Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
The Wilds – Amazon Original Series
The Wilds follows a group of teen girls from various backgrounds who board a first class jet on their way to The Dawn of Eve Retreat in Kona Hawaii, a female-centric learning and growth experience where teen women can participate in yoga classes, confidence workshops and relax in paradise. Unfortunately, their plane crashed stranding them on a deserted island to fend for themselves without any proper resources, thus turning their vacation into a survival situation where they must work together to survive until they are rescued.
Leah Rilke, Fatin Jadmani, Toni Shalifoe, Martha Blackburn, Dot Campbell, Shelby Goodkind, Rachel Reid and her sister Nora Reid all boarded a first class jet for a relaxing, rejuvenating experience arranged by their parents at Dawn of Eve Retreat in Kona, Hawaii. Though seeming coincidental, the girls were paired up from different locations across the U.S.: Leah (Sarah Pidgeon) was an aspiring writer and Fatin (Sophia Ali) a spoiled rich promiscuous girl and cello virtuoso; Martha (Jenna Clause) was a Native American animal lover and Toni (Erana James) Martha’s athletic hot-headed openly lesbian best friend from Minnesota; Dot (Shannon Berry) ] was a tough Texan girl with wilderness survival skills and Shelby (Mia Healey)] a Christian Church faithful beauty queen from Texas and Rachel (Reign Edwards) who was a competitive diver and an athlete from NY and her sister Nora (Helena Howard), Rachel’s fraternal twin sister and a book nerd.
Over 3 weeks time, they navigate the difficulties of survival on a deserted island, learning to move beyond their differences and work together to overcome their situation and find ways to remain alive until such time that they could be rescued. Janette (Chi Nguyen), who was a cheery Asian gal, died shortly after they all found each other on the beach, having come to shore with bruising on her stomach from internal injuries. Though they buried her, her body mysteriously disappeared overnight causing them all to question whether or not they were indeed alone on the island.
The 10 episodes in Season 1 cover the first 23 days on the island as the girls come together to conquer the basics of survival to find water, food, and shelter, with random cases of supplies washing up on shore to aid their progress. Though discounted, Leah questioned everything from the beginning and felt there was a presence on the island.
At the end of Episode 1, viewers learn that the girls are indeed being watched through a network of cameras and monitored by a team lead by Gretchen Klein (Rachel Griffiths), head of the Dawn of Eve program and was also clear that their parents had no idea they were sending their girls off to survival camp.
Those captivated by the addictive nature of this thrilling series with reveals that always bring more questions than answers are sure to be anxiously looking forward to Season 2.
10 Episodes – 45-60 minutes
