This article contains spoilers for Wilderness episode 1.
Wilderness has arrived on Prime Video, and if the first episode is anything to go by, we are in for quite a ride!
The revenge thriller, starring Jenna Coleman and Oliver Jackson-Cohen and based on the novel Wilderness by B. E. Jones, follows Liv and Will, a British couple who have left behind their life in the UK to enjoy a glamorous existence in New York.
But not long after they have arrived in the Big Apple their lives unravel when Liv discovers Will has been unfaithful... and soon their marriage is tangled up in a web of lies and deceit that push Liv to the brink as her sadness turns to fury.
Here's what happened in Wilderness episode 1...
A trip of a lifetime
The episode opens with Liv and Will on an epic trip to The Grand Canyon and America’s national parks, and if you didn't already know what the show was about, you could be fooled into thinking the pair look loved up and happily married. As Liv's voiceover states "If you'd have seen us that day, you'd have hated us. This perfect, happy couple, charming husband, loving wife, everyone fulfilling their roles."
However, it soon becomes apparent that their lives are far from perfect as we see flashbacks to Liv's tricky upbringing over the years, until she met Will and her troubled life was given a silver lining. But we all know that this happy-ever-after isn't going to last for long.
Christmas bombshell
The episode then flashes back to nine months earlier when Liv and Will are moving into an amazing apartment in New York and attending glamorous work events at the hotel where Will's new job is based. The pair look happy as they settle into life in NYC, Will is working hard and as Liv had to give up her job as a journalist because of Will's US visa, she's now working on the novel that she's always wanted to write.
Soon it's Christmas Eve and while waiting for her husband to get back from his latest work trip, a happy Liv is turning their apartment into a winter wonderland and even manages to field a video call from her estranged mother, who clearly is bitter about Liv leaving her all alone in the UK.
But soon Christmas festivities are the last thing on Liv's mind when she sees a mysterious message appear on Will's phone shortly after he gets home. Although the sender pops up on Will's phone as his friend, Sol, it is clear from the racy message that it is most definitely not from one of his mates.
After the initial shock, Liv wastes no time in confronting Will about the message, and although at first, he tries to turn things around on his wife by accusing her of snooping on his phone, he realizes that he's fighting a losing battle and claims it is one of the women at work winding him up.
But, of course, Liv can see through his lies and points out that if it is just an innocent game, why was the woman in Will's phone under a false name? Soon Will admits it was 'one night, one I wish had never happened' and as the sickening reality hits Liv that her beloved Will has been unfaithful, she throws him out of the house.
Festive heartache
Liv wakes up alone on Christmas morning and spends the day drinking, burning Will's expensive suits, and watching their wedding video on loop. However, just when she hits rock bottom, a disheveled Will arrives and begs to be let in. At first, Liv refuses, until he slips an envelope under the front door that contains tickets for a road trip around the US, something that it turns out Liv has wanted to do since she was a child.
Soon Liv lets Will back in, and although she struggles to look him in the eye as he begs for forgiveness, she eventually agrees to go on the 'make or break' trip with him.
Double whammy
We then catch up with Liv three weeks before they are due to go on their trip, and although Will's infidelity is still hanging over her, it is clear that Liv is trying to put it aside and focus on their holiday.
But as she is trying to book white water rafting for them, Liv realizes she needs a lifesaving certificate and logs into Will's laptop to find his. After a few failed log-ins, Liv gets into Will's computer and emails his certificate to herself to pass onto the rafting company. However another chain of emails catch her eye, they are all from someone called C. Parker and once again it is very clear these are not work emails.
Liv is devastated at the realization that Will never stopped seeing the woman he cheated on her with, and that the pair have continued to see one another for the last nine months. Not only that, but she also finds a sex tape of them together in one of the emails, in which Will promises the other woman that he will leave his wife.
As she struggles to get her head around Will's new deceit, he arrives home and Liv pretends that she's fine as he gives her an infinity necklace, telling her how much he loves her.
Revenge in mind
The last part of the episode catches up with Will and Liv on their road trip. Liv has clearly kept the fact she knows Will never ended his affair to herself and instead is quietly plotting the ultimate revenge.
She goes through various scenarios about how she could kill her husband and make it look like an accident... deciding that a blow to the head with a rock would be too messy, as would letting a mountain bear maul him to death and a car crash would spell the end of her, as well as Will.
There is a moment when we think she is about to finish Will off in the first episode when she almost shoves him off the edge of a cliff, only for another tourist to interrupt her murderous moment.
In the end, Liv takes a knife to Will's safety harness when they are white water rafting and waits for the moment that her husband is going to topple out of the fast-moving boat and into the rocky water below.
However, just as Will falls and struggles, Liv has a sudden change of heart and pulls him out of the choppy water, only to be flung into the river herself. Luckily Will, who clearly has no idea his wife is trying to kill him, jumps back into the water and rescues Liv.
The couple celebrate still being alive at dinner in their lodge that evening, and soon they're drunk and kissing - with Liv clearly playing the long game with her cheating husband. But just as they're about to sleep together, the hotel room phone rings and Will claims it is work. He heads to reception and it is clearly his other woman, Cara, and he tells her that he misses her and hasn't been in touch because he can't get away from Liv. Little does he know, Liv's followed him and has heard everything.
Grieving widow?
The episode ends with Liv standing over a freshly dug grave, wearing funeral clothes, suggesting someone has died. Does this mean she is successful in killing off Will? Only time will tell...
All six episodes of Wilderness are available to stream worldwide on Prime Video now.
