Wilderness Review: Series of Unexpected Twists and Turns Capable of Captivating The Viewer | Prime Video
Cast: Jenna Coleman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Claire Rushbrook
Created By: Marnie Dickens
Streaming Platform: Prime Video
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Wilderness is a new thriller series that debuted on Prime Video on September 15, 2023. It is based on the novel of the same name by BE Jones. The series stars Jenna Coleman as Liv, a young woman who discovers that her husband Will (played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is cheating on her. In a fit of rage, she takes him with her on a trip to the American wilderness, where he intends to get revenge on her. However, things quickly go bad, and the couple finds themselves fighting for survival. It has splendid opening credits, and, in the background, there is Taylor Swift, whose song is entitled “Look What You Made Me Do”. It’s called Wilderness and it’s a miniseries of the revenge thriller genre with a strong police procedural feel and a strong focus on the psychological motives and social conditioning suffered by the protagonist.
Or heroine, or witch, or harpy, or avenger, as she chooses to present herself in the eyes of the viewer. Rejecting the schematic and flat, two-dimensional logic of solid colors, Olivia, this is her name, floods the series with her voice off-screen to make us understand that she (not only) is the chaotic combination of a bunch of shades. Her story seems like the most classic of acts of revenge. At the center of this story is a revenge plan that will take unexpected turns, an all-female thriller of the kind that truly creates addiction and almost forces binge-watching: as we will see in this review of Wilderness, the series directed by So Yong Kim it has all the characteristics to attract a large audience and keep them glued to their seats, from a well-constructed screenplay to an excellent cast of performers. A single warning for husbands who accompany their wives in the viewing be careful if your sweetheart suggests you a holiday for two in contact with nature!
Wilderness Review: The Story Plot
Wilderness follows the story of a seemingly perfect couple whose “happily ever after” life takes a dark turn. As the series unfolds, viewers are taken on a gripping journey filled with suspense, drama, and unexpected twists. The series expertly blends elements of drama and thriller to create a unique and engaging viewing experience. Liv (Jenna Coleman) and Will Taylor (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) seem like the perfect couple: married for just over a year, they have just moved from their native England to the United States for their career. Everything seems to be going swimmingly: in the first scenes, we see them together aboard a blue Mustang crossing the desert towards the Grand Canyon, excited for the first holiday together of their new life.
Too bad that not all that glitters is gold: Liv is planning the “accidental” death of her husband after discovering his betrayal with one of her new colleagues, Cara (Ashley Benson). But the woman’s plans will be derailed a bit in the face of a series of unexpected events and second thoughts: the unexpected arrival of Cara, accompanied by her boyfriend Garth (Eric Balfour), will lead her to reevaluate the whole situation. When the four find themselves in Yosemite Park, something completely unexpected happens, which Liv hadn’t planned, and which will radically change the course of her life.
Wilderness Review and Analysis
If from the few premises that we have given you about the Wilderness plot it sounds like the most banal revenge thriller story (and in the first two episodes the path taken by the narrative seems exactly that), starting from a certain twist thing derail and they take a path that is anything but predictable. The structure of the story made up of continuous flashbacks and time jumps, is the best one to keep the viewer’s attention high, dragging him into the story and leading him to get to know the protagonists more and more deeply. The protagonists, to be precise: although the character of Will has a leading role, it is mostly the female characters who are constantly highlighted by the script, Jenna Colman’s Liv first and foremost. However, around her moves a microcosm of women who are never two-dimensional, capable of moving us with their stories even when we don’t expect it.
As the narrative progresses, we get to know Cara better, the femme fatale that we should (but cannot) hate, Liv’s mother Caryl (Claire Rushbrook), abandoned many years earlier by her husband and who still can’t move on, Will’s boss Bonnie (Talia Balsam), who also hides unexpected sides, and finally the sagacious Detective Rawlins (Marsha Stephanie Blake), capable of easily seeing beyond appearances. It is precisely in the moments of confrontation between these splendid female characters that Dickens does his best in the screenplay: in a few sentences we can understand the strengths and weaknesses of these women, weaknesses, and traumas from the past, elements capable of making them unique and human. Will himself, although as we said is fundamental to the unraveling of the plot, remains almost in the background compared to his counterparts, deliberately falling into the typical clichés of the wounded cheating husband.
It is clear that “neglecting” the character in this way is intentional, because as spectators we must never form a definitive opinion about him: the fact that the protagonist constantly switches, at least at the beginning, from wanting to kill him to wanting to forgive him must be credible. Having said that, however, the beating heart of this story lies in his women. The cast choices are truly perfect for the story created by BE Jones and adapted by Marnie Dickens, Jenna Colman stands out among them, capable of conveying the protagonist’s chaotic emotional range extremely effectively. Even in her most explosive moments, Colman is always credible in the role of Liv, avoiding being grotesque. It is Wilderness, as a whole, that occasionally falls into error: the plot ends up succumbing to a lack of realism at certain moments, touching certain soap opera-like extremes that perhaps would have been better mitigated. Not that this is necessarily a flaw, the show is more than anything an entertainment product designed as a guilty pleasure, but these slightly over-the-top tendencies end up taking away from the excellent work done in characterizing the characters.
Liv’s journey is complex, unsettling, and layered, more than a hasty reading would suggest. What ultimately defines a person’s identity? The circumstances, the conditioning of society, the war of the sexes, the family, the things that we carry inside us and that we don’t confess to anyone. Wilderness doesn’t know how to respond, fortunately; it is a more lucid series than its intemperate protagonist. Don’t misunderstand, there is a lot that is right in Liv’s resentment and claims. That, quite simply, she was betrayed by her life. The family, the patriarchy, a husband who is not up to par and who despite everything cannot help but love, at least in the beginning, greatly complicates the intentions of revenge. Marnie Dickens hides behind a stubborn search for revenge and a lot of strong passions, much more.
A search for meaning, for meaning, for just that little bit of control. Control is the key word. Liv needs to take charge of her life. She doesn’t say no to love, work, or adventure. Only, she wants reciprocity and honesty. Are they missing? She takes it her way. She takes revenge as a means to gain control, control as an existential master key. Deciding how and when to make Will pay helps the protagonist understand herself, get to know herself, and come to terms with her own identity. But the path to control, that is, the path to revenge, is paved with moral dilemmas, and unexpected and uncomfortable questions: can a woman free herself from the yoke without paying dues to the rottenness that an unjust and chauvinist society has poured out against her for a lifetime? Free and innocent, is it possible?
The answer is ambiguous and could not be otherwise; ambiguity must be understood as a structural fact of Wilderness. The impression of black comedy informed by vengeful fury leaves the room, after a handful of episodes, for a shocking change of skin, for the story of painful choices and unexpected moral consequences. It’s a shame that the armor of the police procedural traps much of the potential of a series that could offer more but struggles to do so. It ends up twisting around the protagonists, who are nevertheless very good, a Jenna Coleman poised between crazy anger and control, and a very tormented Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Thus, sacrificing the reasons and complexities of the supporting characters, above all the betrayed lover Ashley Benson, which deserved more depth to enrich the picture of an enjoyable series, but was held back by its unpredictability.
Wilderness Review: The Last Words
Wilderness is a series that, with a series of unexpected twists and turns, is capable of captivating the viewer. The characterization of the female characters is excellent, in particular the protagonist Liv, played by a convincing Jenna Coleman. Engulfed by a stubborn search for clarity at all costs, clarity on psychology, clarity on motives, Wilderness explains a lot, too much, everything, and ends up being more wooden than necessary. However, it is not enough to undermine the general impression of a dark and perversely ironic story, which is strengthened by the ability of its tormented protagonists to move on a subtle balance of moderation and sudden violence.
Wilderness Review: Series of Unexpected Twists and Turns Capable of Captivating The Viewer | Prime Video - Filmyhype
Director: Marnie Dickens
Date Created: 2023-09-15 18:06
3.5
Pros
- Suspenseful plot
- Well-acted performances
- Beautiful cinematography
- Strong female protagonist
- Unique setting
Cons
- Slow pacing
- Predictable plot twists
- Some underdeveloped characters
- Unrealistic ending
