“Wilderness” is a pulpy drama full of revenge, infidelity, and murder.
The six-episode Prime Video thriller, now streaming, relies on a novel by B.E. Jones and follows British couple Liv (Jenna Coleman) and Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who embark on a road trip through the American West including Las Vegas and the deserts and canyons of Arizona.
The opening scene is a close-up of a black widow spider, just before it’s crushed by Liv and Will, driving a powder-blue convertible.
“In the event you’d have seen us that day, you’d have hated us,” Liv says in a voiceover. “This perfect comfortable couple. Charming husband, loving wife, everyone fulfilling their roles…” which sets the tone for a story where nothing is because it seems, on the surface.
![Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Will Taylor and Jenna Coleman as Liv Taylor during their vacation taking a selfie by a desert canyon.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039625101.jpg?w=1024)
![Jenna Coleman wearing a backpack, smiling.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039626064.jpg?w=1024)
This vacation is a trip that Liv has all the time desired to go on, and Will is finally taking her as a method to make amends after she discovers that he cheated on her with a colleague.
Liv, nevertheless, has a different goal in mind, and begins considering of how that their trip could turn out to be fatal for Will … while seeming to be an accident.
Her vengeance plans turn out to be more complicated after they run into Will’s affair partner, Cara (Ashley Benson), and her clueless boyfriend, Garth (Eric Balfour), while they’re climbing in Yosemite National Park.
![Liv (Jenna Coleman) wearing sunglasses smirking.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039625100.jpg?w=1024)
![Oliver Jackson-Cohen wearing a backpack standing outside.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039625102.jpg?w=1024)
The forged is nice, especially Jackson-Cohen, who’s in his element playing yet one more man who oscillates between being charming, tormented and sleazy. He’s played shades of comparable characters in “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Surface,” and even told The Post, “I appear to be a go-to guy for toxic men.”
Coleman simmers with quiet rage that occasionally bursts out, while Benson and Balfour make for solid supporting players.
Coleman also supplies occasional voiceover, sardonically stating things like, “It seems the entire forgiveness shtick, being the higher person… well … type of stuck within the craw.”
![Cara (Ashley Benson) standing by a tree looking worried.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039625107.jpg?w=1024)
![Ashley Benson as Cara, Eric Balfour as Garth, Jenna Coleman as Liv Taylor, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Will Taylor hiking together.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039625106.jpg?w=1024)
![Eric Balfour standing outside by a tree.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039626065.jpg?w=1024)
The tone of the show alternates between being a moody relationship drama about a fractured marriage filled with betrayal and lies and veering into pulpy territory, with occasional bouts of sudden violence and murder.
The theme song, Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do,” suits the show, but in addition makes it feel more suited to a teen drama on Freeform or The CW (and feels a bit awkward for characters of their 30s).
“Wilderness” is slick and stylish and has clear aspirations to be akin to “Gone Girl” — however it’s more conventional or, possibly, it’s just a tad predictable and rides the wave of stories attempting to emulate that movie.
![Jenna Coleman standing by a canyon.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039626063.jpg?w=1024)
![Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Liv (Jenna Coleman) hugging and smiling.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039625103.jpg?w=1024)
![Will (Oliver Jackson Cohen) and his affair partner, Cara (Ashley Benson) looking at each other crouching over a log in the woods.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000039625105.jpg?w=1024)
There are twists and turns because it unfolds, but among the story beats are overly obvious.
As an illustration, when Liv discovers the extent of Will’s infidelity, she conveniently stumbles on a sex tape of him with Cara, stating his intentions to depart Liv, type of just like the protagonist in a detective story stumbling on a folder neatly labeled, “Here is the top-secret conspiracy that you simply’re attempting to uncover!”
Nevertheless, despite its faults, there’s a lot to love here in an entertaining drama about infidelity, revenge and a road trip gone awry.