‘Wilderness’ Recap: ‘Like Mother, Like Daughter’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Claire Rushbrook as Caryl in Episode 105 of ‘Wilderness’ – ‘Like Mother, Like Daughter’. (Photo Courtesy of Kailey Schwerman/Prime Video.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Wilderness’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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We genuinely like to believe that we can keep incredible secrets from everyone in this life, and understandably so. After all, we know those close to us, and we know what makes them tick and what brings them comfort and quells their curiosity. So, if by chance we need to conceal, we think we can make that happen. But alas, it doesn’t take long for us to learn, that understanding goes both ways, and that means our loved ones can see through our tricks and they will want to know why we’re being different and what we might be hiding and that can lead… to some tough and heartbreaking moments as evidenced by the next episode of Wilderness on Prime Video.

For ‘Like Mother, Like Daughter’ saw Caryl settle into family life with her daughter and son-in-law, despite just showing up unannounced and well, she was here for one reason and one reason alone. She knew something was wrong with Liv, and she knew it had something to do with Will. But Liv of course, put on the show and made great efforts to keep any affair a secret and any troubles a secret. Which for a time… worked. Since mom seemingly believed what her daughter had to say and really did make efforts to calmly spend time with her. But alas, mom was just biding her time, looking for little things before springing traps and making efforts to find out exactly what Will did to upset the balance.

In fact, she was so hellbent on finding out the truth, she sent Liv and Will out for a nice dinner, so she could raid the apartment and find evidence that Will was in fact, a shady and gross husband, and she did… and that brought about… quite the battle between mother and daughter. Wherein old truths and new truths were revealed, and we quickly learned that the women in Liv’s family have dealt with infidelity often in their lives, and it was the source of contention and division between mother and daughter, and Caryl’s decision to do this… brought forth a new void. One that Caryl tried to seal by threatening to go to the cops with photos she found of Cara unless Liv came home and left Will behind and well… that brought about… a need to tell the real truth. 

Because there was no more hiding the truth from one another… they both knew that lies were being kept, dangerous ones that would escalate and cause harm. But while it was fascinating to see the process work and be reminded of how we cannot hide truth from family, Liv’s actions to begin with, brought about consequences in this tale. For Garth was of course in jail, for some time in fact as the police tried to garner a confession out of him. But eventually the lack of evidence set him free, and the lack of support from Will and Liv, prompted him to do something awful. For while Liv was confronting Will about those photos she snagged from her mother in the end, who were of someone else he slept with, Garth came in and well… tried to kill everyone. Because he snapped in essence, and wanted closure through them, and forced Liv to defend herself, putting her down a darker path.

One that she will now have to answer to since there’s no hiding what she’s done. Which should bring forth, a powerful conclusion to this story. Wherein Liv has to figure out how to navigate her life with all of this darkness hanging over her head… if she can for that matter. For change will never come to Will’s heart, and now she has two deaths on her hands and that might be too much to recover from. And all of that came forth via a fascinating episode, one that also hammered home that we cannot escape from what we’ve done no matter how hard we try, and truly, it will be fascinating to see how this all comes to a close, now that the past and one poor decision has brought Liv’s world tumbling to the ground. Until next time.

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