The River Recap: “Doctor Emmet Cole”

by Raven Kross:

The River: “Doctor Emmet Cole”
Original Air Date (ABC): Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Season 1 Episode 6

As you might remember, in the last episode Russ Landry told the crew to search the falls if they wanted to find Emmet. With friction growing between the different members who seem to think they’re each the leader and increasing worry over the fact that they have so few leads, it’s nice to have a definite course for once.

The Magus, You Know, Has A Ceiling

The crew of the Magus reaches the falls and everyone is visibly becoming more excited. They discover a couple clues to Emmet’s whereabouts- more specifically, Russ’s camera bag, filled with tapes. They rush back to the ship and pop the tapes in, all of them aware that the content they are about to view could lead them right to Emmet and end their long search.

The tapes show the camera crew waiting for Emmet to decide on a course of action, saying that all he’s been doing is sitting in his room. Emmet has a vision and suddenly jumps off the bed, telling the camera he was at the falls and he heard a strange tune; he plays it on his guitar. He hurries out of the room and tells the others that he knows where to go. Russ tries to stop him, arguing that he doesn’t want Emmet to continue dragging Lena into his web of magic and danger, but Emme argues that she’s been “marked. Russ gets left behind while Emmet and the two other camera operators, Manny and Rabbit, head off down the river and into the jungle.

They stop and Emmet tells them about a tribe, the Xulos, who have incredible powers of healing and will flay the skin between their shoulder blades to symbolize wings because they believed they were angels. Then Emmet makes a discovery- a sort of invisible boundary in the trees, the line between the world of the dead and the world of the living. He starts to muse that the Xulos are the angels that guard the Source, the place where all life (and death) comes from.

The group hears a strange call in the background, which Emmet believes means that they’re getting closer.

I Don’t Taste Any Bacon

The three have gathered around a small fire and are attempting to down various cooked bug dishes. Manny goes to bed, leaving Emmet and Rabbit alone. Rabbit admits that she used to have a crush on him, but he buffers her advance by telling her that he’s still in love with Tess. (Awwwwwwwwwwww!)

In the dead of night, they are awakened by a strange noise, and their dog, Salsa, starts barking and runs into the jungle. They find the pelt of a monkey they’d seen earlier on, bloody and tattered on the ground. The rest of the monkey is lying on its tree branch. Manny tries to create some sense of concern for Emmet, but he brushes it off as a series of coincidences.

Jahel reaches out to stop the tape. She says that if what the crew encountered was a demon, they would not want to watch it. Later, Lena is crouched in the hallway belowdecks, crying, and Jonas tries to comfort her. She confesses that the beacon that had given them all so much hope of finding Emmet had been set off by her; she needed someone to help her go out and find her dad.

A couple crew members continue to watch the tapes. Rabbit, Manny, and Emmet are sitting on a peaceful river, and Emmet explains how his wife’s miscarriage led him to go out into the wild led to the creation of The Undiscovered Country.

Suddenly, something comes out of the trees at them, and that weird sound starts up again. Funny, sounds like someone whistling- the same little ditty that Emmet claimed he had heard in his vision earlier. They hide in the woods until it’s safe to come out, and then they search for Manny. They discover his skinned body in the trees. The two of them run from the strange whistling and duck behind a tree, but discover that by whistling the tune, they can stop the frightening presence from hurting them.

Out Here, There’s A Third Option

Rabbit begins to freak out. The next morning, Emmet discovers that she’s taken the survival equipment and left him completely alone; all he has left is the camera gear and Salsa the dog. He forages for food and also makes a handy discovery that he can make fire appear in his hands. He also gets out a long-range phone and calls Lincoln, with whom he has a brief and mostly one-sided conversation.

Up in the navigation room, Lincoln tells his mother about his regret that he didn’t pay his mother as much attention as he should have and that he dreaded talking to him. In her cabin, Lena examines herself for a “mark” and finds a strange symbol on the back of her neck- the same symbol that’s on the necklace we saw Emmet gave Lincoln a couple episodes ago.

Emmet is feverish and desperate. He finds a mango tree, but when he tries to reach the fruit, he slips and falls, breaking his ankle. He admits his worries that he’ll die in the jungle to Salsa. He needs nourishment; he tries to kill the dog, but can’t. Then the whistling starts up again, and although he has the will to live, he’s lost the strength and the ability to fight back.

Tess pauses the tape and asks that everyone leaves that she and Lincoln can watch it together. Emmet is half dead, but he whistles back weakly. Several half-bare strangers come and bring him to their village, then deposit him outside a jungle outpost. The crew sets out with renewed vigor. They hurry through the jungle and encounter Salsa, who leads them onward. They emerge from the jungle to see the same outpost from the tapes- completely deserted.

Well, that’s it for this episode. Only two more until I wrap up the first season- LET’S GET EXCITED, PEOPLE!!!