The Wilds – Season 2 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Exodus

Episode 8 of The Wilds Season 2 starts with Shelby singing in a bar. Toni is there to see her perform but it’s not her who appears in the dressing room after the performance. It’s actually Gretchen. She offers her a choice of the blue or red gummy bear. However, this surreal segment happens to be one big dream.

What do Fatin and Shelby find?

Back on the island, Fatin and Shelby team up together and, with the journal in hand, realize that these scribbles actually amount to an elaborate map of the island.

The pair head through the woods together, where Shelby notices something up in the trees and tries to reach it. While she fails, falling hard on the ground, Fatin succeeds. She manages to grab what looks to be a radio. They both decide to keep this for themselves and handle this revelation with care.

How are the girls found?

Out on the water, Leah reflects on her journey, speaking to Ben Folds who is, of course, her own psyche speaking to her. She confronts her emotions and decides to return to the group after all.

Not only Leah, but also Shelby and Fatin show up together at the hot springs. With the girls united, they’re shocked when a helicopter comes flying overhead to extract them.

What happens with the boys? How do they get off the island?

Meanwhile, the boys try to stick together, playing on the beach. However, Seth comes stumbling up to them with a peace offering… again. This time though it comes in the form of the rubber dinghy which he claims he found an hour back on the beach and it just “drifted in.”

The boys split up, with Kirin, Seth and Raf all leaving the island together. There’s some big goodbyes between them but honestly, given we haven’t had a whole lot of time to really get to know who they are it falls flat.

Out on the water, through some pretty wonky green-screen shots, Seth and Kirin come to blows again. Eventually it leads to Kirin being thrown off the boat. Seth decides to leave Kirin there but Raf has enough and turns on his buddy. As he beats Seth down repeatedly, Kirin hops aboard and points out that there’s a boat on the horizon.

What does Gretchen have planned?

Back with the kids in the present, each of them receive a letter under the door. Leah is brought to Gretchen, who admits that she’s brilliant. Gretchen how her little experiment has caused all of them to become more powerful than they were before. She also reveals that Nora is stronger and still alive. “Make your case for Martha.” Leah challenges.

When Martha is wheeled in to see her, which Leah watches on the monitors, she curses out Gretchen. The big boss laughs incredulously and pints out that Leah began as a love-fool and has grown so much. She’s giving attitude and almost had Gretchen’s number.

Does Leah have a plan?

“How do you know I haven’t?” She retaliates. Gretchen decides they should work together but Leah smiles when her phone rings, telling Gretchen she should pick up. And who is on the phone? Well, it turns out this was all part of Leah’s plan. She’s been playing the system the whole time, working to bust her way out of here. She’s been liaising with Ian to get them all released. Or so it seems.

That night, all the locks to the doors open up and the kids reconvene in an auditorium. Spotlights shine brightly on the main stage, where Gretchen looks set to show up. Only…she doesn’t.

Leah realizes something is wrong and scrambles back through the facility. In doing so, the kids notice everything has been completely destroyed. All the cameras have been trashed, documents have been shredded and the facility is completely abandoned.

How does The Wilds Season 2 end?

Gretchen actually touches down in a private jet and believes Dean is the one who screwed them over. He forces him to had home while on the plane, DJ joins Daniel Faber and Alex as they decide to enact “Phase Three.”

They’ve got a whole new plan in play and that comes from an inside group. That person? Presumably Shelby, if the way this is edited is any indication. As music begins playing through the loudspeakers on the island, the kids realize with horror they’re still in this same hell. And worse, Seth appears to be the DJ, given he’s the one who’s playing music for them.

The Episode Review

A lovely little twist at the end of The Wilds Season 2 sets everything up beautifully for a potential third season. If this is renewed though, I genuinely hope the show is at least 15 episodes long. Remember the old days of shows being 22 and 24 episodes? Yeah, The Wilds feels like it needs that because of how large its ensemble is right now.

This season has really suffered from pacing issues and with less episodes and more characters, everything essentially peters out into disappointing mediocrity. There have been a few nice moments in this but ultimately, the whole show has struggled to juggle all of its characters.

But what is Phase Three? Well, it appears this is linked to the girls and boys both working together while Seth is some sort of psychopathic ringleader observing all of them together, and the link to Gretchen and her team.

Given these guys are still on the island and the whole time this has been one big plan, it’ll be interesting to see how Ian and what’s happening off-island effects what’s happening on it. Either way though, the final episode is arguably the best, especially if you look past that pretty bad green screen on the sea!

The Wilds has been a wild ride and despite its flatlining mediocrity, remains very watchable. It all boils down to what season 3 may have in store for us.