The River "A Better Man" Review

The small corner of the internet devoted to television criticism has been abuzz after an article published on The AV Club. Show runners even linked to the piece on Twitter, which is how I learned about it. The article itself poses an argument about the decline of the episode. Yes, it's blowhardy and too many critics have jumped on the idea with reckless abandon, as if they're all trying to get a taste of the only fruit on a small, deserted island. Anyway, the musings on the concept of the episode are problematic, because Ryan McGee refers to this theoretical blueprint of how an episode of television should work. Critics liked to compare The Wire to a novel, and other shows have been compared to novels (mostly HBO shows).

Critics don't mention the ever-evolving form of the novel. There are pretentious English courses devoted to the study of the novel, its history, and its evolution. Heck, Vladimir Nabokov, one of the most talented writers of the 20th century, criticized Dostoevsky because of his novel structure. Dostoevsky's novels read like plays because of the emphasis on dialogue. This caused Nabokov to dismiss Dostoevsky as mediocre because of some idea of how the novel should function. The structure of the novel is as dynamic as the structure of a TV season. Of course, novels always tell a story from beginning to end, just as TV shows do (unless cancellation abruptly causes a show to leave the airwaves). So, what I'm trying to express is an idea about the true ever-changing nature of episodic TV and the novel, but it's time for me to transition into my thoughts on The River and a 'what if?' scenario for the show, and it basically relates to my off-the-cuff opinions about episodic TV and the novel.

The Twilight Zone aired decades ago. I've barely seen three episodes of the series, but I know enough to appreciate what it did on a weekly basis. The River reminds me of The Twilight Zone more than it reminds me of LOST or any of the supernaturally-charged serials that aired in the last eight years. Oren Peli wanted to make The River into a movie until Mr. Dollar Signs Steven Spielberg told him to develop the concept into a TV, which forced Peli to think of different mysteries for individual episodes. Indeed, The River's been more about stand-alone adventures than the search for Emmett Cole. The search seems like needless pretense to tell wild ass stories about a bunch of people trapped in the 'magical' and mystical Amazon in South America. If Oren originally developed The River as a movie, that means he's got about 90-110 pages of the Emmett Cole story, which amounts to two episodes of television. Of course The River will have stand-alone episodes about wacky shit in the jungle, and that's perfectly okay with me. I'd like it if the show tried to emulate The Twilight Zone. Why couldn't that formula work in the 21st century? The River wouldn't need new characters each week. The premise could've been: these people came to the Amazon looking for someone, failed, and can't escape; now, they deal with spooky tribes, ghosts, and other kinds of supernatural things, and they might escape, but it's not an active part of the show, thus The Twilight Zone formula can work.

"A Better Man" told a decent story about one of Emmett's camera men, who pissed off the Boiuna by filming a sacred funeral, and paid for it by hanging in the jungle for six months. Whoever disrupts the sanctity of the tribe is cursed and will suffer plague-like punishment until the offender apologizes. Cole left Jonas, the offending cameraman, behind because his crew was doomed. The teaser showed the vines wrapped around the Magus suddenly becoming upright, which freaked Emmett out. The current crew of the Magus found Jonas hanging, rescued him, and restored him to consciousness. Unfortunately, Jonas couldn't remember the last six months, which was bullshit. Jonas definitely remembered, but his memory would've damned him to a fate that happened in the final act.

The first act spent several minutes on Clark asking each person on the Magus their opinions on who should captain the ship. Clark asked penetrating questions about each individual's idea of him or herself on the boat. Basically, he tried to rock the boat for the sake of his crappy reality TV production. Whatever remorse and decency he displayed last week disappeared. The Walking Dead asks the same question about its characters on a weekly basis. The first season of LOST dealt with these issues. Specifically, the questions revolve around human nature vs. nurture: how would people act in dire circumstances? Would folk be a harmonious whole, or would folk try to kill the other folk out of increasing insanity? Clark looks like someone served him pancakes with butter on top when he requested butter on the side upon witnessing Lincoln and Lena sing a song whilst playing their respective instruments (accordion AND guitar). Luckily, human decency goes to shit as the plague-like happenings increase once Jonas is awake. Things progress to the point where Lincoln steals Kurt's gun and threatens to shoot anyone who tries to leave Jonas behind, yelling that they aren't going to become people who let people die without batting a goddamn eyelash.

Tess is the captain of the ship though. The theme of the episode completes the circle, as Tess makes the difficult decision to throw Jonas off of the boat. Jonas tried to save his ass by telling them about the Source. Tess made the difficult call nonetheless, which then caused the chaotic scene in the cabin described above. Jonas, in a surprising bit of self-sacrifice, yells an apology to the power above and places the noose around his neck. Jonas had been portrayed as a self-involved egomaniac, one willing to violate ancient customs in pursuit of a possible Peabody award. The dude is cocky and abrasive. Jonas' decision completes his arc. Indeed, his self-sacrifice and apology is rewarded by the Boiuna. I'm not sure if a simple apology will satisfy the audience week in and week out. Both of the chaotic situations in the last two episodes were resolved by a sincerely contrite character. The resolution's contrived and lazy. I hope this is not a trend.

"A Better Man," the actual title, referred to Emmett Cole. The brief Emmett scenes were effective. The final scene featured a contrite Emmett for leaving a man behind, and also an apology to his wife and son for leaving them. Cole's journey took him into the heart of the Amazon where he played with fire and indulged in all sorts of nonsense, which is cool to watch and think about, but I'm quite intrigued by a story that focuses more on the character. This final thought is incredibly sentimental and lame, but oh well: I'd like to watch the journey of a character that went into the heart of darkness and found his heart again.

Other Thoughts:

-I enjoy The River. I don't expect earth-shattering horror from Michael Green and Oren Peli. I just want an hour of silly nonsense, some heart, and some intriguing mystery. "A Better Man" combined all three to produce a satisfying and harmless 40+ minutes of my time (because I watched it on DVR).

-Clark trusts in Jehel, so whenever she's frightened of something, he is also frightened. Jehel could benefit from actual depth. She's just a plot device right now.

-Aron Eli Coleite wrote the episode. Dean White directed it. White directed Sunday's Once Upon a Time. I forgot to compliment White on the terrific direction of the horse chase scenes. They were the best shot sequences in the entire series. White directed another solid episode in "A Better Man."

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