I'm a little late to the party but I thought I’d talk about ABC’s latest TV show The River and share some of my early thoughts about what we’ve seen so far.
For the readers unfamiliar with the project, The River follows a mixed group of old friends and new acquaintances as they set off down the Amazon River in search of famed explorer Dr. Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood) who has disappeared somewhere in the area six months prior.

Cole’s family – his son Lincoln (Joe Anderson) and his wife Tess (Leslie Hope) – had lost all hope for a return and begun to bury the past and rebuild their lives when Emmet’s emergency beacon erupted, signalling his survival.
With their hopes reignited, Tess recruits Lincoln on the voyage into the jungle to get him back.

Joining them is Emmet’s old producer Clark (Paul Blackthorne), who is allowed to document their endeavour, along with his lead cameraman A.J (Shaun Parkes).
Along for the hunt is Lena (Eloise Mumford), family friend and daughter of Emmet’s missing cameraman, the ship’s mechanic Emilio (Daniel Zacapa) and his daughter Jahel (Paulina Gaitan) and lastly, private security bodyguard Kurt Brynildson (Thomas Kretschmann).

Magus/Marbeley

It’s essentially episode 1 & 2 but it premiered as a two-hour pilot.

First of all, I love that this show is set around the Amazon, because it’s such a beautiful, atmospheric place and it’s the perfect setting to create a wealth of scary, gut-wrenching stories that hopefully the show can carry out from here on in.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their personalities, how they interact with one another and how well they are established, and I think each member of the cast turns In some really solid work.
I’m looking forward to see how some of their character arcs unfold.

When the time came for things to get frantic and supernatural, that’s when it started feeling a little tired and familiar.
People were shouting at each other and running about and we’d get quick glimpses at the horror and so forth – and surprisingly, there was little surprise to it all.
What was surprising here was that I – a massive horror buff, fan of the wondrous Amazon and her stories, wasn’t finding this particular sequence all that frightening or frankly, all that fresh.
I think you’ve got to come up with fresh reveals and exciting things to pull off in the found footage genre these days – and all the unfolding action felt uninspired, really.

The second half of the premiere - Marbeley - introduced a rather eerie tale revolving around a rather eerie tree plastered with hundreds of spine-tingling dolls strung up at every branch.

Some people have their phobias of clowns but me? It’s dolls that do the trick.

What, with their beady eyes and their porcelain faces fixed into a permanent smile…I shudder at the thought.

Anyway, all this, of course, was a set-up to explore and craft an individual ghost-story-of-the-week, which was quite effective.

The episode wonderfully worked away at frying your nerves as it built the set up for the episode and it was here, amidst the terror of the episode, where the production really began to shine.

I’d like to cite the editing – sound and otherwise - here in particular, because there is a lot of terrific work done here - whether it be the haunting sound design work or quick, terrifying glimpses of restless spirits, the editing works beautifully to unnerve you.

Marbeley was the more effective episode out of the two in the premiere, as I thought it was a stronger episode, with a more effective story.
Granted, the pilot was just finding its feet, balancing the supernatural with the drama and adventure, while establishing the story and setting up the mythology to come.
Despite all this though, I enjoyed the individual ghostly story of this half of the premiere more so than the supernatural offered in the pilot.

The third episode, Los Ciegos, saw the show going from strength to strength and was quite the engaging and entertaining affair.
Again, the individual story showcased some terrific production, from fantastic editing to some great character development that scratches the surface on these people and who they are, which will hopefully pay off spectacularly in the episodes to come.

A.J, the cameraman, in particular had some intriguing character development that connected back to this episode’s climax.
Although it’s nice to see this development, I can’t help but feel that this climatic moment was a little rushed and wasn’t allowed enough time to really develop further and become much more powerful and touching than it was, but at the end, the plot point remains and so does this little bit of change in the character.

There were also a few interesting surprises in store as the characters scrambled in spate parts of the Magus to fend off the mythical Morcego tribe from every door, window and roof.
These surprises brought a lot of urgency to the sequence and raised the stakes, which was great to see.

The show really showed that works just as well as an adventure/drama as it does an effective horror, so there’s a great balance happening between the two right now that keeps things interesting.

The River is building nicely, with some great character development happening here.
It has its fair shares of chilling moments and a great sense of adventure and over all it boasts a slick production.
Here’s hoping it manages this balance while expanding on the characters and mythology, and this could be something special.
The River comes much recommended from me to you and you can catch it on ABC, Tuesdays 9|8c.
For more on The River, visit the show's official website.
For those who are watching, what are your thoughts? Are you underwhelmed? Overwhelmed? Bored by it? Can't wait for more?