Welcome to Eden Review: More Questions Than Answers Take the Thrill Out of This Thriller

Netflix’s new thriller, Welcome to Eden, or Bienvenidos a Edén, has a strong plot with a great cast to back it up, but unfortunately, anything good the first six episodes present is destroyed in a convoluted, confusing final two episodes.

Obviously banking on a Season 2, which is especially risky for Netflix at the moment, Welcome to Eden answers very few questions leading up to the end and only causes more to crop up as we finish the first season.

I Told an AI to Write a Show Based on 100 Others, Welcome to Eden Is the Result

Seemingly an original premise, Welcome to Eden starts as something unique and quickly falls into something we’ve seen before. You can make comparisons to The Wilds, LOST, and even The Hunger Games series.

What Welcome to Eden fails to do is present itself as something better than the previously named shows/films. It isn’t something that’s a must-watch, and it doesn’t break the mold of these other projects.

Instead, the series features throwaway lines about climate change, the occasional sustainability effort, and nothing truly concise about why they choose the people they choose.

The plus side of this is that even though there is far too much time underdeveloping the story, it gives the show a chance to develop the characters.

The Love Triangle Trope, Except There’s, Like, Three of Them

Though we’re unclear about the entire timeline that Welcome to Eden takes place under, it’s enough for some relationships to bloom and some to come crashing down. 

Literally.

Zoa begins a relationship with Nico almost immediately, and by the end, it’s clear that she and Bel have a connection more important. 

Zoa becomes a fully formed person over the eight episodes, as do many of our new-Eden residents, and it’s very important that they are developed and not necessarily current members of Eden. 

The goal of the show, and what I take from it, is that we should be on Zoa, Charly, and Ibon’s side. Had the show focused too much on current residents, we may not have gotten the opportunity to know our core cast.

Representation Matters, and Welcome to Eden Knows It

A delightfully surprising thing about Welcome to Eden is the number of Queer people there are. 

Media that features Queer people without there being an entire “coming out” section is some of the best media out there. 

Welcome to Eden accepts that if you’re gay, bisexual, transgender, or anything else, that’s just who you are. It’s not a hindrance or a flaw, it’s just another part of you as a person.

We get a wonderful chance to know and care about some of these characters, specifically Bel and Maika, and their identities only make the show that much stronger.

Gore? More Like Bore

Though there wasn’t any indication that Welcome to Eden would be a gory show, it has the possibility to do that, and it drops the ball. 

With how many people were killed, whether unjustly or not, this could’ve easily turned into Saw, and it didn’t. 

People are killed and threatened the same way almost every single time. At some point, as a viewer, the threat no longer makes you antsy, because you know exactly what’s coming. 

There are some shocks — Judith’s body essentially bursting into flames and Ulises drowning — but there is potential for more, and the show doesn’t take it.

You’re Confused? I’m F***ing Confused, Bro

Once the Welcome to Eden Season 1 Episode 8, “The Trip Back,” starts and you see it’s only 45 minutes, there’s a sad sinking in your chest as you realize that not every question you have will in fact be answered.

In fact, very few of them will.

Some that I was hoping would be answered are: is Isaac Astrid and Erik’s child? How is a group that’s 24/7 surveilled allowed to take daily trips to hidden parts of the island? And, what the heck is that satellite for? 

We don’t know. We never find out. 

Overall, Welcome to Eden is a show built with a wonderful, clearly dedicated cast, that suffers severely when it comes to telling a story. 

Stray Thoughts:

• The car chase on Welcome to Eden Season 1 Episode 2, “Evaluation,” is mind-boggling. How big is this island, exactly, that they can do that undetected?
• Gabi deserves a Pulitzer Prize. She discovers what is going on and where Zoa was before even the private investigator. 
• Things happening on the island that nobody knows about, (death to Astrid, people using others’ badges) really falls apart when they try to emphasize how connected Maika is to the network of cameras around the island.

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What did you think of this episode of Welcome to Eden? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Welcome to Eden Season 1 is available on Netflix. 

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