Welcome To Eden – Season 1 Episode 1 “The Trip of Your Life” Recap & Review

The Trip of Your Life

Episode 1 of Welcome to Eden begins on a desert island, with a woman called Zoa desperate to find her friend Judith. She stumbles down onto the beach where she finds an empty bottle reading “Eden” on the side. As she does, we experience a big flashback.

Specifically, we jump back 2 days earlier. In Barcelona, Zoa receives a strange message from someone asking if she’s happy. Whoever it is, they promise to do just that. They promote a strange idyllic place called Eden, and even send over a promotion video.

The narrator promises an exclusive party and a “new flavour”. Oh god, it’s the Fyre Festival all over again! Anyway, the assistant overseeing this manages to convince Zoa to attend, while big boss Astrid oversees all this and seems satisfied by what’s transpiring.

Zoa is joined by Judith and Aldo who have both signed a contract. The gang are joined by numerous other men and women too, as they arrive at the scheduled hotspot. Classical music (Chopin) is playing, there are masked people overseeing this and a bus blasting EDM has yet more drinks available.

Making it to the coast, the group are told to hand over their phones and proceed onto a boat. Giving up their phones isn’t exactly received well, especially by influencer Africa, who happens to have millions of fans who want to know what she’s up to.

Judith is also refused entry, apparently for breaching her contract. However, when Zoa claims she won’t go either, they make an exception.

The partygoers all make it to the island, where Astrid watches the boat come in with glee. Zoa and the others begin drinking, while Africa brandishes a spare phone from her knee-high boots.

As day turns to night, a hologram of Astrid appears on the water. Now, some of those have an illuminated wristband, the select few hand-picked by Astrid. They’re allowed to drink special Blue Eden bottles. No word on exactly what’s inside there though!

There’s a fair amount of drama that ensues after this though. Ibon meets a woman named Alma while Judith hooks up with a guy called Orson. After, Judith stumbles upon the bartender, Fern, being drowned by several workers at the party. Judith brings her concerns to Orson but he’s having none of it.

So what’s the purpose of this party and the Blue Eden? Well, it’s not wholly clear right now but but what does seem likely is that there are 5 candidates out of these 100 partygoers who Astrid wants to keep on the island.

Those are Zoa, Ibon, Aldo, Charly and Africa. They each need a family and Astrid believes they can join theirs, given they’re the easiest to influence.

After a boozy night of drinking, we catch us up to the moments from the beginning of episode 1. Zoa calls out for help, but it would appear all the partygoers are gone minus the five candidates we saw Astrid hand-pick.

A drone shows up and the five decide to follow it. Across the lush paradise, the group make it to a strange compound.

Whilst there, a whole bunch of men and women happen to stand before them, watching as they arrive. This looks to be some sort of Cult, given they’re all wearing similar outfits. Astrid steps up and welcomes them to Eden.

The Episode Review

The first episode of Welcome to Eden essentially welcomes the five main characters onto Eden. However, the only one we’ve actually got to know in any context right now is Zoa, although I’m sure that will change as the season progresses.

There are definite influences for both Squid Game and Nine Perfect Strangers here, with the show managing to add an eerie and suspenseful gloss over the whole affair too.

It’s still early days of course, and this one could slow down or add a lot of contrivances in the future. For now though, there’s certainly enough to pique the interest with this one.