The River (U.S. TV series)

• Main
• YMMV
• WMG
• Crowners
  • Funny
  • Nightmare Fuel
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
• Create New

The River is an American television series about an expedition to find explorer Dr. Emmet Cole, who disappeared six months before the start of the show while exploring the Amazon. It is made by the director of Paranormal Activity, in the Found Footage format. That Other Wiki describes it as "paranormal/adventure/horror."

---

Tropes used in The River (U.S. TV series) include:

• All Love Is Unrequited: For Clark.
• All Myths Are True: All the tales the main characters learned growing up are true.
• All Webbed Up: A particularly gooey example that appears to be some kind of cocoon
• Ambition Is Evil:
  • Clark, the producer, is very ambitious.
  • Jonas Beckett. He really wanted that Peabody award.
• Arc Words: "There's magic out there."
• Back From the Dead: Lincoln, albeit he Came Back Wrong.
• Big No: When Emmet finds Manny's body
• Bilingual Dialogue: Jahel only speaks Spanish but appears to understand English. Emilio, Lincoln, and Tess speak Spanish and English, but other characters (like Sammy) appear to only speak elementary Spanish.
• Black Dude Dies First. Averted. The Jewish dude isn't so lucky, though.
• Blind Weaponmaster: Or rather, a whole tribe of blind assassins
• Bullying a Dragon: A.J. frequently bullies "the ghosts" in order to get footage.
• Came Back Wrong: Lincoln.
• Cassandra Truth: Jahel repeatedly warns the crew not to venture into La Boiuna.

A.J.: Just so we're clear, a little girl who talks to ghosts says "don't go." And we're going. Yeah.

• Chekhov's Gun: In every single episode. See that bear young Lincoln was holding in The Undiscovered Country? Yeah, Lincoln finding the bear is going to be a major plot point later.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Given the network though, the whole thing is bleeped out.
  • Lincoln drops one when they find the monkey with the doll mask.
  • A.J. lets one out when he finds out that he has to crawl into a cave to save the crew.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Lincoln has an unhealthy fear of snakes and prefers the lab to the jungle.
• Conspicuous CGI: They seem so proud of those crummy CG dragonflies!
• Consummate Professional: Captain Kurt Brynildson
• Creepy Basement: The interior of the Magus
• Creepy Doll: En mass.
• Deadpan Snarker: Jahel
• A Death in the Limelight: Russ Landry
• Disappeared Dad: Emmet Cole is figuratively and literally this for his son, Lincoln.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Clark after Tess and Emmet reunite.
• Eat the Dog: Emmet considers this while lost in the amazon with his dog Salsa, but just can't go through with it.
• El Spanish-O: Sammy repeatedly tries to speak Spanish to Jahel.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Emilio
• Establishing Character Moment: Clark insists on filming Tess and Lincoln's first meeting; Kurt throws a man overboard for touching his guns.
• Evil Brit: Either the demon that possessed Lincoln was British or the actor portraying him just used it as an excuse to drop his American accent.
• Eye Scream: The specialty of the Los Ciegos. ("Los Ciegos" means "The blind" in Spanish.)
• Excited Kids' Show Host: Lots of kids liked watching Dr. Cole's show, and got upset when he disappeared.
• Fate Worse Than Death: Jonas's punishment for filming a forbidden death rite.
• Flaying Alive: Poor Manny
• Flying Dutchman: The Exodus
• Found Footage Show
• Genius Loci: The river itself turns out to be one.
• Genre Blindness:
  • The rescue team hears knocking from inside the panic room in the Magus's Creepy Basement, and they notice that it's been welded shut from the outside, and their first impulse is to cut it open. It's not Too Dumb to Live, since the obvious mundane explanation is that Jerkass pirates welded their victims in there, but clearly nobody present has seen a horror movie.
  • Also, let's set up camp in the middle of the jungle at a tree where someone hung a lot of creepy dolls.
• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Hey, it's Katie!
  • And Harry
  • And Max!
  • And Teri!
• Honor Before Reason: The cameramen. Sammy died for footage and A.J. won't put down his camera to help Lena when she was injured.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Kurt after Lincoln is shot.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Kurt to Hana. It doesn't work.
• Infant Immortality: Double Subversion in "Doctor Emmet Cole". After being too tired to even move, Emmet considers killing a dog for food. But after much consideration, he doesn't go through with it.
• Ironic Echo: From possessed Lincoln: "There's magic out there."
• Ironic Nursery Tune: Used in the preview for Episode 5.
• Jerkass Gods:

Emilio: God hates me, I know, or he would have made [my daughter Jahel] ugly.

• • The Boiuna definitely qualifies. Sure, it has a reason to be pissed about people trying to steal its secrets, but it's also a sadistic asshole who makes it clear that it loves tormenting the crew.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Kurt must kill his fiance Hana after finding her infected with The Virus.
• Living Shadow: Corpo Seco is a shrieking blot of (un)living darkness.
• Maniac Monkeys: The rescue team finds a monkey in the middle of the jungle wearing a doll mask.
• Meaningful Background Event: In Episode 7
• Meaningful Name: The Magus
• Missing Mom: Jahel's. Turns out she's not actually dead...
• Never Found the Body: The premise
• Not Himself: Emmet realizes something is wrong with Lincoln after he tells his father he loves him. Even Emmet acknowledges this doesn't speak well of their family dynamic.
• Not So Fast Bucko: In the first season finale, everyone is on the boat safe and sound, ready to return to the regular Amazon river. But the Boiuna won't let them leave, and the river physically reshapes itself so they can't leave.
• Not Using the Z Word
• Oh Crap
  • The team goes running away from the Creepy Doll tree in panic--only to end up right back in the clearing.
  • Emmet realizes he no longer has the strength to whistle.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Though the Coles' nationalities are never mentioned (and Tess measures distance in kilometers), Lincoln slips in and out of a noticeably British accent.
  • After Lincoln is possessed, the actor just stopped caring, and his British accent is clearly noticeable.
• Opening Scroll
• Our Ghosts Are Different: The crew of the Exodus appear to be completely normal at first, but are quickly revealed to be revenants forever adrift on the river until someone is available to take their place, allowing them to pass on.
• Overprotective Dad: Emilio. He has good reasons though.
• The Power of Blood: "It wants blood!"
• Precision F-Strike:

Emilio: I sailed [the Magus] 23 years. A year ago, Doc is fueling up for the Amazonas. He says to me, "Emilio, you no go on this trip. Go home." I say, "Doc, ["bleep"] you. This is my home."

• • The word "fuck" is used quite a lot actually, up to a point where it happens Once an Episode.
• Puppy Love: Emmet shipped Lincoln and Lena, when they were younger.
• Sanity Slippage: Emmet, particularly in Episode 7. Or is he?
• Rain of Blood: In Episode 7. It gets worse.
• Scenery Porn: Hawaii sure is pretty.
• Sealed Evil In the Panic Room
• Shaggy Dog Story: The crew rescues Rabbit and Tess even gives her a big speech on her questionable past and future ethics. Then a zombie gets her.
• Show Within a Show: Dr. Cole's The Undiscovered Country
• Sixth Ranger: Jonas
• Sound Effect Bleep
• The Teaser: A bit of The Undiscovered Country is shown before the opening credits.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Lincoln, after getting very close to a lot of dead bodies
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Lincoln wants Tess to be proud of him for the medical research he's doing instead of following in his father's footsteps.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: All we really knew about Sammy before his death was that he was Jewish.
  • You guys remember Rabbit, right? Neither do we.
• Wham! Episode: "Peaches".
• What Have I Done: Emmet says this word for word in episode 7.
• Why Did It Have to Be Caves?: A.J. will film in any sort of dangerous location except caves.
• Willing Channeler: Jahel. She doesn't want to let Emmet's spirit go.
• Wrench Wench: Jahel
• You Have to Have Jews: The first thing Sammy notes is that he's the only Jew around.
• Your Cheating Heart: Tess Cole/Clark. Later Subverted.