Welcome to Eden Review: Amaia Aberasturi Series Doesn’t Reach Any Crescendos

Welcome to Eden (Bienvenidos a Edén) is a Spanish TV series created by Joaquín Górriz and Guillermo López Sanchez and stars Amaia Aberasturi, Tomy Aguilera, and Diego Garisa, alongside other cast members. The series has 8 episodes, around with a runtime of around 40 minutes.

Netflix describes the series as:

A group of young adults attend a party on a remote island, but the tempting paradise they find waiting for them holds dangerous secrets and entrapments.

– Welcome to Eden review does not contain spoilers –

Exclusive parties on the beach remind me of Fyre Festival which is always a great thing because we all know how intense those documentaries were. Welcome to Eden starts on not-so-great terms itself when Zoa and a handful of other social media influencer teens are contacted by a random number asking whether they are happy. Because, if they aren’t, they are going to go to this cool party at a random island. Oh, and they are not gonna have their cell phones.

It’s a recipe for disaster. I don’t even have to know what comes next – this is either a well-thought-out organ harvesting ring or a cult. It just cannot be anything else. It also amazes me how the series, from the first moment, just shows these teens as party-obsessed youngsters who care about nothing and no one. They are also extremely one-dimensional, thinking only about drugs, booze, sex and partying.

It’s actually very sad. In spite of the premise and the way the series takes itself so seriously, it has created an array of characters with absolutely no depth. I don’t know why we are introduced to Zoa and given the impression that she’s something more than average when she literally abandons her minor sister and runs off to an island. It’s so disappointing.

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The thriller series also resembles two other recent pieces of media – Midsommar and Nine Perfect Strangers. The series tries its level best to tap into the culture and souls of its younger audiences but isn’t able to do much besides giving us some thrilling moments, some good-looking characters and a whole host of party songs. Thus, when something devastating happens, we don’t really care much about it since we don’t care about the characters or the progression of the story.

Everything about Welcome to Eve feels forced and surface-level. The series tries its best to create an atmosphere that feels claustrophobic but, unfortunately, it does not do that. Well into the story, the series drones on and on about what the influencers can do on the island with these weird cult people. It creates no tension, no feeling of dread or discomfort. You know these people are not going to leave the island and they’re too naïve to see it.

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Eventually, when they do finally learn what’s going on, the series doesn’t pick up the pace much either. It’s so weird – you watch 8 episodes of a thriller without much, if any, thrills. Things happen as they are expected to without any twists and turns. The cult angle, too, is a bit too much. Honestly, they push the agenda into your head in such a manner that you feel uncomfortable at how the series has no subtlety whatsoever. Because it’s so in-your-face, it also results in the series having no thrill.

Summing up: Welcome to Eden

Welcome to Eden tries to be a lot of different things but fails at most of them. It’s not thrilling for the most part and the characters are extremely dull for you to care. Additionally, the storyline is way too similar for you to not know what’s coming next which results in a show that is extremely underwhelming.

Welcome to Eden is streaming on Netflix.

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