"The River" Series Blog: Episode 5

"Peaches"

The crew of the Magus is plotting where to go next (on their map of an uncharted area...what?) and the show flashs back to when Emmet went missing. Lena is feeling slighted that it's all about Emmet and people seem to have forgetten her dad is lost too. Jonas scores points for claiming Russ Landry was his hero. Visibility goes to crap and it's all hands on deck, everybody looking every which way with a spotlight to guide Tess down the river.

Suddenly lights appear upriver and it looks like an approaching ship on a collision course. Despite fog horn, waving spotlights and flares, the Magus is forced aground trying to avoid it. When they turn to see what hit them it was gone and they were stranded again. The Valenzuela's inform everyone the Magus isn't going anywhere without a new widget. Since they're in uncharted waters nowhere near civilization this is bad. Tess sends out a MayDay and does lots of pacing.

Jonas scans some of his found footage and discovers a message from Russ to Lena. Jonas leaves her alone to view it and Lincoln passes him in the hall. When Lincoln realizes what Lena is watching he backs up and leaves the scene. We discover her nickname is "Peaches" and Russ Landry is played by the reliable Lee Tergeson. Lena, of course, bawls like a baby after viewing and I'm thinking ready to jump Jonas' bones in thanks.

A ship finally answers the Magus and soon enough, the Exodus (really?) appears off the bow with a crew of friendly environmentalists who happen to have the part they need. Hookay. Let's pretend to be surprised later when that's not exactly the case. Everybody is making nice eating and drinking in the Magus galley while the Valenzuela's fix the engine. Captain Kurt gets suspicious and catchs the Exodus captain video planning to kidnap the crew of the Magus. Jonas is making moves on Lena and suggests a trip over to the Exodus.

Once aboard, the pair are drawn to noises coming from below and naturally follow them. They discover a prisoner who turns out to be...RUSS LANDRY!?! Back on the Magus, Captain Kurt confronts the Exodus captain and puts two in his chest that have no effect. In addition to being bulletproof, Exodus captain can apparently muffle sound and disrupt electronic surveillance. Because no one aboard Magus notices when he transports Captain Kurt to Exodus and tosses him into the same hold Jonas and the Landry's are trapped in. 

We learn that the Exodus crew are ghosts trapped on the ship until they can find living souls to take their place and they only need one more and a sunrise to be free from their curse. Tess gets suckered into going over to look at a real chart instead of the make-believe map they've been using for weeks. The River pull's it's PA moment for the week and it's a good one. Jonas has jiggered his camera to transmit back to the Magus and Lean pleads for help.

Lincoln notices people are missing but doesn't see Lena on the monitor. When he sees the Exodus pull away he scrambles Clark and A.J. to pursue it but with the head start, it's soon out of sight. Jahel finally see's Lena's message and call's Emilio to translate presumably. In short order, she's on the radio to Lincoln guiding them to the Exodus and warning him about the curse and how to arm himself. These people would be dead in a day without Jahel.

When they arrive on the Exodus, Captain Kurt has busted them out of the hold and scrambling topside. Lincoln dispatches the Exodus captain the old fashioned way, with fire. They secure the rest of the ghosts on the bridge and start a fire. Bye bye ghost ship. But wait a minute...RUSS LANDRY IS ONE OF THEM! Alrighty then. Didn't see that coming and for once the gotcha made sense. Forgiving the inconsistency of the ghosts abilities and stupidity of their weakness (fire? they can take bullets but a lighter kicks their ass?), this episode was the best one of the series so far. Bit of a course correction this week.

GRADE: B

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