Wilderness – Season 1 Episode 3 “Repent At Leisure” Recap & Review

Repent At Leisure

In Wilderness episode 3, we are given a glimpse of the past. We see Will preparing to ask Caryl for Liv’s hand in marriage. He puts in a lot of time and effort, but Liv manages to ruin his surprise proposal to her.

In the present timeline, Liv wakes up to the realisation that she has killed Will. Following this, she makes an effort to erase any traces that would point to her as the killer of her partner. In addition, she works out an entire speech outlining what she will say. Will knocks on the door not long after. Initially, Liv thinks it’s a figment of her imagination. However, it seems like he is still alive.

Will then tells Liv he’s sorry for his actions the night before. He justifies his behaviour by saying he was drunk. Following this, Liv thinks to herself that she was probably too drunk to realise that she was imagining killing Will. They find out that Cara has vanished after they check out of the hotel.

Liv also finds out that the night before, Cara wore Will’s red sweater. She pieces it all together and understands that she pushed Cara over the edge of the waterfall, not Will. A search crew soon arrives and begins their search for Cara. While pretending to look for Cara, Liv finds a chain on the ground and she quickly keeps it in her purse, indicating that it belongs to her.

A few hours later, the search group discovers a seriously wounded Cara. In light of this, she is taken to the hospital immediately. Will, Liv, and Garth then leave for the hospital together. Cara briefly regains consciousness in the hospital. She tells Garth that she has no recollection of the events of the previous night. Soon after, Cara passes away.

The cops appear to be looking into the situation. In the meantime, Liv feels terrible about what she has done. While still in tears, she calls her mother. Caryl gives her sound advice, urging her to face the truth, not knowing that her daughter killed someone. Shortly after, Will approaches Liv and breaks the news that he had an affair with Cara. Following this, Will begs Liv to be his alibi and she does when the police question her.

The Episode Review

Wilderness episode 3 resolves the mystery from the previous episode’s cliffhanger. It turns out that Liv killed Cara instead of her intended target, Will. He also comes clean about his extramarital affair in this episode. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Will and Liv’s marriage is in shambles.

The show is making an effort to create an air of mystery. Time and time again, though, we are able to predict the upcoming reveal. This occurs because the show clumsily establishes its plot and fails to effectively build suspense.

Additionally, none of the characters have a strong character arc in the show, particularly Will. The show presents him as a one-dimensional caricature who is merely a cheating spouse with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

It doesn’t help that Liv seems to hold nothing against Cara compared to the fury she has for Will. While her rage towards Will is justified, her leniency towards Cara isn’t. Cara had an affair with Liv’s husband despite being aware of the fact that he’s married. Both she and he deserve equal blame. This is another evidence that the drama’s character motivations are poorly written.