Infidelity and revenge, the disappointing cocktail of this series which looked promising

Long lagging behind Netflix, Prime Video now offers more and more series, and there is something for everyone! Whether you are a fan of fantasy (The Wheel of Time, The Rings of Power), romantic comedies (The summer I became pretty), drama that leaves traces (Wild Flowers) or suspense (Discovered), you will surely find what you need on Amazon’s streaming platform. On this Friday, September 15, several new products are arriving. If we won’t miss the French series Killer Coaster with Alexandra Lamy, Audrey Lamy and Chloé Jouannet, another original production intrigued us, with its trailer against the backdrop of Taylor Swift and its attractive casting. So, the series Wilderness adapted from the novel by BE Jones and available now in full, is it a success?

Wilderness : what is the new Prime Video series about?

Olivia and Will have everything to be happy. These two British people are living the perfect love and have just gotten married when Will receives an attractive offer for his job: to move to New York. Liv, a journalist, decides to leave everything to follow him. Just when everything seems to be going well, she makes a discovery that will change everything: Will is cheating on her. The latter promises her that it is only a mistake, but the young woman will go from bad surprise to bad surprise. Will then offers her an unforgettable trip to discover the United States to consolidate their relationship. A journey into the great outdoors, the perfect opportunity for a small accident…

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Wilderness

Faced with the revelation of a deception, everyone has two options: burst into tears and fall into depression or fly into a rage. For the character of Liv (Jenna Coleman) in Wilderness, it is clearly the second option that takes over when she discovers that her husband Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is lying to her and has cheated on her with the young and pretty Cara (Ashley Benson). So she decides to do what absolutely should not be done: kill her other half. A reaction that is not necessarily very logical, but justified in the series by his family situation (his mother, deceived by his father, was never able to forget and still lives through him). During a trip, she thinks she has found the perfect plan… which will quickly go up in smoke. Because the famous Cara and her companion Garth (Eric Balfour) invite themselves during a stopover on what was supposed to be her honeymoon. In its first episodes, Wilderness promises us a story between desires and revenge, with death as the ultimate goal. The end of episode 1 seems to sum this up perfectly. “We are voyeurs. We want blood (…) and a glimpse into the thoughts of the seriously ill man who planned everything. I imagine that in this case, this very sick person is me“, blurts Liv through Jenna Coleman’s voice-over, cold as that of an evil manipulator and proud of it.

Wilderness : a series that does not deliver on its promises

A great promise… unfortunately not kept. Because very quickly (from the third episode, half the series), Liv is overwhelmed by her actions. A descent into hell follows, where she becomes a victim of circumstances rather than the main instigator. She must then let herself be carried by the various obstacles she faces, trying to keep her head above water and the handcuffs away from her wrists. While it begins in the wilderness (hence the title, “wilderness” meaning “wild region”), the series seems to lose itself completely when the plot refocuses on New York. Some subplots are even downright useless, while the main one flounders. While we had great hope after the first two episodes, Wilderness therefore ends up being a more than classic thriller.

Even if she seems to lose her point – and her interest – along the way, Wilderness can at least count on the immense talent of Jenna Coleman. The British woman revealed in Doctor Who and seen in Victoria had already amazed viewers in the series The Cry, where she played a mother whose baby disappears. Sometimes enraged, sometimes devastated, she once again delivers a quality performance and proves that she has not finished impressing us. We expected nothing less from her! For his part, Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House) is intended to be threatening, despite numerous scenes where his character plays the victim. The chemistry between them is obvious and constitutes one of the attractions of this series which seems to have forgotten its history along the way.