The Wilds Season 2 Review: A Disappointing Follow-Up

The first season of Prime Video’s The Wilds should not be slept on as it delivered must-see performances, captivating storytelling, and chill-inducing thrills. The Wilds Season 2 attempts to recapture that magic as it expands its cast and story but ends up faltering by being overly familiar. 

To those that haven’t seen The Wilds, it would probably seem like just a simple riff on Lord of the Flies, but it’s more than that. Yes, in a similar vein to William Golding’s classic novel, the series follows a group of young women, instead of young men, who attempt to survive on a deserted island after surviving a plane crash. However, The Wilds distinguished itself well in its first season as a unique and constantly compelling story through how it characterized its central group of female survivors. 

None of the characters felt super easy to pin down. They each had some sort of connection, or lack thereof, to one of the other survivors which added interesting arcs and tensions. Flashbacks to their lives before the island provided strong emotional depth and created this engaging storytelling that was constantly elevated by the excellent ensemble cast. Not to mention the whole idea of them being a part of some kind of social experiment added another layer to the series’ big mystery. This made for some interesting tension in the flash forwards to when the women are rescued off the island. The Wilds explored its characters incredibly well and always managed to subvert expectations, something that can be repeated in the second season. 

Season 2 continues the story of the women still surviving on the island and you feel that connection instantly reestablish itself — especially with the emotions as high as ever. The group is still reeling from the tragedy of losing one of their own in the finale and Leah (Sarah Pidgeon, Gotham) is trying to put the pieces together, both on and off the island, of the greater conspiracy at hand. It’s a shame that we don’t get more flashbacks to their lives before the island, but those story threads continue nicely with each character and build out their relationships with one another.

Rachel’s (Reign Edwards, The Bold and the Beautiful) story is more tragic than ever because of what happened to her sister Nora (Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madleine) and it’s a gut-wrenching aspect of the premiere and really the whole season. It’s interesting to watch the relationship triangle between Toni (Erana James, Golden Boy), Martha (Jenna Clause, The Furies Inside Me), and Shelby (Mia Healey, Shark) evolve as Toni and Shelby’s romantic aspects grow and it’s especially warming to see both Dot (Shannon Berry, Offspring) and Fatin (Sophia Ali, Uncharted) act as a strong glue for the group now. 

These performances should not be as criminally underrated as they are and it’s even better how Leah takes a stronger lead in trying to uncover the truth. The flash forwards and mental games that are played with Leah, the girls, and Gretchen (Rachel Griffiths, Six Feet Under) are more intriguing than ever and remain a good hook throughout. Things especially get interesting when the series starts to delve into Nora’s actual fate and introduces a new set of island dwellers. Every time Leah attempts to turn the tables on their captors through manipulating what they know, you feel more invested in what’s happening and there are also some interesting new layers that come from this mystery with the second set of stranded teens, a group of young men. However, these new additions sadly drag this season down compared to the first as it feels like the series is trying to recapture the magic. 

The interactions between Leah and Raf (Zack Calderon, FBI), one of the young men from the other experiment, can help expand the mystery and give Leah a nice edge in taking control of the situation. However, everything just feels lesser about this new group, and they struggle to leave a similar impact. The use of flashbacks to expand their stories aren’t as emotionally striking and it feels like the series doesn’t give enough of a spotlight to each one like it did in the first season. For instance, while Martha and Toni were best friends, it didn’t define their flashbacks and they each had their own personal stories unfold outside of each other. Here though, there’s too much of a connection between certain castaways, like Scotty (Reed Shannon, Arcane) and Bo (Tanner Ray Rook, Side Quest), and it doesn’t allow them to stand out as much and have deeper personal arcs. 

Some of the personalities also feel a little too stereotypical and the more aggressive tone that comes from the boys, specifically Kirin (Charles Alexander, Mother Dearest), can be a little much and detract from the overall viewing experience. The group dynamic also drifts a little too close to Lord in the Flies in a way that makes them not feel as unique or interesting. If the new cast of boys was just a small part of season two, it might not be as bad, but they pretty much consume most of the runtime and nearly take over the story completely.

So, it just feels like the series is trying to hit the same marks of the first season, but never does and some of the shock aspects to the boys’ experience on the island together nearly feel forced. It’s essentially like when more social issue driven aspects were added into later seasons of 13 Reasons Why and it’s a big part of why this season doesn’t work as well because it feels like it’s trying too hard to put its new group of castaways on the same level as its originals, but it only makes them feel like knock-offs in the process. 

The Wilds Season 2 isn’t necessarily in a true sophomore slump since some of what it continues remains strong and compelling, but its attempts to expand itself through new additions doesn’t make its continuation as strong. 

The Wilds Season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.