There’s nothing like the thrill of a well-crafted mystery show. Lost, Yellowjackets, and Severance have all kept their audiences constantly guessing and crafting new theories. But what about the mystery boxes that never get the attention they deserve? Wilds premiered in 2020 on Amazon Prime but failed to gain much attention, making now the perfect time to catch up before its Season 2 premiere on May 6.
Created by Sarah Streicher, The Wilds has a similar structure to Yellowjackets: A group of teen girls crash in a remote area after their private plane malfunctions and then realize something’s big afoot as they struggle to survive.
But while Yellowjackets splits its time between the stranded high schoolers and their future-adult selves still dealing with the fallout decades later, The Wilds instead looks back at the trauma each girl suffered before they even got stranded.
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There are two other huge differences between the two shows. While Yellowjackets strands its characters in the woods, The Wilds is set on a desert island. And while the dark undercurrent of Yellowjackets takes an entire season to uncover, The Wilds is never shy about its big twist: that the crash is part of a social experiment examining how young girls can handle crisis situations.
Each episode is framed by a post-rescue interview so we know the girls are okay. But they’re irreparably changed, albeit not always for the worse. While one girl loses her hand, another begins to understand her sexuality through an adorable love story.
The world of The Wilds exhibits an almost CW-amount of melodrama, but it’s never cheap. When a character is the victim of a toxic and predatory relationship, she’s given full agency to tell her story as a survivor, not a victim. It’s a survival show, but these girls are surviving more than just a desert island. They’ve been surviving a vicious world their entire lives, and a remote island is almost a welcome respite.
Season 1 ends on a compelling cliffhanger that sets up Season 2. Though we see the girls after they’re rescued, we don’t know how it happens, or how vast the conspiracy is. So whether you’re suffering from Yellowjackets withdrawal or just want to get the jump on the next great streaming show, look no further than this series.
The Wilds Season 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.
