Television series

Wilderness

Name: Wilderness
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: 2023
Cast: Jenna Coleman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ashley Benson, Claire Rushbrook, Talia Balsam

Other titles called Wilderness: the 2006 film.

Wilderness is a revenge thriller about a betrayed wife who agrees to a reconciliation road trip across America's national parks—then uses the isolation to systematically destroy her cheating husband. It's tense, darkly funny, and utterly gripping: a slow-burn escalation where the landscape becomes a weapon and civility fractures under the weight of fury. Perfect for anyone who wants to watch a woman methodically dismantle her marriage instead of salvaging it.

TVMaze rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy slow-burn marriage stories where the pleasure lies in watching a wronged partner's cool, calculated plan take shape, and you like a thriller that stays close to its characters.

Skip it if you want a warm, lighter holiday romance; this is dark, tense and steadily uncomfortable, with little relief across its six episodes.

What it asks of you: Six episodes of roughly 52 minutes each, it moves in a measured, unhurried way and wants you to sit with the couple's unease rather than skim past it.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

You2018

If you want obsessive psychology wrapped in thriller pacing, this nails it. A protagonist whose internal monologue justifies terrible choices, and you're horrified and compelled at once. The same claustrophobic intimacy between damaged people.

But It's been everywhere, the cultural moment has passed, and the later seasons lose momentum. Also genuinely bleak in ways that don't always earn it.

The Fall2013

Gillian Anderson versus a serial killer, Belfast as a character, and a partnership that crackles with tension and intelligence. Psychological cat-and-mouse that treats both players seriously. Atmospheric and morally complicated without losing grip.

But The pacing can drag when it dwells on procedural detail. By season two it's circling, and the ending feels abrupt.

Killing Eve2018

Eve hunts a psychopath across continents in a game of escalating cat-and-mouse. Stylish, darkly comic, full of invention. The relationship between hunter and hunted becomes the real plot. Villanelle is electrifying.

But The later seasons get tangled in their own mythology. Fandom expectations strangled the creative freedom. The finale divides people sharply.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Wilderness

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Thelma & Louise1991

Both are about women who choose to burn their lives down rather than endure. Both understand that escape and destruction can be the same impulse. The road becomes a place where you finally tell the truth.

Two women's weekend trip becomes a run from the law after a violent act. What separates it from revenge fantasy is how it treats their agency and mortality as equally real. It's exhilarating and tragic at once—the spiritual ancestor of what Wilderness is doing.

But The violence against women is present and intentional. Some viewers find the ending nihilistic rather than liberating. It's a film about consequences, not catharsis.

Fatal Attraction1987

The original obsession thriller, still airless and precise. Michael Douglas and Glenn Close locked in a spiral of escalation over a weekend. It understands how attraction and rage can be the same impulse. Pure craft.

But It's dated in its attitudes about women and infidelity. The famous ending is pulpy in a way that undercuts the earlier tension. Seen it all referenced to death.

The Traitors2022

A reality competition where contestants vote each other out, but some are secretly planted 'traitors.' It becomes psychological warfare in real time. Watching trust collapse and paranoia spread is genuinely addictive. The Dutch original is excellent.

But You need to commit to multiple hours. The format is repetitive once you see how it works. Not everyone clicks with reality TV stakes.

Sharp Objects2018

Jean-Marc Vallée directs a limited series about a journalist returning to her hometown to cover murders. Amy Adams is phenomenal. It's gorgeously shot and psychologically intricate, with a twist that recontextualizes everything you've watched.

But It's slow and demands attention. The horror is internal, so if you want spectacle you'll be frustrated. The ending is devastating in ways some find gratuitous.

Bodyguard2018

A British political thriller where a war hero becomes a protection officer for a controversial politician. Six episodes of pure tension. The twist in episode four resets the entire show. Efficient, clever, and it knows when to end.

But The final twist divides viewers sharply—some find it trite. Once you know where it goes, rewatching loses power. The politics can feel schematic.

A Separation2011

Both map the geography of a failed marriage through the accumulation of small cruelties. Both understand that trying to communicate across the gulf of betrayal only makes it wider. Both end in a state of unresolved damage.

An Iranian couple divorces, and their conflict spreads like a stain through family and law. Asghar Farhadi creates unbearable tension from ordinary people making reasonable choices that collide. It's about how private betrayal becomes public ruin, shot in real time.

But It's formally austere and doesn't offer emotional catharsis. You will leave the theater angry at everyone. Subtitles and no comfort.

Sick Girl2007

Like Wilderness, it takes the structure of romantic love and reveals the predator inside it. Both understand that isolation—geographic in one film, emotional in the other—is what allows cruelty to metastasize. Both are unflinching about how seduction and control are adjacent.

A Brazilian film about two women in a relationship, one wealthy and beautiful, one poor and overlooked. Their love turns into co-dependency, then control, then something unrecognizable. It's sensual and horrifying by turns. Absolutely original in how it depicts intimacy as a cage.

But It's sexually explicit and contains graphic violence. The power dynamics are queasy and deliberately so. Not interested in reassuring you that love exists. You might feel complicit watching it.