Bruce Greenwood and Katie Featherston in THE RIVER - Season 1 - "Doctor Emmet Cole" | ©2012 ABC/Mario Perez
Stars: Bruce Greenwood, Joe Anderson, Leslie Hope, Eloise Mumford, Paul Blackthorne, Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Zacapa, Shaun Parkes, Paulina Gaitan, Scott Michael Foster, Katie Featherston
Writer: Michael Green
Director: Michelle MacLaren
Network: ABC, Tuesdays @ 9 PM
Original Broadcast: March 7, 2012
It’s a complete shame what’s happened with THE RIVER. What started off as a promising and groundbreaking series as de-volved into an incredibly frustrating exercise in style over substance.
Each week, there’s a promise of something big and major and each week, it ends up being a disappointment.
Finally, a big mythology play happens with “Doctor Emmet Cole”. We get a glimpse into what was going on with Cole (Bruce Greenwood) before his disappearance and where he might be.
The problem is, the structure for telling this part of the story sucks all the air out of it. The crew of Magus uncover some tapes in a backpack in a river (protected in plastic baggies). They start to watch the footage and find Cole on one of his last expeditions before he disappeared. The problem is, our characters are watching a monitor of these tapes the entire episode, so the audience at home is watching the characters watch another character on video.
Ugh!
A little too meta, and frankly, there could have been a better more effective way to cut this episode to add to the energy and mystery of the Cole.
Greenwood gives a tour-de-force performance here. He’s actually quite good. The story though and any semblance of a pay-off feels like a cop-out. It’s just not that engaging, and actually rather boring.
There is a nice cameo appearance by PARANORMAL ACTIVITY star Katie Featherston (she plays a cameraman working with Cole), but with two episodes left, this feels like filler before the storm.
I hope THE RIVER has saved the best for last, but after this travesty of an episode, I’m starting to think that like the characters on this show, THE RIVER’s days are numbered.
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Related Link: TV Review – THE RIVER – Season 1 – “Doctor Emmet Cole”
Related Link: Exclusive Interview with THE RIVER star Paulina Gaitan
Related Link: Exclusive Interview with THE RIVER star Eloise Mumford
Related Link: TV Review – THE RIVER – Season 1 – “Peaches”
Related Link: Exclusive Interview with THE RIVER star Shaun Parkes
Related Link: TV Review – THE RIVER – Season 1 – “A Better Man”
Related Link: TV Review – THE RIVER – Season 1 – “Los Ciegos”
Related Link: TV Review – THE RIVER – Season 1 – “Marbeley”
Related Link: TV Review – THE RIVER – Season 1 – “Magus” – Series Premiere
Related Link: Exclusive Interview with THE RIVER star Paul Blackthorne
Related Link: ABC says THE RIVER can exist beyond Season 1
Article Source: Assignment X
Article: TV Review – THE RIVER – Season 1 – “Doctor Emmet Cole”
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