Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Untamed’ follows the twists and turns of the investigation of a woman who falls to her death from the summit of El Capitan in the Yosemite National Park. The responsibility of solving the case falls on Kyle Turner, a National Park Service officer, who is deeply attached to the forest, but not just because he loves nature. While solving the murder case, he also grapples with personal stuff that always keeps him on the edge. The season ends with a twist that forces Kyle to change his perspective on a lot of things. However, the resolution also means that the show will not be returning for another season. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Untamed was Conceived as a Limited Series
‘Untamed’ is created by Mark L. Smith and his daughter, Elle Smith, who came up with the idea for the show after reading about the federal officers who work for the National Park Service. Before this, they did not know about this job and were fascinated by the fact that it mixed the job of a park ranger with that of an FBI agent. This led them to come up with the character of Kyle Turner, who would look into a murder that happens in a national park. Much like Kyle, the national park in itself is a character as it presents all sorts of challenges to the protagonist and offers many twists and turns in his investigation.
At the end of the show, the case is resolved, and Kyle is fired from his job, which means that he is open to a new chapter of his life. This prompts him to finally leave the park and move to some other part of the state or the country. In a way, the second season could follow Kyle’s journey as he tries to turn a new leaf, but that was never the intent of the story. The creators approached the show as a story that comes full circle in the end, providing a satisfactory resolution to the characters, who go through a significant arc in the course of six episodes.
The fact that the show does not leave any loose ends to be followed up for the next season shows that Mark and Elle Smith never intended to continue the story in the next season. There could have been the possibility of following a new story, a new case in the next season. However, for such cases, Netflix likes to keep its options open. Because they don’t mean to create a second season for ‘Untamed,’ it has been tagged as a “limited series” on the streaming service, which confirms that this is the last we have seen of Kyle Turner.
Untamed’s Finale Leaves the Characters on a Hopeful Note
One of the most frustrating things to happen in the case of TV shows is if a season ends on an unresolved note for the characters, and there is no follow-up season to give a proper ending to them. Fortunately, no such thing happens in ‘Untamed.’ Because the show was always supposed to be a character-driven story, the creators focused heavily on ensuring that the characters find a resolution to their conflicts by the end of the season, apart from solving the murder mystery. In the case of Kyle, this resolution comes in the form of moving on.
At the beginning of the story, we find him still grieving his son and pining for his ex-wife, Jill, with whom he is still deeply connected. He is in such a bad place that he is waiting for the right time to kill himself. By the end of the season, however, he finds his will to live again, or at least, he loses his will to die, for the time being. Having solved the mystery of Lucy Cook’s murder, he bids farewell to his son and moves out of the park for good. This is in radical contrast to how we see him at the beginning, and gives a deserved ending to his character.
In the same vein, Jill also processes her grief, especially after reaching such a low point where she tries to kill herself by downing more than a few pills. She comes clean to Scott about getting Sean Sanderson killed by Shane for killing Caleb, and when she meets Kyle, she promises him that she is going to be fine. This shows that Scott has accepted her, and he is ready to take care of her if she takes care of herself. Another marked difference appears in Naya Vasquez’s character. Initially, she is a rookie who is still wary of the forest and doesn’t know how to navigate her way through it. She is awkward on the horse and lands herself in life-threatening situations.
Ultimately, she is more confident on the horse and has come to understand and love the park much more. Even Kyle says that her training his complete, and sure enough, the final scene has her riding the horse, traversing the park with ease. This means that even though Kyle is gone now, Naya has learned enough to take care of herself. Moreover, she has also proven herself to be a capable investigator, which means that the next time something bad happens in the park, she will, perhaps, be the best person to handle the case. The park is in good hands now.
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