Welcome to Eden Review: The Series With Which Netflix Wants To Replicate Elite And That Brings A Final Surprise

Starring: Amaia Aberasturi, Tomy Aguilera, Diego Garisa

Creators: Joaquín Górriz, Guillermo López Sanchez

Streaming Platform: Netflix (click to watch)

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

You are happy? Netflix invites you to be one by watching Welcome to Eden, its new teen series premiering on May 6, 2022. Here’s our spoiler-free review. It seems that Netflix’s specialization in youth series is increasingly evident with products that want to attract, above all, the attention of avid consumers of products such as Elite, although it does so with very diverse fictions, such as the luminous Heartstopper or the more morbid The Bridgertons. The range is wide, but the target is quite specific.

In the case that concerns us this week, Welcome to Eden, the new Netflix series has the luck or misfortune to coincide with the premiere on Prime Video of The Wilds Season 2 with which it shares some notable similarities in what is known. It refers to the plot. We will talk about it in more detail shortly. In any case, it can also bring to mind elements of series like Nine Perfect Strangers or The White Lotus. In the end, all of them talk about the macabre side of what seems like an idyllic retirement.

Welcome to Eden Review: The Story

Welcome to Eden introduces us to Zoa, a teenager who lives with her little sister Gaby and deals with an addicted mother and a father who is almost always absent. One day she receives a message from her on her mobile terminal: it is an invitation to attend an exclusive party on a paradisiacal island organized by the Edén Foundation with which they promise to make her happy and turn her life around. Although her best friend has not received the same invitation, they both decide to break the rules to get her to sneak in and live a dream night, but the strict security measures do not make things easy for them. After much insistence, they manage to enter the ship that takes them to an unknown place.

The night passes, just as they imagined, like a dream… literally. Because the drinks provided on the island make them lose track of time and control of their actions. The next morning, Zoa’s friend has disappeared and most of the young people who went with them to the island have returned to the starting point. So what are Zoa and a small handful of others still doing there? She doesn’t know it yet, but she is part of an exclusive and small number of those chosen to join the Eden Foundation, sponsored by the strange marriage made up of Astrid and Erik.

Welcome to Eden Review And Analysis

Starting to see Welcome to Eden is like opening a bag of sunflower seeds: you know that if you go too far they will make you feel bad, but it is impossible to continue eating until you finish it all, even if it is half a kilo. Thus, its main advantage is that it is tremendously addictive and that, despite not having a crazy budget, it manages to maintain interest until the end thanks to the final cliffhangers of each episode… With an extra incentive! Some brush strokes are added to the main plot that could lead to a fantastic tone that would be great. She takes time to break up, but promises.

We are not going to lie to you either: some moments can be passed in 1.5x and nothing would happen, because there is an almost natural tendency in the story to include important blood sausages, such as filler love affairs and a sick concern for diversity in relationships, which are as explicit as they can be (to our regret, because they don’t add anything).

As far as production is concerned, it must be said that the series makes good use of its resources to have its personality. The diaphanous and austere appearance of the foundation’s facilities contrasts with the tight security control, carried out using cameras, drones, and jeeps. This leads us to have many aerial shots but also subjective shots of the characters. The color palette is also very well defined by the uniforms of its members that vary from blue to aqua green (immediately reminiscent of the green tracksuits from Squid Game, although in this case there is much more variety).

In general, in this sense, the series is clear that it wants to be modern. Perhaps he even goes overboard with this ambition, betting on very elaborate, ornate, and unnatural outfits and very open and changing relationships in which anything can happen… This is a predictable aspect, but the scripts revel in it a lot, with some very video clip moments. The good thing is that Welcome to Eden has room to improve and to contribute… From the casting to the direction of the actors, who sometimes seem to be waging war on their own. The script lacks strength, coherence as a whole, substance to the characters, and credibility to the interpretations.

Welcome to Eden Review: The Last Words

If Netflix makes the premiere a test tube, it will realize what aspects it can improve in the formula and, decidedly, betting less on youth drama and bed troubles and more on a fantastic premise, it can give it a much more original touch and appeal to the series. Netflix’s new proposal to address the public that consumes Elite with relish has notable aspects but as a whole, it fails. Of course, it is quite addictive and has a final twist that increases the interest for a second season. There is a twist in the last episodes that arouses a lot of interest, by shifting the balance towards something fantastical.