Day 34/12
Leah tells Raf that she knows what he’s going through and that he should not believe the people who are asking him questions. She tells him that this is a prison and that the plane crash and everything else was completely set-up.
Leah wants to know everything that happened on the island so she and Jack can work together and escape this mess. ..
Raf starts to spend more time alone and Leah sees as a red flag for him hiding something from the group.
Raf is lost in his own head and blinded by the metaphorical fog. Leah can relate to this because she’s also lost her way at times.
Raf is having a tough time on the island. He makes a joke about Kirin, and the other boys start to bully him. Eventually he gets angry and leaves. ..
Raf and Marisol are in their villa enjoying each other’s company. Raf is clearly infatuated with Marisol, as they enjoy her lavish and rich villa. Marisol’s passion lies with art but for Raf, he hasn’t figured out his “thing.”
Raf’s parents are not exactly happy about him spending so much time with Marisol. They believe that she will forget him. Raf’s father warns him, believing that his son is getting wrapped up in a whole different world.
Raf’s late arrival at the art show leads to a car accident that disrupts his plans. Marisol, who was waiting in the car behind him, is injured and needs medical attention. Raf is forced to take care of her and make up for his mistake.
Raf is arrested, kept overnight and eventually bailed out by Marisol and her parents. He’s cold with her in the car as they drive back. Unfortunately, Raf’s visa has been revoked and it’ll take some time before he can cross the border again.
Raf’s day goes from bad to worse when he’s attacked by fire ants retrieving his bracelet. Raf admits to Seth (who shows up to help), that he doesn’t know where he stands with the other guys. Seth simply tells him he needs to “put himself on the map” and the best way to do that is to establish himself as the guy who brings the snacks. “Everyone loves that guy.”
The pair find a bunker while searching around for something. They find a button that has to be pressed every four minutes, and in the folder they find a lot of food and journal entries from 2006.
Josh and the gang make it back to the beach just in time, especially when Kirin finds Josh actually has a lighter in his bag he hasn’t told anyone about. Thankfully, the boys return with enough food to tide them over.
The girls on day 34 are struggling. Leah has not slept in four days and Nora finds out, she takes her away from the group to knock some sense into her. Metaphorically speaking.
There wasn’t much drama in this episode, but there were a few nice moments. For example, some banter over a beach-read novel and Leah and Rachel returning to the group with a box of party supplies. Specifically, a piñata which gets Leah laughing given it reminds her of something from the past. ..
Leah asks Raf to trust her, and he agrees, given that he doesn’t have many other options. ..
Leah leaves Raf’s room and heads in to see Daniel Faber and speaks to him about a “good story” she has. She talks about the two plane crashes and how she’s met Raf and they’ve been catching up. Leah wants to strike a deal with the authorities in charge. She’ll get them the information they want… for a price.
The Episode Review
Episode 2 switches things up as we follow Raf on his journey to find his family. We’ve had two solid episodes with him now and that feels like a sufficient amount of time to understand his character and what drives him. ..
The showrunners have decided to move the action from the beginning of the game to the end, which means that there are now three different timelines running concurrently. This has resulted in a screenplay that is now juggling three or four different timelines at once. With only 8 episodes to play with, honestly this feels like it needs 24 and is designed for old-school prime-time TV to actually give everyone an adequate amount of time to grow and evolve.
The Wilds feels like a rushed, contrived story that doesn’t quite have the juice to make it stick. The characters feel underdeveloped and the plot is too quick to be interesting.
The Wilds is a messy series and despite some interesting history surrounding Raf, appears to have lost sight of the show’s most important ingredients. The show is unfocused and its focus seems to be on the wrong things.
