Saturday, February 25, 2012

The River - Episode 4 "A Better Man"


So this weeks episode is once again very character driven, especially since we have a new one in the mix! The show starts off all happy go lucky. The crew is cooking up some grub and singing songs, trying to keep their spirits up when the notice something hanging from a tree...turns out it's a someone. They notice the hanging man is Jonas, a camera man who was part of the lost crew. They all think he is dead, of course, until he starts moving! In a hurry to get him down, Hurt shoots the vines and down he drops into the water. The crew brings him on bored and Lincoln checks him out. The boy is in pretty bad shape and needs medical care, so the crew does the best they can while trying to radio for help (I'm not sure why they keep trying to radio people...it never works...)


Meanwhile in a flashback sequence, we see how Jonas was hired as a camera man. We also see how he tried to record an Amazon Elder's funeral, which is a very sacred and private affair. Emmet sees this and takes the camera away, telling him some things should be respected. Of course, being young and stupid, he takes out his cell phone camera and records it anyways, saying how it's going to get him an award.
We return to the present and my favorite little girl, Jahel, starts talking about "the hanged man". It's a story of a thief who is punished for his crimes by being forced to endure the pain of being hung without the gratification of death. She realizes he must have taken something and the crazy shit that's happening won't stop until it's given back or he goes back to hanging. FINALLY someone listens to her after birds start falling from the sky and a big ass storm starts coming their way...and it just so happens to be the the sleazy producer, who so elegantly states "Clark: Jahel says he's bad news. She says we ought to toss him overboard. Look, we've been on the Bouina long enough I don't know what's possible any more. All I know is that when that girl gets scared, I listen." BEST LINE SO FAR!


Anyways, the crew decides Jonas has got to go...well everyone except Lincoln, who say that his dad made the choice to leave Jonas before and he doesn't feel it's right to leave a man out there. The argument continues until Jonas decides to give himself up and runs out to the noose, with Lincoln trying to stop him. Before he puts his head back in the noose though, he smashes his cell phone. the Spirit of the elder comes out of it and the noose snaps, letting Jonas free. The next day, the producer offers him a cameraman job (even though he was the first to vote him off the ship). Lincoln watches the video of his dad leaving Jonas again and a message plays with his father being very regretful about his decision, stating that a better man could have found a different way. Lincoln breaks down and embraces his mother.


So...I must say I was guilty of being on the "kick his ass off the ship" party. It actually got me thinking...was I a bad person for wanting to kick him off, leaving him to suffer for eternity, to save my own ass? Would I actually do it if I was in that situation? It was a show that really made me reflect. Again, the characters are what drives this show and it of course didn't disappoint...it's just this week, I felt a little more connected to the show and found it thought provoking? What did you think?

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