Grade: B+
Continuing its track of improving since
”Lost Ciego”,
The River takes a huge step up in game with
”A Better Man”. In the episode not only do we get a larger reveal as to what exactly Emmett Cole was up to on his journey through the Amazon but also receive a well developed story involving more than just horror but intrigue & mystery. A large part of this is brought about by Scott Michael Foster, of
Greek fame for playing the character Cappie, who, here, plays one of the missing cameramen, Jonas Beckett.
”A Better Man” is able to bring a very compelling story to life & adds to the mythos of
The River as well as adding to the series storyline of just what exactly is going on in this part of the Amazon & what Cole is looking for.
Most of the adventure
The River has presented so far has been due to the search team going off into the Amazon & following the tracks of Cole exactly to a T. In
”A Better Man while moseying down the rive the team spots Jonas hanging from a branch appearing to be dead, & recently at that. While they debate about moving on Jonas comes to life struggling & appearing to suffocate. They quickly pull him down & Lincoln begins to treat him for multiple ailments including malaria. Meanwhile the resident link to the mystical, Jahel, believes that Jonas is paying a price & is the mythical ‘Hanging Man’ cursed to hand forever & not be granted death for his sins. As the team continues to not believe things start to go south as birds begin dropping from the sky & a swam of bugs attacks the ship. This all leads to vines trapping the ship & creating another noose for Jonas to hang from. We learn that Jonas transgressed against the natives by filming the death ritual of one of the tribes & capturing the soul of an elder all for his own gain to be the first to film the unseen act.
This causes the search party to rise up against Jonas who while on the Magus tried hiding the fact that he was the reason all these things were happening & just why they were.
”A Better Man” is able to add depth to its characters & not just to the backstory of Jonas but also to Lincoln, Emmet Cole’s son, who believes that there has to be a way to stop what is happening & that his father just did not try hard enough to save Jonas. In the end, that is what we are given, Cole being more preoccupied with finding out what the source behind all the magic in the river was. While
The River may not be rising above its horror genre it is able to add a new depth to documentary style shows & reason for found footage outside of film & just being handheld cameras. The series is also able to continually layer & move forward the series towards its ultimate goal of finding Emmet while managing & improving its layout in what is a very short series & proves this in
”A Better Man”.
