Day Twenty Two
We begin episode 9 of The Wilds with Dean Young watching the various survivors on his tablet. He’s keeping an eye on them but is clearly not happy with Gretchen’s insistence that they be kept separate from one another. After a sick (and frankly unprofessional) joke about voyeurism, Gretchen hands over a box full of evidence and tells him to search through it thoroughly for clues. This brings us back to Day 22 on the island as the kids all gather together on the beach but begin feeling the effects of not eating. As we’ve seen, the island is brimming full of wildlife so it may be time to start hunting. This episode’s flashbacks center around Martha, who fell off a trampoline as a child and was helped by Doctor Ted back to health. He was kind to her and promised to get her up dancing again in no time. Through grit and determination, she manages to accomplish this feat At school, she speaks to Toni about her big opportunity to dance but her Mother shows up with grim news. Dr. Ted has been accused of child abuse and she wants her to testify. Although Martha tells her parents he was only ever nice to her, the way she anxiously presses her fingers into the chair seems to hint otherwise. Dre Ted is charged with abuse and jailed. That evening, Martha cries herself to sleep. In the morning, she says her statement before a room full of witnesses and but admits her truth – that he didn’t touch her. Back on the island, Fatin tries to talk sense into Leah who’s clearly not of sane mind. Rachel meanwhile struggles to face the water again after it’s clearly taken a toll on her. Nora senses this too and decides to take her sister off for a walk to clear her head. Eventually the kids decide to go hunting to find food, where it’s revealed that Shelby actually knows a thing or two about hunting. Well, you’d think this would have come in handy 22 days ago when they were looking for water and food wouldn’t you? Martha however is unwilling to allow an animal to be killed and refuses to be part of this after befriending a goat. On the island, Leah starts to lose control and decides to swim until she’s saved. At the same time in the woods, Nora tries to help her sister get over her fear of the water. She tells her to dive but despite initially refusing, Leah starting to drown is enough for her dive and swim over to help. Only, the water is clearly not that deep and as we’ve seen from the past, Leah is a pretty competent swimmer too. Then again she is delirious and acting out of sorts so I guess the benefit of the doubt can be taken here. Anyway, back on the island Martha pleads with her goat to leave and tells the others that they can get fruit or fish instead. Toni berates her for letting their dinner go and eventually leaves Martha alone while they go on the hunt. Instead of goat, both Toni and Shelby find lychees and start eating together. As they do, Martha eventually tracks down the goat and makes her decision, bashing its brains in with a rock. Off the island, Agent Dean Young tentatively puts Martha’s belongings back in a box and hands it over to Gretchen on the way out the door. As he does, we cut back to the island and see Leah heading off into the woods alone. There, she discovers Nora talking to a tree… a tree that’s disguised as a camera. It turns out she’s the real operative!
The Episode Review
So it turns out Shelby knows how to hunt and has taken some lessons in the past… which sure would have been handy 22 days ago when these girls first landed on the island. Why keep this a secret? And that’s before mentioning how the kids continue to stay on the beach despite having a whole fresh water source further in on the island. It appears Nora has been planted on the island as an operative too, which is certainly an intriguing turn of events. However, what does this mean for Dot? Unless I’m missing something didn’t Dot agree to work “all-in” with Gretchen in the foreseeable future? Then again it may be that there’s multiple operatives working on the island to steer these girls in the right direction. This, of course, brings us back to the subject of the girls themselves. This episode looks deeper into Martha and her back-story is pretty fascinating. Alongside Shelby and Rachel, she’s arguably had the more interesting past and it’s a shame she’s been a side character for much of the run-time here. Elsewhere, Rachel has regressed a lot and has been in need of Nora to steer her in the right direction. As their sisterly bonds begin to mend, how will Rachel react to learning her sister is an operative undercover? Anyway, the finale is up next. Will a cliffhanger ending top off a rather unremarkable season?
