The data has made it undeniably clear that Netflix is the undisputed top dog when it comes to episodic mystery thrillers that air exclusively on streaming, with the platform having delivered no less than three such smash hits in the space of only a week.
And yet, the genre’s biggest hit hails from a direct rival, seeing as Prime Video’s Wilderness has debuted on the Top 10 in a monumental 113 countries around the world, per FlixPatrol. You can probably credit some of that success to Taylor Swift, seeing as the series weaponizes “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version)” as its theme song, especially when it only holds a 57 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating from critics.
The Haunting of Hill House and The Invisible Man‘s Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays one half of a seemingly perfect couple alongside Doctor Who veteran Jenna Coleman, but if you’ve seen even one series set in the genre then you’ll be fully aware that it won’t be long before cracks begin to appear in the idyllic facade.
In this instance, it occurs when they prepare to relocate from their small town home to New York City, capping off their first stage of domestic bliss with a road trip across the country. Once she discover he’s been having an affair, all bets are off as to which direction the narrative will pivot, even if things to somehow manage to veer between the predictable and the preposterous in the span of the same episode.
Regardless, it’s rare for Netflix to taste defeat in one of its marquee wheelhouses, so Wilderness should enjoy the spotlight while it can.
Published: Sep 17, 2023 12:07 pm