Awake: A Continuing Story Line Emerges?

BY: ORANGECHAIR

Last night, NBC premiered the 5^th episode of their new drama Awake. The story looks at a man named Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) after a terrible car has torn his life and his mind apart. Whether he is special or just trying to cope with an extreme loss, Michael Britten lives two separate lives. In on life, his son Rex Britten (Dylan Minnette) survived the car crash his wife Hannah Britten (Laura Allen) did not. In this world, Michael falls asleep and wakes up in another world. In the second world, Michael’s wife survived the crash while his son did not. Each time Michael falls asleep, he wakes up in the other world. So far, the story has not touched much on the mysteries that surround Michael’s crash. The show has structured itself by creating a new case for Detective Britten to work on in each episode. Episode 5 was no different, pitting Britten against the notorious Gemini Killer, but a single phone call at the end of the episode finally gave the audience some input as to where the show’s mysteries are heading.

In the past, the show has given us some insight into the mysterious crash but nothing quite like the end of episode 5. As an audience, we have been clued into the fact that Britten’s boss has some knowledge of the oddities surrounding Britten’s crash but we don’t know the true level of her involvement.  Each episode also gives us some connection between Britten’s two worlds, a connection that generally helps Britten solve his current case. The end of the most recent episode however provides us with the most direct yet cryptic clue yet. Though Britten is able to save Gemini’s final victim, the Gemini Killer is able to elude the Detective for the entire episode. The episode’s close includes a phone call from the Gemini Killer who, throughout the course of the episode has developed quite an understanding of Michael Britten. In the phone call, the Gemini Killer suggests that he has an understanding of Britten’s situation, referring himself and Britten as “men like us.” Gemini’s language and confidence suggests that he knows something more about Britten’s situation than Britten does himself. The two men, according to Gemini, see the world in a different way. At the end of the phone call, Gemini makes it very clear that this may not be the last we are seeing of him.

This new character that NBC has introduced could mean a number of things for the future of the show. This is the first time there has ever been any reference of somebody else “like” Michael Britten. Though Gemini does not reference any real specific similarities his mention of the unique way he sees the world seems to mirror the unique way Britten uses his two worlds to solve his various cases. There is some odd connection between this serial killer and Britten and I hope this isn’t the last we see of the Gemini Killer.

The River Revisited: Is the Magic Drying Up?

BY: ORANGECHAIR

Spoiler Alert: Let’s call this one a nice cool Blue Alert. I do talk about the end of the fourth episode but I really don’t ruin any huge secrets. Still, read at your own risk.

“There’s magic out there.” Clearly, I have an odd fascination with this show considering this second post about the River marks the first time I have created two posts on the same topic. In my first post about the River I talked mainly about the third episode and how truly great it was. I return to the keyboard with the topic of the River in mind as a reaction to the series’ fourth episode. The episode was still great but for the first time I found myself thinking that the magic the River found in the Amazon may disappear before the season is up.

The show follows the Cole family and their crew as they search the Amazon for missing father and husband Emmett Cole. As they travel through an area called the Boiuna, the crew encounters a number of different supernatural creatures of events. Each episode is centered around one of those supernatural events. If you need any more background on the show I give more detail in my other River post, River: Magic is Out There. The fourth episode focused the crew’s next supernatural adventure, the Hanged Man.

The show lulls the audience into a safe sense of security in the first five minutes, showing us a rare happy moment aboard the Magus. After catching a number of large river fish, the crew grills them up, pulls out a guitar and have a nice little sing-along picnic. The happy time is quickly destroyed when the crew finds Jonas Beckett, a cameraman from the original Magus crew, hanging by his neck in the forest. Near dead and stricken with malaria, the crew manages to get Beckett out of the trees and onto the Magus. From that point on, for some reason the Boiuna declares war on the crew. Dead birds drop from the sky, swarms of killer locust attack and the sky opens up in a brutal thunder and lightning storm. It turns out Jonas has done something to upset the Boiuna and it will kill the entire crew to get him back. The episode was, as they all have been, intensely suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. My problem with the episode was the end.

At the end of the episode, to get the Boiuna to stop attacking, Jonas simply has to walk out onto the deck, say he was sorry and accept his punishment. The Boiuna then forgives him and allows him to live. I don’t mind that none of the characters died, what bothered me was the anti-climactic end. The show built up the mystery of the Hanging Man but instead of having an ending that lives up to the suspense, Jonas just had to step outside and apologize. For the amount of suspense that was created, the answer ended up being something too simple. Thinking back, this let down at the end of the episode is turning into a very disturbing the pattern. In the first episode, the crew had to do the most obvious thing to save themselves and in the third episode the tribe of warriors randomly decided to judge the crew worthy of passing through their land. What I expect from this show is something more like the second episode. In the second episode, to survive the ghost of the drown girl attacking them, the crew has to decipher why the girl is attacking them and what it is that she wants. This gives the climax of the film a puzzle type fear, it was more complicated than simply say I’m sorry or being judged.  The show needs to stop taking the easy way out when it comes to resolving a specific conflict. I still like the show a lot, I think it is very suspenseful and interesting but if the endings keep letting me down, I may have to stop believing that there is magic out there.

The River: There’s Magic Out There

BY: ORANGECHAIR

“There’s magic out there.” It is becoming clear that these words are the driving force behind ABC’s new show the River. To date (at the time I wrote this post) the show has aired two episodes. The first episode was a two hour long event and, when it comes down to it, was two episodes rolled into one. The double episode was good television but nothing could prepare me for the episode that aired on Tuesday February 14^th.

The show chronicles the search for a man named Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood). Dr. Emmet Cole spent the majority of his life on camera, traveling around the world as the star of the fictional nature show Undiscovered Country. The show stared Emmet but also had a strong family presence involving his wife, Tess Cole (Leslie Hope), and his son, Lincoln Cole (Joe Anderson). After the show had been running for over twenty years and Lincoln had grown up and gone through college, Emmet decided to take one last trip into the Amazon and never returned. Legally declared dead, Emmet’s wife refuses to let him go. The same network that produced Undiscovered Country have offered to pay for Tess’ search for Emmet under two conditions. The first is that Lincoln (who has grown to hate his father) and Tess both go on the search and the second is that the entire expedition be filmed. The group quickly discovers that the show’s well known saying, “there’s magic out there”, was much more than just a catchy phrase. Dr. Emmet Cole had been searching for and had discovered magic. It appears that each new episode is going to revolve around a new supernatural being or event.

            The show is shot from hand held and surveillance cameras, making it seem as if it really were a reality television show. The show came from the mind of Oren Peli, the same man who is behind the Paranormal Activity franchise, and the way it is shot is very similar to the films. Eerily creepy, the show uses its unique filming technique to create suspense and fear. The first double episode was kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Ghost possessions, a tree full of hanging dolls, a ghost that drowns people and a spirit so evil the ground won’t take it all appear in the first two hours of the show, creating a chillingly entertaining series premiere. While entertaining, the premiere did have some lacking qualities. There were some holes in the story and some scenes that were corny but overall it was great television. The River’s most recent episode, technically the third episode, was outstanding.

In the third episode, a group of warriors called Los Ciegos encounters the search party. Before the search party can go any further, Los Ciegos must judge them from the shadows to determine if they are worthy of living or not. To make matters worse, something supernatural or natural is causing spontaneous blindness throughout the group. As they try and survive Los Ciegos and cure their blindness, tensions run high and the result is an amazing hour of television. If you haven’t tried the show, give it a shot and if the first two episodes don’t draw you in, the third one is sure to leave you wanting more. I can’t wait to see what else the River has in store and what other supernatural things are waiting in the Amazon to crawl out and scare the crap out me.