TV Review: The River 1.4, "A Better Man"
It’s starting to dawn on me how The River may not be able to pull off an extended narrative if it’s already getting comfortable in this routine.
rating: 3
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This episode was essentially a better version of the last one where a native jungle legend comes to life to ravage the crew of the Magus only to rescind once one of the offending gringos proves himself worthy. Its starting to dawn on me how The River may not be able to pull off an extended narrative if its already getting comfortable in this routine. That being said, at least A Better Man succeeded, however barely, in all the areas the preceding episode failed miserably in. I liked how A Better Man didnt rely so heavily on the found footage devices and began and followed through with a much more subdued and relaxed pace and tone than Los Ciegos, elements that not only fit the format more appropriately, but established a more effective foundation for the episode itself. By opening quietly and calmly, framing the crew in what could have been an advertisement for Amazon tourism, the episode allowed for a more stark contrast for when the shit did hit the fan, in this case, when the crew stumbles upon the hanging corpse of a young white man on the shore of the jungle only to witness him snap back to life. Turns out this person is Jonas Beckett, Dr. Emmett Coles former camera man. We eventually come to find through previously undiscovered found footage that Jonas, being an ambitious if not disrespectful opportunist, followed a native elder into the jungle against Emmetts explicit orders to try to capture on film his sacred funeral ritual only to be cursed for doing so, damned to perpetually hang from a vine-noose in eternal pain and agonizing regret. In addition to the found footage we once more are related the supernatural significance of Jonas story through Jahel, the resident medium of all things native and spooky. Though she cant really speak it, its been implied Jahel can understand English well enough, and so I hope that before this first season ends the audience gets to see her in a light that provides her with more complexity than the equivalent of a South American goth chick. A Better Man not only had higher quality rhythm than the only other post-pilot episode thus far, but it also had a (semi)philosophical question posed, something that was entirely absent from Los Ciegos do you sacrifice your familys relative safety to try to save a stranger you believe to be innocent? Debating the worth of an innocent mans life is especially pertinent for Lincoln as he is a medical student who, before embarking on this journey, had been training to save strangers lives on a daily basis, even if its by means of pure laboratory research. This lent some decent characterization to Lincoln as well as to Jonas who, though I was happy to see survive once he sacrificed himself after he saw how far Lincoln was willing to go to defend him, ends up (re)joining the crew of the Magus in unfortunately only one of the several unbelievable character 180s The River has seen so far. It takes about two seconds for Jonas to go from telling producer Clark to fuck himself to fine in response to Clarks offer of a job (and a beer). Another question posed early in the episode was who is leading this expedition; who is the captain? Tess believes herself to fill this role though none of the crew seems to truly feel the same way despite her acting as the primary force behind the mission and not directly challenging her with the exception of Clark who describes himself as knowing people and clearly loves watching them from behind a camera lens. While this was a great question to acknowledge, it wasnt really touched on again after it was brought up. The other good points A Better Man had going for it were those that harkened back to the pilot episodes: footage of Dr. Emmett Cole, mention of his belief in The Source (of magic and life), that which Head of Security Kurt Brynildson has been tasked with investigating by an unknown benefactor unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, and the allusion to Lincoln potentially filling his fathers shoes and possibly fulfilling a prophecy regarding the end of the world. These elements are what had me most interested in The River and I hope the series doesnt bury them beneath cheap scares for too long as it would try my patience for this first (and possibly only season) which is already running a bit thin. While A Better Man had a lot more going for it than its predecessor, its clear theres a few more kinks that need to be worked out if its to show promise of fulfilling its potential before its first season is up. Since this is only its fourth episode the series does deserve more opportunities to prove itself by balancing the fantastical and narratively convenient with the realistic, but because theres only four more episodes left of its first run, the clock is definitely ticking.