacks show that her wounded head is still bothering her and her mother offers comforting words as they play Scrabble. Rachel suddenly gets up to lie down. When she heads to her room, she cries.
On the island, Rachel mentions how well she did on an invitational diving competition one time. She felt like that was the one time her parents looked at her “like that” and that they look at Nora, in the same way, all the time. Rachel tells Nora that she will be great again, and she wants her to trust her. This scene confirms the issue — Rachel resents her sister due to her parents’ adoration of her. It’s fascinating how much our parents unintentionally f*ck us up.
The ending
Rachel tells the investigators that she got it all wrong with her sister and that Nora was always ahead of her — “She was throwing herself for another world for me”. When she’s asked how the story ends, Rachel tells the investigators that she doesn’t know. She then shows her amputated arm in a twist. She must have lost her hand on the island.
The Wilds season 1, episode 2 deep dives into Rachel’s life and demonstrates how relationships with parents can drastically mold your life in a negative way. It’s clear the series is character-centric, which is very similar to LOST in many ways but in different circumstances and plot lines. The only question at this stage is what is Gretchen up to?
Island Diaries
- Toni carries Martha to the water as her foot is still badly injured. She’s trying to treat it. Martha is worried that no-one is going to come, but Toni reminds her that they are rich girls.
