Day Twenty-Two

**Day Twenty-Two** is the ninth episode of Season 1 of *The Wilds*, and the ninth episode overall.

## Premise

Starvation becomes a very real possibility for the weakened girls. Martha could spare them from that fate, but it would require a sacrifice she's not prepared to make. Flashbacks take us into her past, revealing the childhood trauma that's made it hard for Martha to grow up and rise to difficult challenges. Leah's paranoia about the island escalates to a fever pitch.

## Summary

The girls are hungry after depleting their rations. Dot attempts to kill a bird using Martha's bra as a slingshot but misses. They decide that they have to go looking for food. Shelby, Toni, and Martha go looking for food in the forest. Martha's goat finds her but she tries to scare it away so that the other girls don't kill it. Toni and Shelby admonish her for letting the goat flee, breaking away from Martha and leaving her to wander the woods alone while they branch off to look for food elsewhere.

A young Martha falls off her trampoline and gets hurt pretty badly. She has to go through physical therapy to learn to walk again. There, she is introduced to Doctor Ted Wolchack. He plays around with her and says that every time she dances, Martha will think of him.

In high school, Martha practices her Native jingle dance with the other high schoolers. Martha is going to join the adults in the jingle dance. Martha's mom comes into the gym to tell her that she needs to talk to her about Dr. Wolcheck. He has been accused of sexually assaulting several young girls. Martha is adamant that he didn't hurt her, but the police want her to testify.

While walking alone, after having several conversations and bonding with each other, Shelby and Toni find a lychee tree. After picking several fruits off of the tree, Shelby instigates another kiss with Toni and suggestively stares at Toni, implying that she wants to go further. After Toni asks Shelby if she's sure she's ready to do more, Shelby kisses her again, and the two start to disrobe; it is implied that they have sex.

Leah attempts to swim out to sea and drown herself, saying that Jeanette had the right idea.

Nora brings Rachel up to a cliff so she can free-dive, knowing that Rachel has now developed a fear of the ocean. Rachel is still afraid to dive, but when she sees Leah swimming out and the other girls yelling after her, Rachel dives in the water and swims to Leah.

Leah is brought back to shore. Fatin holds her limp body to comfort her. Leah begins to cry and says that she wants her mom. Fatin also begins to cry and says that she does too.

Martha finally gives in and uses a rock to smash the goat's head in. Her image flips between her face on the island and herself in her Native dress and makeup, thereby signaling that Martha has cast off a part of her from the past that always protected animals.

The girls have to help Martha carry the goat back to camp because it's too heavy for her. Shelby is the only one who knows how to skin it.

Later that night, Leah is heavily intoxicated on drugs to calm her anxiety after attempting to drown herself. She wanders away from the other girls in a daze and slowly makes her way into the forest, where she finds Nora talking into a tree, communicating with someone through it. It is revealed that contrary to prior suggestions that Dot was the other operative, the other operative is actually Nora.

## Cast

### Starring

* Sophia Ali as Fatin Jadmani
* Shannon Berry as Dot Campbell
* Jenna Clause as Martha Blackburn
* Reign Edwards as Rachel Reid
* Mia Healey as Shelby Goodkind
* Helena Howard as Nora Reid
* Erana James as Toni Shalifoe
* Sarah Pidgeon as Leah Rilke
* David Sullivan as Daniel Faber
* Troy Winbush as Dean Young
* Rachel Griffiths as Gretchen Klein

### Co-Starring

* Jacque Drew as Assistant District Attorney
* Lewis Fitz-Gerald as Dr. Ted Wolchak
* Jen Huang as Susan
* Isabella Le as Terese
* Hannah Lynch as Marissa
* Manawanui Maniapoto-Mills as Young Martha
* Michael Teh as Russell Blackburn
* Joe Witkowski as Thom

## Quotes

* Fatin, to Dot: *Not sure how stoked Martha would be to know that you’re using her cupcake bra as an animal death cannon.*
* Toni, about Shelby: *I know I'm not like, cool with her but, at this point in this place grudges are kind of... childish.*
	+ Martha: *I'm so proud of you, Toni.*
* Dot: *The smartest thing is to just do nothing.*
	+ Fatin: *So basically I'm a role model now.*
* Nora: *Question. Why doesn't Santa Claus have any children? Because he only comes once a year and it's not in your chimney.*
	+ Leah: *Wha- ew, what?*
* Fatin, to Martha: *This must be what cave women felt like when their men came home with meat. Like I am legit hot for you right now.*
* Shelby: *Do you think Martha's gonna be okay?*
	+ Toni: *I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. This place, like, makes you face your demons or something and it turns out your demons are really fucking ugly.*
	+ Shelby: *Yeah.*
	+ Toni: *No, I didn't... I didn't mean yours, I just meant, like, everybody's.*
	+ Shelby: *I know.*
* Shelby: *How bad is it?*
	+ Toni: *Not bad. I mean, looks like you got your hair cut at a salon staffed by toddlers. But, not bad.*
* Leah, crying: *I want my mom.*
	+ Fatin, also beginning to cry: *I know. Me too.*