The Wilds Review Amazon S Ya Debut Sets A High Bar No Spoilers

All of them are sitting in a chartered plane en route to Hawaii to attend a young women’s empowerment retreat — The Dawn of Eve — over a long weekend. The plane takes off, things don’t go as planned, and these caricatures — purposefully crafted to hit the stereotypical marks of every teen show ever — are about to become the most compelling teenage girl characters seen in a genre TV program since “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

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As the women come to terms with being stranded on an island, the background of each character is revealed via flashback — yes, like “Lost,” but that’s truly where the comparison ends. These are young women in chronological age only; all of them are old souls that have been through the wringer. (The work from Clause as Martha and Berry as Dot, in particular, is jaw-dropping — and it is astonishing to note that this was Clause’s first professional acting job.) With a first-day binge release, the temptation for many will be to plow through all 10 episodes in order to untangle the mystery behind the island. Don’t do this. Really, don’t. The backstories of the young women on the island are meditations on the impact of short- and long-term trauma on mental and physical health, and there isn’t a false note — ever — hit by any of the actors. Not to cross-pollinate two very different shows about troubled teens, but there is a scene on the intensity level of Zendaya’s Emmy-winning “Open the door!” monologue from “Euphoria” in pretty much every episode. You, the viewer, will need a break. Do not wear yourself out with compassion fatigue for the characters. Take the time to absorb each episode, and the emotional impact of the final very sad and satisfying reveal will be stronger. Screenshot/YouTube

Besides the young women, there are some adults involved in the machinations: Rachel Griffiths plays a scientist with the empowerment program, while David Sullivan and Troy Winbush are investigators looking into how the women wound up on the island. All deftly operate in the various shades of gray required by their characters — and Griffiths is outstanding as ever in making small choices at the beginning of the show that pay off huge at the end. A special shoutout also should go to music supervisor Jen Malone, (“Euphoria”) whose ear for the importance of music in the lives of young people is unparalleled. (Also this Gen Xer cannot wait for the resurgence of The Psychedelic Furs based on an outstanding recurring needle drop of “The Ghost in You.”) While Streicher’s work — especially given this is her first time out of the gate as an executive producer — is deft and powerful, there are some wobbles in the narrative. The “Lord of the Flies”-esque stuck-on-the-island tropes are a little too on-the-nose (wild, bite-y animals are wild and bite-y!), the thematic messaging is occasionally too overt, and there are two incredibly frustrating loose ends not tied up by the final episode. As of yet, no Season 2 has been announced, although the groundwork for the story’s continuation is well-laid. In addition, the marketing and trailers so far have been something of an intentional misdirect to preserve the central mystery of the show; that’s fine, but it’s also a tricky line to walk between withholding key plot points and hiding what the show is actually about. (To put it in non-spoiler network terms, the trailer makes it look like a CW show, when actually its linear home would be on FX.)

Grade: B+#

Grade: B+