Day Twelve
Episode 6 of The Wilds begins with Gretchen examining the body of Jeanette from the back of the car as she starts to lose control. Her social worker arrives to greet her but it’s clear she’s being kept in overnight for now. Back on the island, we learn the kids have carved up some basic rules and tasks. Ever since Jeanette’s body went missing though, Leah has been on edge and paranoid. Nora comes and sits with her, comforting the girl and encouraging Leah to leave a diary to express her feelings. As she does, thoughts stray back to Jeffrey again and the time she had with her first love before lying about her age. In further flashbacks, we see Leah hanging out with her schoolfriend Ian who thanks her for taking the time to do so. They’re out camping together and Ian suggests they drink “bottom shelf vodka.” After a heady night of boozing, the pair wind up kissing together in his tent. However, Leah starts crying while they do, apologizing for being messed up. Ian is angry with what happened between her and Jeffrey, taking out his frustrations verbally on Jeff. Leah takes offence to this though and walks away, leaving Ian at the tent. The next day Ian and Leah speak at school. Ian was apparently the one to send the birth certificate to Jeff but he denies this outright. Leah wants him to call Jeffrey and admit the truth but he refuses to do so, simply telling her that he likes her and didn’t want the 30 year old taking advantage of her. Back on the island, Rachel returns with a bag full of mussels. The girls all sit around and start making dirty jokes but Shelby takes offence with this. Toni begins laying into her as Shelby calmly explains that her beliefs lead her to think homosexuality is wrong. “Am I not allowed to have my own beliefs?” “Not those ones.” Dot spits back, as Shelby leaves. This clearly rubs the entire island up the wrong way but on the back of eating mussels, all the girls begin vomiting and convulsing on the floor. Shelby is the only one who doesn’t given she didn’t eat any of the mussels. The workers at the office phone Gretchen and let her know about the vomiting and what they’re facing. Gretchen isn’t allowed to discharge from hospital though. She’s determined to get back to the office, despite being told the kids have all the tools they need there to survive, including medicine to help them with vomiting. Dot tasks Leah with getting the black bag from the woods. Only, she winds up leaving it behind when Leah spots Shelby in the distance wandering around. Leah thinks she has a phone and follows in pursuit. Unfortunately Leah loses track of time and spins out of control. Eventually she stumbles back to find the bag – and the medicine – strewn across the ground. Eventually she brings the bag back to the beach where Shelby does her best to help Toni and give her the pills needed to help her stomach problems. Unfortunately there;’s very little of the medicine they actually need given Leah spilled the bag contents on the floor. Toni is in a bad way and eventually allows Shelby to help give her a pill after being too proud to let the girl help save her life. On the back of this, Martha does a “consciousness” check and sits with Fatin to talk about the situation. Eventually she decides to leave the group to cool off, starting to feel sweaty. Only, she stumbles around aimlessly and eventually collapses on the ground. With things looking bleak, Leah admits that she accidentally dropped the bag of medicine in the woods. Dot is clearly annoyed at her for keeping this from everyone and eventually heads off into the forest with her to find where she dropped them. At the same time, we jump forward to see moments with Daniel Faber interviewing Leah and convincing her that they’re trying to help. Leah is clearly still out of control and consumed by paranoia and anger, which Daniel clings to and looks to expose. As she begins screaming, it looks like the island has done absolutely nothing for her. On the back of this, Daniel heads back to Gretchen and reveals that they’re using these interviews to make the girls feel implicated and guilty so they don’t expose them for what they’ve done.
The Episode Review
Episode 6 changes tact slightly as we see a more episodic arc come forward. The whole situation with Shelby is an interesting one but also something that I’m sure will be explored more in a future episode. In fact, Shelby’s past is probably the one element of this that’s the most intriguing given the mystery bears absolutely no suspense or tension attached to any of it. The interviews are a double-edged sword too. For some, it shows how the girls have changed and become a force for good to evaluate their changed circumstances. For others – like Leah – it’s done absolutely nothing and hasn’t progressed their character arc in a meaningful way, especially given she’s still caught up over Jeffrey. Hopefully the next episode shifts perspectives to a different character we haven’t already seen and as we approach the business end of the season, we’re gearing up for these girls being found and rescued from their ordeal. Whether that’ll be the end of it however, remains to be seen.
