This post contains spoilers, you have been warned…
Here’s a screencap of every shot of Nora’s notebook from the first season of The Wilds, a new Amazon Prime original. Have a closer look at her notes and drawings, all of which take on greater meaning after that late reveal. Her earlier conversation with Leah, about journaling, also seems a bit more menacing in hindsight.
Leah: Can I have a look?
Nora: It’s not too personal. Just observations and thoughts. Quotes.
Leah: Nora, this is amazing.
Nora: You could try it my way.
Leah: No, I can’t draw.
Nora: No, like, detach. No emotions, no hang-ups. Just write what you see, what you hear, what you know. It could be very Zen.
“Day Twelve” – S1E06
Seems like Nora’s definition of zen differs from mine, but then again operative is a pretty clinical term. Anyhow, while we wait for season two and hopefully more answers, including Nora’s fate, let’s look back at her recorded observations and shared communications with the Dawn of Eve people.
“Day Six” (S1E04)
The first glance we get of her notebook in episode 4 is innocuous enough, she uses it to make a sketch of the shelter her team intends to build in order to win the Takis.
“Day Twelve” (S1E06)
The next time we see the notebook is in the sixth episode where she tries to help Leah who is very clearly spiraling. But when she allows Leah to look inside all we see are some more sketches and random musings. Between her general introverted nature and willingness to hand it over, the gesture and the notebook don’t raise any suspicions, or at least they didn’t for me.
“Day Fifteen” (S1E07)
At some point Nora gets her journal back from Leah because she has it again in the following episode. That or she uses another notebook, as we learned every girl got one in their swag bag. Either way, she’s clearly added some more notes and a few doodles, but also uses it to give her sister the middle finger when Rachel starts to lay into her, so once again not a cause for alarm.
“Day Twenty-Two” (S1E09)
In the ninth episode, Nora’s journal becomes the framing device. Her notes provide the voiceover giving us and Agent Young, the so-called lead investigator, even more insight into what happened on the island. More specifically Nora sheds light on Martha’s backstory, including her pre-island trauma, and Leah’s increasingly paranoid and depressive state.
“Day Twenty-Three” (S1E10)
After the bombshell reveal at the end of episode nine, episode ten fills in some of the gaps, flashing back to the various times Nora communicated with the Dawn of Eve team via their planted cameras, cell phone, and of course her journal. (In the fifth episode we saw her burn notebook pages in an effort to keep the signal fire alive so it’s completely possible that she was able to continually cover her tracks under the guise of stoking the fire.) Presumably she found some way to destroy the evidence given the complete lack of subtlety in these entries that we were only privy to in the finale.
Got any season two theories for The Wilds? Share them in the comments below.
