What worse than being stranded on a deserted island? Being a teenage girl in the world, Amazon Prime’s teen survival drama The Wilds suggests in Friday’s series premiere.
The first episode begins with an investigation: A scratched-up Leah (played by Gotham‘s Sarah Pidgeon) is being interviewed about what happened after she and several other girls found themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere. According to Leah, the authorities assume it was a horrible experience. But “what was so f–king great about the lives we left behind?” she posits, before adding that being a teenage girl is “the real living hell,” with its dark moods, brutal social scene, ridiculous expectations and heavy responsibilities.
Also on the private flight are: Leah’s girly-girl classmate Fatin (Grey’s Anatomy‘s Sophia Ali); anger-prone tomboy Toni (Golden Boy‘s Erana James) and her sweet best friend Martha (Jenna Clause); elite diver Rachel (The Bold and the Beautiful‘s Reign Edwards) and her concerned, super smart sister Nora (Don’t Look Deeper‘s Helena Howard); tough Texan Dot (Hunters‘ Shannon Berry); God-fearing beauty queen Shelby (Mia Healey); and uber peppy, Pink-loving Jeanette (Chi Nguyen), the only girl who doesn’t come in a pair (red flag!).
While the gals are playing a get-to-know-you game, the plane starts to experience turbulence, and next thing we see, Leah wakes up in the middle of the ocean, with a barely conscious Jeanette floating nearby. Leah manages to get Jeanette to an island, where the other girls have also landed. Turns out they all know CPR — isn’t that weird, Leah asks the authorities? — and are able to revive Jeanette, who later mysteriously apologizes to Leah (red flag No. 2!).
Later that night, Jeanette starts vomiting blood and collapses from internal blood loss. Leah announces that she’s dead, so the girls bury her body and sing a Pink song in her honor. What Leah never told anyone is that Jeanette’s phone started ringing from the grave while everyone was sleeping, she reveals to the authorities. She called Jeff on it, but was cut off before she could tell him what happened. She never told the other girls about it because she was embarrassed. And she doesn’t know why Jeanette kept the phone from them (red flag No. 3!).
Cut to a building, where Rachel Griffiths’ character is informed that Jeanette is dead. It’s OK, though, because they have another operative on the island, she says as she watches a satellite feed of the girls. Twist!
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