The Wilds: Season 1 Rewatch
Hey, everyone! Sorry, it’s been a hot minute. I’ve been so busy with work and I was thinking that I wouldn’t be able to get the entirety of season 1 recapped before the premiere of season 2 on Friday. So, what I’m going to do is double up the recaps and do 1x06/1x07, then 1x08/1x09 and finish it off with 1x10 by Thursday.
SPOILER WARNINGS – While it is an episode recap, there may be spoilers for the entirety of season 1 of The Wilds. Continue reading at your own risk if you haven’t seen all of it yet.
1x01 Recap
1x02 Recap
1x03 Recap
1x04 Recap
1x05 Recap
The Wilds | 1x06: Day Twelve + 1x07: Day Fifteen
Favorite Quote
"Honestly, sometimes I feel like I'm 100 years old." — Leah Rilke (1x06)
"I love a bitchy dom, but you're really not reading the room." — Fatin Jadmani (1x07)
Personal Highlights of the Episodes
(1x06)
Nora’s Santa Claus joke to Leah.
The entire sequence with the girls eating the mussels.
This look. Cuffs on cuffs and converse. Leah just speaks to my inner bisexual
Shelby taking the lead on giving Toni the pill + The Straddle
Sarah Pidgeon plays Leah’s breakdowns so well.
(1x07)
“Okay, well blame game aside, I think it’s safe to say that we could blame the dead fire on our problematic Jesus-freeea…” Look, I don’t want to admit it, but haven’t we all been in that kind of situation? It’s just 100x more funny when it’s not you being caught talking shit.
I love the conversation between Shelby and Toni about their life struggles. I am fully on board with Shelby; it’s so easy to look at someone and judge them by what they present on a surface-level. And it’s easy to hear people’s problems and try to outmatch it with your own, but that’s not how things work. You have no idea what these problems have done to an individual’s mental, emotional, or physical health whether you deem it ‘significant’ or not.
The Kiss and immediate runaway from Shelby. You can't run away from your gay forever, sweetie.
Fatin’s commentary during the fight between Nora and Rachel. You know she's probably done that during her little brothers' fights. Leah not understanding sibling dynamics, Dot fed up with everyone's shit, Fatin punching Dot over a toothbrush. All while Shelby and Toni are kissing in the woods.
Things I Didn't Catch the First Time
(1x06)
Gretchen gets the agents on board during the experiment. We see that her recruitment of Agent Faber and the girls getting sick from the mussels happens simultaneously.
It’s super quick, but if you were paying attention during the shot of the doctor’s desk while Gretchen is speaking about her overnight stay, you could have maybe been prepared for Agent Faber’s reveal by the Altoid mints container, which is what he offered Leah during their meeting in her room (also minor, but the finger tapping by Faber is very distinct and prominent when he’s interviewing/assessing)
(1x07)
Does the length of Shelby’s necklace change?
Observations / Theories / Questions
(1x06)
Bless Martha. All the girls are starving, and she was gonna feed the few berries she harvested to the goat.
We get two episodes devoted to Leah’s backstory, the only character on the show that does, right?
Ian and Leah were cute, but Ian, why you decide to make a move on your drunk best friend when you know that she’s still grieving over her previous relationship? That shit was bound to happen. Also, if not for Jeff, they probably would’ve turned into high school sweethearts or been the first love heartbreak that ruins you in that special way
Ian speaking the truth that all of us already been saying since episode 1.
“Shape and texture.” – The moment everyone began wondering about Leah's sexuality.
The girls standing up for Toni and not doing that “let’s just ignore it” bullshit after Shelby admits she’s homophobic. Yes, girls. Yes. Everyone should take lessons and be this way when people spout their bigoted bullshit.
Leah admitting to some of her thoughts about the island but not admitting to seeing a camera. She’s playing these guys, I know she is. She’s way too smart to not have pieced things together by now.
“Blame me, for fuck’s sake. I’m the reason we’re here.” Literally. Another clue towards Nora being the confederate, while they point to more obvious and ‘in-your-face’ things like Shelby finding the bags and Dot being the wilderness survivalist to distract us.
Leah’s dancing in the middle of the night on the street. I didn’t see the car crash coming, but I’m not surprised in the least. Don’t walk in the streets, kids.
“If you hadn’t let your obsessive paranoia about Shelby get the better of you, then you wouldn’t be carrying around the guilt you are not.” Why would Leah still be feeling guilty over something that happened on day twelve? I wonder if this is a clue about Martha’s state post-island.
They present Faber as someone who can really read people. It must be important how quickly he breaks down Gretchen’s deception and why he’s the one running point on the girls’ interviews. It’ll be nice to see who wins this battle. Will Faber realize they’re not being 100% truthful or will Leah and co. pull one over on the ‘experts?’
(1x07)
Rachel straight up abandoning Nora in the water to get the black box. She really gives no fucks about family or friendships when she’s on a mission. Nothing is more important to her than completing the goal(s) she set her mind to. But on the other hand, Rachel was doing so good with repairing her relationship with Nora and that progress just vanished during the tidal wave storm. She reverted back into that bossy, resentful person the second she was given a leadership role and claims it’s just her way of showing tough love. Is it or is it just behavior she’s associated with that time in her life (diving + setting/accomplishing goals)? Habits are hard to break after all.
The fact that Gretchen knew of Linh’s backstory with being sedated unwillingly and didn’t think to have a conversation with her about what would be happening with the girls is insane to me. Her self-absorbed behavior led to the death of someone who looked up to and admired her immensely.
You can’t tell me that Toni didn’t disappear with the sole purpose of finding Shelby. The wood you’re carrying, Toni? It’s a horrible cover story. She would have told the others if that was the real reason.
I’m interested in Thom’s background. Why is he so hell-bent and loyal to Gretchen?
Siblings fighting is no joke. My brother and I fought over a trash bag once and he elbowed me so hard in the jaw it swelled like I just got my wisdom teeth removed. We grew out of that quick though when he turned into a 6’3 behemoth and I stayed my little 5’4 female self.
Gretchen says the experiment last 12 weeks and season 1 only covers 3 weeks of it. Lots of content to still see folks. I do wonder if the bunker interviews are a “part” of the experiment or post-experiment.
Field Notes
(1x06)
Field Note #065 – Leah’s more of a crossword puzzle person. She judges people who do Sudoku.
Field Note #069 – According to the chore board, Rachel’s supposed to be gathering wood. She’s freediving for seafood instead because it’s more fun. The girls haven’t really talked about consequences for straying from your designated chore… but this can’t be good for Rachel’s karma.
Field Note #071 – Leah’s pre-Jeff GPA: 3.7889. Leah’s post-Jeff GPA: 2.967 and sinking. Hearts and grades suffer together.
Field Note #073 – Fatin has been to Barcelona three times: twice with her family, and once on tour with her youth orchestra. She faked jetlag to break away from the group and went out all night with a Spanish cyclist she met on the flight.
(1x07)
Field Note #080 – Martha’s mother got her that suitcase as part of a 5-piece luggage set at a Memorial Day sale in Bemidji, MN.
Field Note #081 – In research, the term “confederate” refers to someone who appears to be one of the subjects of the experiment but who is actually on the research team.
Field Note #083 – Shelby did indeed rap on the morning closed-circuit announcements. She rapped with her fellow student council members to promote the annual school-wide raffle. They rhymed “tickets” with “rickets,” an extremely rare bone disease. It was… not great.
Field Note #084 – The key Linh wears around her neck is from the diary she kept in middle school. She wears it to remind herself to always fight for her younger, more impressionable self.
Field Note #087 – Gretchen adopted her pugs on the day her divorce was finalized.
Field Note #090 – Shelby is hardly alone in terms of her missing teeth. Roughly two percent of the population are born without lateral incisors. Like Shelby said, it’s in the genes.
~~~
Shelby Curse Count: 5 + 2 (11 total)
Shelby curses more in 1x06 (5 total) than she does in the first five episodes combined (4 total).
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